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Why Bernie Sanders’s real-time reaction to Iran bombing took over social media
Most politicians do their best not to let their faces betray what they’re thinking. Bernie Sanders isn’t most politicians—and the most recent evidence of that was his reaction when hearing that the U.S. had bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend. The famously straight-shooting senator from Vermont learned the U.S. had entered Israel’s war with Iran while onstage at a rally on June 21. Though the crowd’s lively reaction is what ended up going viral, it’s Sanders’s wildly expressive visage that captures the complex emotions of the moment. Ever since Israel launched a preemptive missile strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities on June 12, pundits and politicians have breathlessly speculated about whether the U.S. would step in to provide diplomacy or military might. As tensions escalated, President Trump teased his next move with typical reality-show flair. (“I may do it, I may not do it,” he said on June 18 of the potential for a U.S. strike on Iran. “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”) Three days later, much of the world found out in unison what Trump decided to do: launch a series of coordinated bombing attacks against Iran. Video clips from Sanders’s Tulsa “Fighting Oligarchy” rally that night reflect the gravity of the Iran news as it reached the public, and underscores how members of Congress—technically the body that should green-light a military action like the one launched Saturday, code-named Operation Midnight Hammer—were blindsided by the news. A TikTok showing the senator and his crowd absorbing the information together has already been viewed nearly 20 million times—with further millions of views in a tweet shared on X. @victoriaaayy This feels so unreal. Immediate chills…. #berniesanders #berniesanderstulsa ♬ original sound – Victoria✨ The video, taken at a distance from Sanders’s right-side profile, starts with an audience member shouting, “We just bombed Iran!” The senator then stops speaking briefly, until an aide brings him a printout of Trump’s statement from Truth Social, which Sanders reads aloud—“We have completed our very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran,” ending with “etcetera.” From here, the crowd breaks out into a series of “boos” that give way to a spontaneous, deafening chant of “No more war!” Other videos taken at the event have emerged, including some from Sanders’s own social team, showing what happened next. The Senator agrees with the thrust of the chant, and describes the bombing as “so grossly unconstitutional.” He needn’t have said anything at all to get the same message across, though, since the footage of Sanders’s face during the moment between hearing the shout from the crowd and reading the Truth Social post says it all. Sen. Bernie Sanders held a "Fighting Oligarchy" rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he received news of President Donald Trump's strikes on Iran.— CNN (@cnn.com) 2025-06-22T21:08:17.318Z First, there is half a snort as it seems to dawn on Sanders that the crowd may have more information than he does. When the news appears to sink in, his mouth hangs open in slack-jawed surprise, and he turns to get confirmation from his aides. After one of them presumably confirms the news off-screen with a nod, the corners of Sanders’s mouth tighten into a sort of discombobulated grimace. Fury flashes across his whole face, leading to some wily eyebrow gymnastics. As he pauses, signaling the need for more info, an aide rushes over with a printout of Trump’s Truth Social post. Upon laying eyes on it, Sanders shakes his head in the disgusted manner of someone disappointed despite already dismal expectations. He seems to simultaneously not believe what he’s reading and understand that it makes perfect, horrible sense. (“The look on Bernie’s face is all of us,” reads a typical reaction to the video on Bluesky.) Part of the reason Sanders had the highest approval rating in the Senate as of January 16, according to Morning Consult, is because he is widely perceived as authentic. One of the many memes he’s inspired, after all, was based on his refusal to pretend the weather at Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 was anything less than soul-piercingly cold. This authenticity oozes out of the longtime anti-war politician in the rally clip, suggesting much of Congress was not informed in advance, let alone consulted, before the U.S. struck Iran. While the folks who might be inclined to attend a Saturday night Bernie Sanders rally are not exactly a representative sample of all Americans’ political leanings, early evidence suggests the broader public mirrors their instant reaction to the bombing news. A YouGov survey of 2,824 U.S. adults on June 22 found 85% of respondents answering no to the question, “Do you want the U.S. to be at war with Iran?” Only 5% answered affirmatively. Meanwhile, The New York Times checked back in with an ongoing panel of six 2024 Trump voters and found that two fully s
Most politicians do their best not to let their faces betray what they’re thinking. Bernie Sanders isn’t most politicians—and the most recent evidence of that was his reaction when hearing that the U.S. had bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend.
