'They want it all': Bernie Sanders condemns billionaires during Salt Lake rally

SALT LAKE CITY — Thousands of Utahns welcomed Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to a Utah stage with lengthy standing ovations Sunday as the pair railed against the Trump administration and his wealthy donors — many of whom are now working for the government.

Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, returned often to his long-standing critique of the wealthiest 1% of Americans, urging attendees to push back against corporate and special interests and stand in solidarity with working class people.

"They ain't gonna give you nothing," Sanders told the crowd gathered in the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City Sunday evening. "They want it all, and unless we stand up together and tell them: 'Sorry, this country belongs to all of us, not just the billionaire class,' unless we bring our people together, we will never achieve the goals that we want."

"Ninety-nine percent is a hell of a lot larger number than 1%," he added.

Sanders' rally was the latest in a string of events held in conservative districts, as the 83-year-old senator and former presidential candidate has sought to claim the mantle of resistance in the early days of President Donald Trump's second administration. It was also the latest chance for Utahns to vent anger with the administration's efforts to dismantle parts of the federal government and send residents to a prison in El Salvador without due process.

New York Democrat Ocasio-Cortez called the administration's detention of Mahmoud Khalil for his role in protests over the war in Gaza at Columbia University "anti-American" but said it's not too late for opponents of Trump to push back on actions they deem unconstitutional.

"We must acknowledge the terrifying moment that we are in right now, and what we are hearing and seeing with our own eyes is in fact happening," she said. "We are watching as neighbors, students, friends are being fired, targeted and disappeared."

Thousands of Utahns cheering as Sen. Bernie Sanders takes the stage at a "Fighting Oligarchy" tour at the Huntsman Center. pic.twitter.com/S4JmQ7qped

— Bridger Beal-Cvetko (@BealBridger) April 14, 2025

Ocasio-Cortez accused Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis, and Reps. Blake Moore and Celeste Maloy, of supporting "tax cuts and sweetheart deals" in Congress. The nation's laws on campaign finance have allowed billionaires to wield disproportionate political power — antithetical to democratic principles, she said.

"We are at a crossroads — oligarchy or democracy, but we will not have both," she said.

Members of Congress should be banned from trading individual stocks, Ocasio-Cortez argued to raucous applause, asking: "How can anyone possibly make an objective vote on health care, energy or war when their personal money is tied up in pharmaceutical companies, oil companies or defense companies?"

She urged people to consider running against incumbent Republicans in Utah, even if the odds feel slim.

"From the waitress who is now speaking to you today, I can tell you, impossible is nothing," she said. "Miracles start with the faith of mustard seeds ... and that's what you represent today."

"Hate is a trap that sinks us all, and in standing together ... to reject divisions is the only way we can win," she added.

Much of the 15,000-seat arena was filled an hour before the speaking program was scheduled to start as hundreds more poured out of TRAX trains and into the Huntsman Center. A handful of protesters positioned outside entrances waved "Make America Healthy Again" and "Let's Go Brandon" flags, while others circled the block waving a "Trump 2024" flag out the window of an SUV.

Seats in the arena were mostly full by the time Ocasio-Cortez took the stage, and several thousand others watched the event on screens outside. Sanders estimated some 20,000 people were in attendance. Although he spoke in front of some 36,000 in Los Angeles a day earlier, the senator said the turnout in Utah is "in many ways ... more impressive."

"We are here in so-called conservative Utah, and tomorrow we are going to be in Idaho because we believe that in every state of this country, people are prepared to stand up and fight back," he said.

The thousands inside the arena clapped and swayed to local performers Talia Keys and I Don't Know How But They Found Me, and sang and danced as Chappell Roan's "Pink Pony Club" blared from the speakers before the speaking program began.

State Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Millcreek, kicked off the evening and nearly brought down the house with applause when he called out Utah's Republican leaders in the Legislature and referred to Gov. Spencer Cox as a "cowardly governor."

"What I've always appreciated about Bernie Sanders and AOC is that they know how to stand up to bullies," he said. "My colleagues in the Legislature — they have a habit of bullying refugees and immigrants. ... They just care about power and money."

Drawing on the night's theme of "Fighting Oligarchy," Blouin criticized the power the world's richest man, Elon Musk, wields in Trump's Washington.

"Utah pioneered the Trump-Musk agenda and made bad policy one of our biggest exports. Maybe they could put a tariff on that," he quipped.

Organizers walked the lines outside the arena, asking attendees to add their names to the tens of thousands who have already backed a referendum effort seeking to overturn Utah's law banning collective bargaining for public unions. Blouin boosted that effort from the stage, saying the law is "straight out of the Project 2025 playbook," referring to the conservative Heritage Foundation's blueprint for Trump's second presidency.

"We have got to keep up the pressure and get the referendum on collective bargaining across the finish line this week," Blouin said. "There's energy in this state to make real change I haven't felt before. ... Let's get to work."

Sarah Buck, an activist with Salt Lake Indivisible, urged the crowd to call their representatives in Congress, saying Utah's two senators and four representatives are in part to blame for Trump's handling of the economy — as tariffs have roiled the stock markets for the second week, and forecasters project the odds of a recession have gone up.

"The mess they are creating is theirs. Make them own it," Buck said.

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez spoke for over an hour combined, interrupted briefly when Sanders paused to direct medical attention to someone in the crowd. When the crowd drowned out his speech with chants of "AOC, AOC," referring to the New York representative, Sanders paused and said: "It's not AOC, and it's not Bernie, it is you. You don't need leaders, we need a mass movement of millions of people."

"Because as all of you know," he continued, "we are living in the most dangerous moment in the modern history of this country. I wish I could not have to tell you that, but it is simply true. We are living in a moment where a handful of billionaires control our government."

The issue extends to both parties, he said: "Corruption exists in the Democratic Party as well."

While the U.S. has made progress on racial and gender equality rights in recent decades, Sanders said wealth inequality has only grown, threatening future progress on behalf of voters.

"We've got to deal with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality," he said. "We're not going to give tax breaks to billionaires, we're going to demand that they pay their fair share."

Both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have been called out for political hypocrisy, specifically on their attacks against the wealthy.

Conservative political commentator Dave Rubin criticized politicians for chastising the upper class while enjoying the same luxuries.

"Bernie used to rail against millionaires. Then he became a millionaire and now he rails against billionaires," Rubin said, also pointing out the New York Post story last week, which showed Ocasio-Cortez flying first class to Sanders' rally. "Nothing says, 'power to the people' like ignoring voters looking to say hello and reclining in first class while tweeting about income inequality," the flier who took the photo told the Post, which also reported that her first-class JetBlue seat likely cost upwards of $1,100.

"She is a larping socialist who has an awful lot of money, and she goes to rallies while flying in first class saying that she's one of the people," Rubin said. "And thankfully, the people are not buying it."

Contributing: Emma Pitts

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