"We're here in so-called 'conservative' Utah, and tomorrow we're gonna be in Idaho," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. "Because we believe that in every state of this country, people are prepared to stand up and fight."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) appear before a crowd of 20,000 people in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 13, 2025.
(Photo: Bernie Sanders/X.com)
Jake Johnson
Apr 14, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew a crowd of more than 20,000 people in Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday for the latest stop on the progressive duo's "Fight Oligarchy" tour, which has attracted energized audiences across the United States as public anger at the Trump administration mounts.
"We're here in so-called 'conservative' Utah, and tomorrow we're gonna be in Idaho. Because we believe that in every state of this country, people are prepared to stand up and fight," Sanders (I-Vt.) told the crowd gathered in Salt Lake City's Huntsman Center.
Roughly 4,000 people were in the overflow crowd outside the Huntsman Center, according to the Vermont senator's communications director. President Donald Trump won the state of Utah by more than 20 percentage points in the 2024 election.
"We are living in the most dangerous moments in the modern history of this country," Sanders told the Salt Lake City audience. "We are living in a moment where a handful of billionaires control our government... We do not want a government of the billionaire class, by the billionaire class, for the billionaire class—we want a government that represents all of us."
Sanders' remarks followed a fiery speech by Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who has emerged as a leading voice against the Trump administration and outspoken critic of the Democratic leadership's capitulation in the face of what the progressive lawmakers characterized as a growing authoritarian threat.
"We are at a crossroads in America," said Ocasio-Cortez. "We can either have extreme and growing wealth inequality with the toxic division and corruption that it requires to survive, or we can have a fair economy for working people along with the democracy and freedoms that uphold it."
"Oligarchy or democracy," she added, "but we cannot have both."
Watch the rally in full:
The Salt Lake City event came after a week in which Trump continued to wreak global havoc with his billionaire-enriching tariff chaos and Republicans in Congress moved ahead with another round of tax breaks for the wealthy—giveaways they want to pay for, in part, with massive cuts to Medicaid and federal nutrition assistance.
"It does not surprise us that their first economic mission has been to target Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, firing our federal workers, and cutting benefits from our veterans for hundreds of billions of dollars, so that they can hand that money off to the wealthiest," Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday.
The Utah event came days after Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez appeared before a crowd of 36,000 in Los Angeles, which the Vermont senator described as "our biggest rally ever."
"When Donald Trump looks out at this crowd—and they pay attention to this stuff, Elon Musk does—you are scaring the hell out of them," Sanders said at the Los Angeles rally. "Because they know what we know: They are the 1% and we are the 99%." \
Following Record-Breaking LA Rally, Sanders Takes Fighting Message to Coachella
"We need you to stand up to fight for justice—fight for economic justice, social justice, and racial justice," Sanders told the festivalgoers.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is seen on giant screens as he speaks on stage during the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 12, 2025 in Indio, California.
(Photo: Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)
Olivia Rosane
Apr 13, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders capped off a record-breaking Los Angeles stop on his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour with Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday by making a surprise appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California.
Sanders took the festival stage Saturday night to introduce singer-songwriter Clairo—whom he praised for using her platform to fight for women's rights and "to try to end the terrible, brutal war in Gaza." Before introducing the singer, he shared a message with the young people in the crowd.
"The country faces some very difficult challenges, and the future of what happens to America is dependent upon your generation," Sanders said to cheers. "Now you can turn away and you can ignore what goes on, but if you do that, you do it at your own peril. We need you to stand up to fight for justice—fight for economic justice, social justice, and racial justice."
Sanders criticized U.S. President Donald Trump in particular for his denial of the climate emergency.
"Now we've got a president of the United States," Sanders began, only to be interrupted by a chorus of boos.
"I agree," he said, continuing to lament that Trump "thinks climate change is a hoax. He is dangerously wrong."
"You and I are going to have to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and tell them to stop destroying this planet," Sanders said.
He also urged the audience to stand up for women's rights, an economy that prioritizes the working class over billionaires, and the right to healthcare.
His speech at Coachella came after he addressed a crowd of tens of thousands with Ocasio-Cortez at Los Angeles' Gloria Molina Grand Park Saturday afternoon. Writing on social media, Sanders said the event drew a crowd of 36,000, breaking the record he and the New York representative set in Denver in March.
