'He wasn’t invited': Coachella officials say Trump 'ain't like us' in frosty rally welcome

The mayor of Coachella — home of the world-famous Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival — slammed former President Donald Trump, who plans to hold a campaign rally in the area this weekend, noting the MAGA leader "ain't like us."

Trump plans to deliver remarks at a rally in Coachella on Saturday at 5 p.m. In a news release Monday announcing the event, the Trump campaign said that under Kamala Harris and her "dangerous" Democrat allies, the "notorious 'California Dream' has turned into a nightmare for everyday Americans."

The Trump campaign blamed the vice president for housing affordability, rising gas prices and "crippling inflation."

"If this is the California Dream, it’s every American's worst nightmare," the campaign said.

The news came as a surprise to government officials in the area, particularly as California isn't viewed as one of the swing states in the 2024 election.

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“The City of Coachella was proud to welcome Senator Bernie Sanders during the 2020 primary election, but news of former President Trump’s upcoming visit has been met very differently,” Mayor Steve Hernandez said, according to California City News. “Trump’s attacks on immigrants, women, the LBTQ community and the most vulnerable among us don’t align with the values of our community. He has consistently expressed disdain for the type of diversity that helps define Coachella. We don’t know why Trump is visiting near Coachella, but we know he wasn’t invited by the people who live here. He ain’t like us.”

Meanwhile, Indio City Councilmember Waymond Fermon called Trump “a threat to our needs and to democracy itself," according to the news outlet.

Mike Madrid, co-founder of the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project and California City News — as well as a former California Republican Party official — told the outlet that Trump "isn’t just rallying in Riverside County."

"He’s using it as an ad for Fox News," he said. "Rallying in a deep blue state with a lot of Latinos is exactly the message he wants to convey."