The famously straight-shooting senator from Vermont learned the U.S. had entered Israel’s war with Iran while onstage at a rally on June 21. Though the crowd’s lively reaction is what ended up going viral, it’s Sanders’s wildly expressive visage that captures the complex emotions of the moment.
Ever since Israel launched a preemptive missile strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities on June 12, pundits and politicians have breathlessly speculated about whether the U.S. would step in to provide diplomacy or military might. As tensions escalated, President Trump teased his next move with typical reality-show flair. (“I may do it, I may not do it,” he said on June 18 of the potential for a U.S. strike on Iran. “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”)
Three days later, much of the world found out in unison what Trump decided to do: launch a series of coordinated bombing attacks against Iran. Video clips from Sanders’s Tulsa “Fighting Oligarchy” rally that night reflect the gravity of the Iran news as it reached the public, and underscores how members of Congress—technically the body that should green-light a military action like the one launched Saturday, code-named Operation Midnight Hammer—were blindsided by the news. A TikTok showing the senator and his crowd absorbing the information together has already been viewed nearly 20 million times—with further millions of views in a tweet shared on X.
The video, taken at a distance from Sanders’s right-side profile, starts with an audience member shouting, “We just bombed Iran!” The senator then stops speaking briefly, until an aide brings him a printout of Trump’s statement from Truth Social, which Sanders reads aloud—“We have completed our very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran,” ending with “etcetera.” From here, the crowd breaks out into a series of “boos” that give way to a spontaneous, deafening chant of “No more war!”
Other videos taken at the event have emerged, including some from Sanders’s own social team, showing what happened next. The Senator agrees with the thrust of the chant, and describes the bombing as “so grossly unconstitutional.” He needn’t have said anything at all to get the same message across, though, since the footage of Sanders’s face during the moment between hearing the shout from the crowd and reading the Truth Social post says it all.
First, there is half a snort as it seems to dawn on Sanders that the crowd may have more information than he does. When the news appears to sink in, his mouth hangs open in slack-jawed surprise, and he turns to get confirmation from his aides. After one of them presumably confirms the news off-screen with a nod, the corners of Sanders’s mouth tighten into a sort of discombobulated grimace. Fury flashes across his whole face, leading to some wily eyebrow gymnastics.
As he pauses, signaling the need for more info, an aide rushes over with a printout of Trump’s Truth Social post. Upon laying eyes on it, Sanders shakes his head in the disgusted manner of someone disappointed despite already dismal expectations. He seems to simultaneously not believe what he’s reading and understand that it makes perfect, horrible sense. (“The look on Bernie’s face is all of us,” reads a typical reaction to the video on Bluesky.)
Part of the reason Sanders had the highest approval rating in the Senate as of January 16, according to Morning Consult, is because he is widely perceived as authentic. One of the many memes he’s inspired, after all, was based on his refusal to pretend the weather at Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 was anything less than soul-piercingly cold. This authenticity oozes out of the longtime anti-war politician in the rally clip, suggesting much of Congress was not informed in advance, let alone consulted, before the U.S. struck Iran.
While the folks who might be inclined to attend a Saturday night Bernie Sanders rally are not exactly a representative sample of all Americans’ political leanings, early evidence suggests the broader public mirrors their instant reaction to the bombing news. A YouGov survey of 2,824 U.S. adults on June 22 found 85% of respondents answering no to the question, “Do you want the U.S. to be at war with Iran?” Only 5% answered affirmatively.
Meanwhile, The New York Times checked back in with an ongoing panel of six 2024 Trump voters and found that two fully supported the Iran strike, two conditionally supported it, and two were against it. (“One of the big reasons I voted for him was him keeping us out of stuff in the Middle East,” said one in the latter category.)
Many other politicians on both sides of the aisle also came out against the strike. While no record exists of what their faces looked like when they heard the news, thanks to Sanders, it’s easier to imagine.