"Your presence here today is making Donald Trump and Elon Musk very nervous," Sanders said as he announced the record to the crowed.
The pair repeated many of the themes that have defined the "Fight Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here" tour since Sanders launched it in February to counter both the billionaire takeover of the U.S. government and the move toward authoritarianism under Trump.
"We're living in a moment where a handful of billionaires control the economic and political life… We're living in a moment where the president has no understanding or respect for the Constitution of the United States, and let us make no doubt about it, moving us rapidly toward an authoritarian form of society," Sanders said Saturday afternoon, as the Los Angeles Daily Newsreported.
"And, Mr. Trump, we ain't going down," he said.
Ocasio-Cortez called out "Trump's corrupt and disastrous tariff scheme" that played out over the past week, in which the president announced new tariffs on Tuesday only to declare a pause when the market fell, causing it to rally again. The incident has sparked suspicions of insider trading.
"It's been despair every day. And being around all these people and hearing these messages is helpful right now."
"I hope that we all see now that the White House's tariff shuffle here didn't have anything to do with manufacturing like they claimed," she said. "It was about manipulating the markets. It was about hurting retirees and everyday people in the sell-off, so Trump could quietly enrich his friends whom he nudged to buy the dip before reversing it all in the morning."
AOC also criticized the culture of playing the stock market in U.S. Congress, saying the body and its members "have somehow conditioned itself to actually believe that it is normal for elected representatives who swear an oath to the American people to day trade individual stocks that make millions with the sensitive information we are entrusted with for the purpose of governing."
"How can anyone possibly make an objective vote on healthcare, energy, or war when their personal money is tied up in pharmaceutical, oil and gas, or defense company stock?" she asked, before concluding, "They can't."
At Saturday's rally, the two lawmakers were also joined by musical guests Neil Young, Joan Baez, The Red Pears, Maggie Rogers, Indigo de Souza, and the Raise Gospel Choir, as well as other progressive politicians and community leaders including Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), District 1 LA City Councilmember Eunissess Hernandez, California Labor Federation President Lorena Gonzalez, and SEIU President April Verrett.
The event inspired hope in several of the 36,000 attendees, with Myylo Lewis of Silver Lake, California tellingThe Guardian that Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders were the "closest thing to a version of America you actually want to live in."
"I needed this right now," 32-year-old Tracy Setto of Palmdale told the Los Angeles Daily News. "It's been despair every day. And being around all these people and hearing these messages is helpful right now."
David Rasmussen, meanwhile, felt inspired.
"We've all got to rise up together, fight it, push it back, make something else happen because this cannot go on," Rasmussen toldAl Jazeera.
The Los Angeles event was the first in a five-day Western swing of the tour. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez will next appear in Salt Lake City on Sunday evening, followed by stops in Nampa, Idaho; Bakersfield, California; Folsom, California; and Missoula, Montana.
"The American people, whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents, do not want billionaires to control our government or buy our elections," Sanders said in a statement announcing the Western part of his tour. "They do not want Republicans to decimate Social Security and the Veterans Administration. They do not want huge tax breaks for the wealthiest people in the country paid for by massive cuts to Medicaid and other programs that working families rely on. That is why I will be visiting Republican-held districts all over the Western United States. When we are organized and fight back, we can defeat oligarchy."
"We need you to stand up to fight for justice—fight for economic justice, social justice, and racial justice," Sanders told the festivalgoers.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is seen on giant screens as he speaks on stage during the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 12, 2025 in Indio, California.
(Photo: Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)
Olivia Rosane
Apr 13, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders capped off a record-breaking Los Angeles stop on his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour with Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday by making a surprise appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California.
Sanders took the festival stage Saturday night to introduce singer-songwriter Clairo—whom he praised for using her platform to fight for women's rights and "to try to end the terrible, brutal war in Gaza." Before introducing the singer, he shared a message with the young people in the crowd.
"The country faces some very difficult challenges, and the future of what happens to America is dependent upon your generation," Sanders said to cheers. "Now you can turn away and you can ignore what goes on, but if you do that, you do it at your own peril. We need you to stand up to fight for justice—fight for economic justice, social justice, and racial justice."
