I was in Mississippi last week and a friend of mine asked me if Evan McMullen, the Bill Kristol/NeverTrump creation, could win the Senate seat held by Mike Lee.
My answer?
It ain’t impossible.
When I was the Chairman of the Summit County GOP, my Vice Chairman and I agreed on a plan to recruit and run as many Republicans for as many seats in county government as possible. Even if it was for dog catcher, we wanted to find and get good people to run for two reasons: the first to block Democrats from getting into government at any level and second, to build bench strength within our county to begin to capture even higher offices in the county, state and nationally. We wanted people we know, our friends and neighbors, to contend for offices rather than just the standard issue, off the shelf politicians.
My partner in crime, our Vice Chair, is now the Chair and is doing just that.
Her successes got me to thinking about how a total fraud, a slimy political grifter like Evan McMullen could present himself for election without getting run out of town on a rail, much less be considered a legitimate threat to Mike Lee.
Our county efforts were also focused on finding ways to prevent a once deep red state from turning purple, and eventually blue as many of our border states have done – and don’t think it can’t happen – Utah’s two largest metro areas, Provo/Salt Lake and St. George, have been being infiltrated by California liberals for decades. Salt Lake consistently elects Democrats to both city and county mayor offices and drew huge crowds for visits for Hillary and Bernie when they visited during the Dem primaries.
The Salt Lake County GOP is the most left-leaning in the state, the votes against censure from the Salt Lake County GOP formed the 89-vote margin protecting Mitt Romney during our state organizing convention a couple of years ago. They were the loudest voices against resolutions to ban CRT in Utah schools.
Look, Lee might not be your cup of tea, he has his faults as we all do, but I just don’t get how anyone could look at the constitutional stands Lee has taken and think adding Egon McMuffin to Utah’s other mistake, the carpetbagger and BLM marcher, Willard “Mittens” Romney, is a good idea.
A brace of wokesters is not something any conservative state should want.
We already have a governor who cried when, as he was gearing up to run for that office, he apologized to the LGBTQ community in Utah. He opposed efforts to block racist education in our schools and has been a weak and ineffective leader, all while earning cheers from the local media.
So, from whence comes this effort to elect these wokesters?
The local media outlets are all for Egon the McNificant. They have made it clear that Lee isn’t their choice.
And let’s not miss the role the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints plays in Utah politics – because the support of the church is often a make-or-break proposition for a candidate in this state. Why would an erstwhile “conservative” religious organization support someone like McWaffle or Mittens.
I have been told, and I have no proof it is true, that for a long time, there has been a schism forming within the LDS church, much like those that have developed in the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.), the Episcopal Church and even the Southern Baptists. There are forces, as exists other organizations from churches to corporations, that have seized on the history of the church (the exclusion of women, the treatment of LGBTQ and black members, etc.) to try to shame the church into liberalization to be something more “acceptable” to the world – in short they want to send the once staunchly conservative LDS faith down the same humanist path that we see other American Christian sects walking.
Of course, all cheered on by media outlets like the Salt Lake Tribune, one of the most left-wing, Democrat shilling newspapers in this nation. It is basically the Intermountain West version of the Washington Post with a worse editorial cartoonist.
As noted, I can’t speak as if this is a known fact to me, but it certainly mirrors the perspectives I have seen from the Salt Lake County GOP, which is dominated by LDS members. I think it is safe to assume the members of the Salt County party present a representative sample of the LDS church itself.
The LDS church is a driving force in Utah’s ideology, and for people like McMullen and Romney to garner the support they have, it is only through a significant amount of support from the church leadership.
Utah is at risk, folks.
I don’t think he will, but McMullen could win if conservatives don’t turn out for Lee. People forget that while Utah is large geographically, our population is less than four million - it doesn't take many people to shift who we send to Washington.
And that would be a disaster not only for Utah, but for this nation.
The answer to “What’s the matter with Utah” is similar to the rest of the country. Marxism in all it’s variants, Mormon included. As a member myself of a mostly misunderstood minority, I suspect the following. Young(er) Mormons are drawn to the siren song of socialism, old(er) Mormons feel persecuted and take religion into account. Assuming McMuffin is LDS, and knowing he’s as phony as a $3.00 bill, it’s enough to make him viable, where it shouldn’t. As an anti-leftist Hebrew heathen, I understand the seduction of a very successful minority to feel guilty and vote the Mea Culpa party, wrong as it is.
Mike, sadly you are falling into the common mindset trap of believing that Utah is still a majority of the LDS faith. That has not been the case for some years now.
On the other hand, Utah once had a much loved and admired Governor Scott Matheson, who was a Democrat. You can’t blame Utah too much for hoping to find the same caliber of man again.
Sadly too, a lot of liberals and con artists have also moved to Utah. And the LDS faith has their share of them too! I often have to remind myself (especially when Mittens Romney is waving his “I’m a Mormon!” Flag) that “Many are called, but few are _chosen_.”
I also notice a trend in your articles to “Mormon/LDS bash”, intentional or not.
Many move and have moved to Utah because we had very conservative values within our communities. I never saw a “dry County” until I moved to Arkansas. Yet, I have seen Utah pressured to change their liquor laws, and since “that worked” the same tactics are being used to change other laws and values within the State.
As you know, I am also a member of the Summit County GOP. And yes! We do need to get the citizens of Utah to wake up!!! I’m also running as a write-in candidate for Summit County Clerk.
We need more focus on people who are wanting to protect Utah and good solid values such as Ryan Wood aka Lady MAGA, USA who is a conservative, former Mormon, homosexual, drag artist who is trying his level _best_ to warn parents about the threats from the LGBTQ? Alphabet Soup that is trying so hard to indoctrinate our youth. He is from & lives here in Utah. He travels all over the USA, and has even received International coverage! Then you have Jonathan Harvey, a Muslim conservative also here in Utah both have podcasts. I am running because our election integrity has been questioned 4 times - 3 times by the Democrats and 1 time by the Republicans. I want to bring Summit County rural towns their polling sites back. I also want to conduct an audit after every election. If France can hand count their election votes, so can Utah!
So, Mike - how about less “Mormon Bashing” and more support for those of us like Ron Winterton, Mike Lee, Kera Birkeland, Marlo Oaks, Melanie Monestere and myself who are actually trying to save Utah from the New World Order? Democrats aren’t our “worst enemy” - the division and distractions “conflict in the ranks”, “racism”, “the pandemic”, etc. are just that - distractions to keep us from seeing the real problems and threats! ESG scores, undermining our confidence in our voting results, crypto-currency, CRT, common core, Transgendering our youth, etc.