Little did the MAGA crowd know that the Coachella rally for Republican candidate Donald Trump they were whisked away to on Sunday would be a one-way ticket.
Trump made a campaign stop in the desert city of Coachella Valley in California, where Trump is expected to lose in the election as he did in 2016 and 2020.
Arrangements were made to bus thousands of Trump supporters approximately five miles from a parking lot to the outdoor venue, where temperatures had soared to 100 degrees.
However, due to a planning logistics hiccup, a return trip was not confirmed, leaving many to fend for themselves and brave the desert elements when the rally concluded.
Why?
Supporters were stranded because Trump's campaign team allegedly ignored the bus company's repeated requests for payment.
A video clip from an attendee showed the stranded crowd in the pitch-black landscape illuminated by the headlights of a handful of patrol cars
"This isn't normal," said the person filming, adding:
"Apparently the buses are no longer coming…there used to be like 20 buses when we were being brought here, but now there's only like three buses operating and it is complete chaos."
The narrator continued expressing exasperation over making the trek back on foot, many presumably without shelter or water along the way in the intense heat.
"All of us are stranded here. Everyone's stranded here. Something went wrong," they said.
One social media user named Wesley Johnson claimed, without evidence, in a series of deleted posts that "ALL of the fuel stations for the BUSSES (not cars) were completely depleted" and they had to "drive 30 minutes away to get refueled!"
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Johnson said he was also informed that there was “only one bus in rotation” and “turnaround time for each drop off was 30 minutes."
He noted that the 20+ buses were somehow whittled down to just one by evening's end, and he demanded an investigation.
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Political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen refuted Johnson's claims in a Facebook video and said the social media user's explanation was deflecting the blame away from Trump for leaving his supporters stranded.
“Because even when there’s a simple solution, that Donald Trump didn’t give enough of a sh*t about how his fans got back once he got what he needed, which was their applause, still these people will bend over backwards, cooking up conspiracy theories about how actually it’s the evil Communist-Marxist Democrats who are responsible for Trump not getting his fans transportation back to their cars,” said Cohen, adding:
“Even if it’s obviously Trump’s fault, it’s never Trump’s fault.”
You can watch Cohen's takedown of the Republicans here.
Observers following the story had plenty to say.
People found the snafu hardly surprising.
"Regarding the logistics of the event, which include the shuttle buses, we will defer those questions to the campaign team as our department was not in charge of that aspect of the event," said the Riverside County Sheriff's Office via Newsweek on Monday.
Despite being abandoned in the desert, the inconvenienced MAGA crowd is not expected to change their minds about casting a vote for Trump when they head to the polls.
The Desert Sun reported that the event was limited to a maximum capacity of 15,000 people.
Unsurprisingly, Trump falsely claimed there were 100,000 attending his event.
Trump has not commented on the situation.
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