The recent booing and catcalling of Sen. Mitt Romney at the Utah Republican Convention causes one to wonder about the values of a political party dominated by Latter-day Saints/Mormons who are compelled by their religion to be values centered, which, presumably, includes voting your conscience in general and protecting what Latter-day Saints like Romney (and presumably other Utah Republicans, including those calling Romney a traitor) consider the God-inspired U.S. Constitution.
Romney’s unforgivable transgression? Twice voting to impeach Trump. Unlike minority House Leader Kevin McCarthy who first condemned Trump’s involvement in the attack on Congress, then groveled back to Mar-a-Lago to pay obeisance to The Donald.
In a state where much of the Republican Party is guided by singular principles of religious doctrine and decorum, the incident of disrespect for a politician by the very people who elected him calls to mind a curious question regarding a widely held (if often discredited) belief: the “White Horse Prophecy,” which foretells of “the last days” (presumably ours) when the Constitution will “hang by a thread” and the “Elders of Zion” will be called upon to rescue it and our democracy.
Whether or not one accepts the prophecy or the LDS church’s discrediting it, one might have assumed we at least understood the meaning of the words. We thought we would agree upon when and how the Constitution was “hanging by a thread” and how it might be rescued. And although it is an ambiguous assertion, we all had a general idea what it would mean for the “Elders of Zion” to save it — presumably Mormon politicians acting with courage and integrity to prevent a demagog or a hoard of them from violating the constitution and thus imperiling our democracy.
The jeering at the Utah Republican convention suggests otherwise.
While Democrats believe Trump was committed by temperament and demagoguery to assail the Constitution whenever and however it hindered his own quest for power and autonomy, 70% of Republicans believe Trump to be God’s lone bastion and defense of their rights under the Constitution — and our democracy itself.
While Democrats believe democracy and individual rights have been protected by the election of President Biden, the majority of Utah Republicans appear to believe that Biden (Gog or Magog) has ascended to the presidency for the specific purpose of destroying their independence and denying their religious liberties
The chasm that exists between Republicans and Democrats is not only an expression of political differences and a shared quest for power, but an acknowledgement that we cannot agree even upon the meaning of the words we use. And Republican affection for Trump evidences that this ambiguity can be weaponized to enflame prejudice and direct outrage to more effective outcomes than reasonable difference and debate.
A Buzzfeed analysis of the leading demonstrably fake news stories about the 2016 presidential election received more engagement on Facebook than top stories from major media outlets. Which might be a useful conversation if we could agree upon what constitutes “fake news,” a term originally meaning propaganda intended to subvert the truth, but repurposed and manipulated by Trump and his followers to an ambiguity meaning any news with which we do not agree.
Romney’s question to the crowd, “Aren’t you embarrassed?” was not answered. Nor can it be by a body politic that does not agree on what “embarrassed” means or what color a white horse is.
Robert A. Rees, Ph.D. Visiting Professor & Director of Mormon Studies Graduate Theological Union Berkeley, Calif.
Robert A. Rees, Ph.D., is a visiting professor and director of Mormon studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Calif.
Clifton Jolley
Clifton Jolley, Ph.D., is president of Advent Communications, Ogden.
