The crowd at a City Park rally on Saturday listened and cheered as critics of President Trump ticked off a litany of grievances they have with the nation’s leader.
Demonstrators expressed dismay with Trump’s agenda at the outset of his second term, and the speakers, drafted from the ranks of Democrats and left-leaning advocates, condemned the president.
The final featured speaker of the event, though, delivered a broadside against Trump with some of the most pointed words of the rally. Caroline Gleich, a Democrat from the Snyderville Basin who unsuccessfully sought a seat in the Senate in 2024, spoke for seven minutes as she tore into the administration. She covered topics that have wide interest in the Park City area and at the forefront of the national discussion. Gleich at moments picked apart certain aspects of the president’s agenda and at other times called for action.
“We’re here, not because we actually really want to be here, but because of a moral obligation. How many would rather be skiing today? Let’s be honest. How many would rather be running, biking, doing anything, cleaning our garage? We are here because our country is in crisis. And it is up to us to keep showing up and speaking up,” she said.
The crowd, estimated at 200, repeatedly applauded as Gleich spoke. The event was held on the same day as numerous others across the country. Gleich and the other speakers seemed emboldened even as Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress.
Her remarks sometimes resembled a political stump speech, even as she spoke more than five months after being trounced on Election Day by now Sen. John Curtis, who previously represented much of Summit and Wasatch counties as U.S. representative. She said books and pride flags have been banned as she also contended public lands have been put on the market.
“What we’re witnessing today — the erosion of our democratic institutions, the gutting of science and environmental protection, the political purges — it’s not just a bad policy agenda, it’s authoritarianism plain and simple,” she said.
Gleich, a ski mountaineer and advocate for the environment, said the administration’s policies “are already hurting Utah families and many more are going to suffer” as he weakens environmental programs and public health agencies. She said the country is “deeply vulnerable to future pandemics” after the president “hollowed out” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
“He’s fired public servants and replaced them with political loyalists. And once these agencies are gone, once they’re stripped to the bone, we may never be able to rebuild them,” she said.
She briefly addressed foreign policy, saying Trump is a “national embarrassment” who is “straining our international alliances and shaming the ideals we claim to stand for.” She also said Trump is “silencing scientists, criminalizing dissent and dismantling the very machinery of democracy.”
“So what do we do? We don’t wait for someone to save us. We save each other,” she said.
Gleich rattled off a series of issues and how people could respond to the administration. They included:
- “Because when Trump guts the CDC, we become the public health response, distributing supplies, checking on our seniors, sharing trusted information.”
- “If he dismantles the EPA, it is up to our community to protect our air, water and land with local policies, grassroots resistance and hands-on stewardship.”
- “If he fires scientists, it’s up to us to amplify them.”
- “If he silences teachers, we teach truth in our communities.”
- “If he strips away labor protections, we organize unions and we strike together.”
- “If he dismantles democracy, we become the grassroots government of care, justice and love. Because when the safety net disappears, it’s up to our community to become the safety net.”
Gleich also spoke of a desire for Democrats to ensure the party has candidates in all campaigns in the heavily Republican state.
“We run for office and we make sure we take the power back. We contest every single seat up and down the ballot in every county in Utah. We do not let any Republican run for any seat unopposed,” she said.
Gleich said people “may be scared, but we do the hard thing anyway, because the alternative is so much scarier.”
“Park City, I believe in you. I believe in us. And I believe that, together, we can fight authoritarianism and we can win,” she said.