Sanders criticized U.S. President Donald Trump in particular for his denial of the climate emergency.
"Now we've got a president of the United States," Sanders began, only to be interrupted by a chorus of boos.
"I agree," he said, continuing to lament that Trump "thinks climate change is a hoax. He is dangerously wrong."
"You and I are going to have to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and tell them to stop destroying this planet," Sanders said.
He also urged the audience to stand up for women's rights, an economy that prioritizes the working class over billionaires, and the right to healthcare.
His speech at Coachella came after he addressed a crowd of tens of thousands with Ocasio-Cortez at Los Angeles' Gloria Molina Grand Park Saturday afternoon. Writing on social media, Sanders said the event drew a crowd of 36,000, breaking the record he and the New York representative set in Denver in March.
"Your presence here today is making Donald Trump and Elon Musk very nervous," Sanders said as he announced the record to the crowed.
The pair repeated many of the themes that have defined the "Fight Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here" tour since Sanders launched it in February to counter both the billionaire takeover of the U.S. government and the move toward authoritarianism under Trump.
"We're living in a moment where a handful of billionaires control the economic and political life… We're living in a moment where the president has no understanding or respect for the Constitution of the United States, and let us make no doubt about it, moving us rapidly toward an authoritarian form of society," Sanders said Saturday afternoon, as the Los Angeles Daily Newsreported.
"And, Mr. Trump, we ain't going down," he said.
Ocasio-Cortez called out "Trump's corrupt and disastrous tariff scheme" that played out over the past week, in which the president announced new tariffs on Tuesday only to declare a pause when the market fell, causing it to rally again. The incident has sparked suspicions of insider trading.
"It's been despair every day. And being around all these people and hearing these messages is helpful right now."
"I hope that we all see now that the White House's tariff shuffle here didn't have anything to do with manufacturing like they claimed," she said. "It was about manipulating the markets. It was about hurting retirees and everyday people in the sell-off, so Trump could quietly enrich his friends whom he nudged to buy the dip before reversing it all in the morning."
AOC also criticized the culture of playing the stock market in U.S. Congress, saying the body and its members "have somehow conditioned itself to actually believe that it is normal for elected representatives who swear an oath to the American people to day trade individual stocks that make millions with the sensitive information we are entrusted with for the purpose of governing."
"How can anyone possibly make an objective vote on healthcare, energy, or war when their personal money is tied up in pharmaceutical, oil and gas, or defense company stock?" she asked, before concluding, "They can't."
At Saturday's rally, the two lawmakers were also joined by musical guests Neil Young, Joan Baez, The Red Pears, Maggie Rogers, Indigo de Souza, and the Raise Gospel Choir, as well as other progressive politicians and community leaders including Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), District 1 LA City Councilmember Eunissess Hernandez, California Labor Federation President Lorena Gonzalez, and SEIU President April Verrett.
The event inspired hope in several of the 36,000 attendees, with Myylo Lewis of Silver Lake, California tellingThe Guardian that Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders were the "closest thing to a version of America you actually want to live in."
"I needed this right now," 32-year-old Tracy Setto of Palmdale told the Los Angeles Daily News. "It's been despair every day. And being around all these people and hearing these messages is helpful right now."
David Rasmussen, meanwhile, felt inspired.
"We've all got to rise up together, fight it, push it back, make something else happen because this cannot go on," Rasmussen toldAl Jazeera.
The Los Angeles event was the first in a five-day Western swing of the tour. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez will next appear in Salt Lake City on Sunday evening, followed by stops in Nampa, Idaho; Bakersfield, California; Folsom, California; and Missoula, Montana.
"The American people, whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents, do not want billionaires to control our government or buy our elections," Sanders said in a statement announcing the Western part of his tour. "They do not want Republicans to decimate Social Security and the Veterans Administration. They do not want huge tax breaks for the wealthiest people in the country paid for by massive cuts to Medicaid and other programs that working families rely on. That is why I will be visiting Republican-held districts all over the Western United States. When we are organized and fight back, we can defeat oligarchy."
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