Overflow Crowd for Donald Trump in Bernie Sanders’s Backyard A line formed outside for Donald J. Trump’s rally in Burlington, Vt. on Thursday, as more people tried to attend than the Flynn Center for Performing Arts could hold. Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for The New York Times
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Donald J. Trump touched down in one of America’s most progressive cities Thursday night, bringing the bombastic message that has captivated Republican voters into the backyard of a Democratic opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
The visit came as the billionaire real estate mogul has made a point of broadening his focus beyond the early primary states, showcasing his popularity with packed rallies from Mississippi to Massachusetts, and now Vermont — a onetime Republican bastion that is now one of the most solid liberal states in the nation.
The choice of venue seemed curious to some, but Thursday’s rally served multiple purposes for the Trump campaign: needling Mr. Sanders in his own neighborhood; garnering attention in nearby New Hampshire, which holds the nation’s first primary next month; and showing that the candidate can attract big crowds in a Democratic haven.
“They’re afraid to come up here because it has a tendency to be a little bit liberal, a little bit rough,” Mr. Trump said of his Republican rivals. “When you look at the candidates, I’m like the only one.”
A circuslike atmosphere greeted Mr. Trump as many more people tried to get into the event than the Flynn Center for Performing Arts could hold. A brass band played as demonstrators protested outside, and many waited hours to get into the rally, with organizers turning away activists who said they supported Mr. Sanders.
While much of Mr. Trump’s ire during the campaign has been directed at Hillary and Bill Clinton and Senator Ted Cruz as the voting nears, he has not hesitated to show his disdain for the policies of Mr. Sanders, whose socialist views he frequently derides. Thursday night was no different, as he accused Mr. Sanders of wanting to raise taxes sharply and called him a weakling for allowing Black Lives Matter activists to commandeer one of his rallies last year.
“Oh, I would love to run against Bernie,” Mr. Trump said to cheers. “That would be a dream come true.”
Offering a backhanded welcome ahead of his visit, Mr. Sanders said that he hoped some of Vermont’s progressive values might rub off on Mr. Trump. He also called Mr. Trump “a pathological liar.”
He added, “He just says things that have no basis in fact.”
While Mr. Sanders has said that he thinks his economic message could be appealing to Mr. Trump’s backers, Mr. Trump has also been promoting his potential to appeal to Democrats despite his criticism of the party’s leadership and policies.
In recent weeks, backers of Mr. Trump have even started a “ditch and switch” movement, urging Democrats and independents to join the Republican Party so that they can vote for Mr. Trump in primary elections.
On Thursday, many who waited to hear Mr. Trump speak said they thought he and Mr. Sanders have some things in common even though they sit on opposite ends of the political spectrum.
“I think he’s smart, and he has the best chance of winning support and maybe flipping the state,” Daniel Nadeau, 22, of St. Albans, Vt., said of Mr. Trump. “Bernie is my No. 1 choice, and Trump is No. 2. They’re not that different.”
Voters who were on the fence between the seemingly polar opposite candidates said both communicated well with working-class people and made strong cases for how they would improve the economy.
“I’m a Trump guy, but I do like Bernie,” said Peter Vincenzo, 59, who works installing hardwood floors and traveled from Ohio for the rally. “There are a lot of parallels between these two guys. There’s a populist appeal that comes with both of them.”
Mr. Trump’s visit brought a whirlwind of disruption to Burlington. To prevent supporters of Mr. Sanders from stealing the show, he released 20,000 tickets to a rally with a venue that holds just 1,400, leaving many out in the cold. Blocks of Burlington’s main corridor were shut as protesters held silent vigils and flooded the sidewalk and part of a nearby park waving anti-Trump signs.
One person who was did not make it into the event was Beth Griffin, 47, a letter carrier from Burlington, who stood with the group of demonstrators on Thursday night. She had reserved a ticket, but scrawled a peace sign and a heart on it instead of trying to get into the venue, hoping to quietly show her displeasure with Mr. Trump.
The line to get into the venue, she said, “is like nothing I’ve ever seen in Burlington.”
“Not for Phish, not on Free Cone Day, nothing,” she said, referring to the band and to the annual occasion when Ben and Jerry’s give out free ice cream.
Earlier in the day, even Ben Cohen, a co-founder of the iconic ice cream chain, got into protesting spirit as he walked down the street with a lit-up Sanders campaign sign.
“Trump is here in our backyard, and we want to make it clear that we are dyed-in-the-wool Bernie people,” Mr. Cohen said.
Despite the Trump campaign’s best efforts to filter out anyone who was not a fan of the candidate, protesters interrupted his remarks every few minutes during a meandering speech that lasted more than an hour.
Among promises to build a wall along the southern border, an explanation of how he plans to negotiate with Iran and a call to end gun-free zones in schools, Mr. Trump scolded protesters and told security to “get them out.” Supporters shook Trump signs as people were whisked away, creating a chaotic scene that belied the setting of a formal theater with gilded walls and a red curtain.
Through it all, Mr. Trump seemed amused, expressing pride in the fact that his events were not boring — as he said those of Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton were — while showing little sympathy for his critics.
“Don’t give him his coat,” Mr. Trump said as one man who spoke out against him was removed from the theater. “Take the coat. Confiscate the coat. It’s about 10 degrees below freezing outside.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/us/politics/overflow-crowd-for-donald-trump-in-bernie-sanderss-backyard.html 
