I am an American who loves this country. My father and mother both were proud members of the U.S. Marine Corps. I was born within a large church-going family. I currently participate in a community Bible study group. I am not so different from you.
Yet here we are — on extreme sides of a divide that grows wider with each passing day. I feel compelled to make one last effort to reach out to you.
I beseech you to listen to those who previously worked for Trump who are now speaking out against him. Would you work for a boss who got such reviews from their former employees?
I beseech you to listen to professional historians. Even those who self-identify as conservative have ranked Trump’s previous presidency in the bottom five in the 2024 Edition of Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey. Do their years of study mean anything to you?
I beseech you to accept the decisions of more than 60 judges who determined that Trump’s claims of election fraud lacked merit. Are all of these judges biased?
I beseech you to honor our state’s past in welcoming immigrants and viewing them with compassion, not threats of mass deportation.
I beseech you to listen to women and their doctors who may legitimately and morally choose to have an abortion.
Most of all, I beseech you to see your fellow Americans as allies instead of enemies — as your fellow countrymen and women who have just as much a right to representation of their beliefs as you.
You are my brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces. I love you and cannot understand why you are willing to take such a risk with our beloved country. Please do not vote for Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance.
Anne Sheppard-Kurek, South Jordan
