On Saturday, in Los Angeles, faithful agitator and failed commune contributor Bernie Sanders performed his latest “Down With the Oligarchy” act. Joining octogenarian Bernie was his new Tanto, New York Dem Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Also on stage were octogenarian Joan Baez and 79-year-old Neil Young. Add up all those ages, and they've collectively lived more years than the USA has been a country.  

The appearance of Bernie and AOC together evokes little interest in me. It’s like watching the same “pull my finger” joke. Bernie and his socialist sidekick sang the same tired folk fables about class warfare while lying about Musk and lying about Trump.  

It was the appearance of Joan Baez that triggered a pique. Baez fell out of her treehouse to warble a couple of folk tunes for the assembled socialist Bernie Bros. Her voice is gone, as in “Long Time Passing." The 2025 voice version of Baez could strip paint from walls. At least she was wearing shoes in 2025. 

The night before, my wife and I watched “A Complete Unknown,” the biopic about Bob Dylan’s early '60s meteoric rise to fame. Baez was a central figure in the film. The woman who played the young shoeless singer was good; pretty and a better singer than the 1960s Joan Baez. Ed Norton played folk hero Pete Seeger. I don’t recall exactly when I became aware that Seeger was a commie. Likely in high school or shortly after. The film’s version of Seeger retains the mythical marking of the “oh shucks” folksy Pete – the version most fans of folk music believe in. 

The banjo strummin’, Mr. Rogers-esque version is mostly a myth. The film doesn’t just skip over the Stalin-loving, commie Pete Seeger, it wholly ignores that reality. The Soviet apologist radical version of Seeger was left on the film’s cutting room floor. Instead, the film cast Norton as the lovable family guy peacenik folk singer, wondering “where have all the flowers gone." I understand why. The film is ostensibly about Dylan, not Seeger, not Baez. Better to avoid the underlying fact that most of the characters in the film, from his talentless girlfriend Suze Rotolo to Seeger to Baez, to the cast of commies who organized the Newport Folk Festival, were commies or commie-adjacent. Best to focus on Dylan.  

But Dyan has been mythologized as well. His folky beginnings were often rightly thought of as Seeger-like or, as the film suggests, beholding to Woody Guthrie. However, Dylan was and remains a political chameleon. His beginnings were folk. He didn’t stay in that lane; instead he moved on, much to the chagrin of Seeger and the communist editor of “Sing Out!” magazine. They thought they had a comrade in the coming, only to be jilted. So too with Beaz, who wrote about her distaste for Dylan’s changes.  

Dylan moving on from acoustic guitar to electric sent the socialist/folk crowd at the ‘64 Newport Festival into a frenzy. They threw shoes, food and vitriol at Dylan. Dylan had stepped out of the Seeger Lane and they didn’t like it. Changing guitars seemed like a small change. His lyrics hadn’t changed that much, but socialists don’t like it when those they perceive as fellow travelers wander off the path. Stick to the orthodoxy, or leave. Dylan left. The left is still throwing shoes. 

Baez has, no doubt shown up at Bernie events before - but Baez on stage in 2025 gurgling out tired folk hymns in an unknown key seemed so appropriate to me. The message is old, it is tired, and it remains nonsense.   

Bernie, AOC, Neil Young and Joan Baez chanting socialist slogans and singing Guthrie anthems to fellow collectivists might inspire the unwashed who attend their rallies, but I don’t think it moves the needle. Neil Young famously “pulled” his catalogue from Spotify over politics, and no one noticed.  

So, in that respect, I support the hysterical, finger-pointing Bernie in his latest (likely) run for president. I support his employment of dinosaurs like Baez and Young. Bernie will be 87 years old in 2028. Eighty-seven-year-old Joan Baez can sing “Blowin’ in the Wind” at the Democrat convention. Dylan won't. Dems won’t want Young to perform. Too young. He’ll be 82.  

Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.

Help us continue exposing Democrats' plans to lead America down a dangerous path. Join RedState's VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.