Gordon Monson: It’s time for LDS prophets and apostles to urge members not to vote for Donald Trump

It’s time.

Time for a prophet or apostles — somebody, anybody thought to be in touch with deity by believers, by those who so drastically need to hear a clear message — to come straight out and say what, apparently, still needs to be said about Donald Trump.

There may be pockets of individual Latter-day Saints who have done exactly that, present company included. My June column on Trump made plain my position, in part as a follower of the faith. Now, it needs to come directly from the top, prophetic and apostolic preaching to conned, confused congregants.

Namely, that the Republican nominee for president of the United States and leader of the free world, is not the kind of person for whom U.S. followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should vote, not without being hypocritical.

That opportunity was more than missed during the church’s recent General Conference, when none of the faith’s brass said anything about Trump, nor about the threat he poses to basic freedoms and traditions of our country, and maybe other countries, too, American traditions such as the peaceful transfer of presidential power. Believe what you will about public policy, about the issues of the day, but nobody with eyes to see and ears to hear can honestly turn away from what occurred at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and the subsequent lies that have been put forth and are continuing to be put forth by this candidate.

Instead, rather than speak out against Trump, the church leaned, wittingly or unwittingly, in the opposite direction. On Tuesday, it issued a news release about the faith’s supposed political neutrality, encouraging members to decide for themselves, followed by a scream-and-a-shout reminder about its position on a single issue that’s huge in next month’s election: abortion.

While that church position allows for abortion in some instances — cases of rape and when the mother’s health or the infant’s life is at risk — it discourages, on moral grounds, women opting for an abortion for other reasons. Democrat Kamala Harris has campaigned hard on restoring a woman’s right to choose for herself.

Attaching that specific reiteration with its statement on political neutrality could be misconstrued by some Latter-day Saints as a nudge toward voting for Trump, who has bragged about infusing the U.S. Supreme Court with justices who subsequently overturned Roe v. Wade (ending the constitutional right to abortion).

There was no balance in the church release, no mention, on moral grounds, of the church’s previous condemnation of the violent insurrection, stirred by Trump’s rhetoric, that took place at the U.S. Capitol, or another big issue in the race: immigration.

While Trump has derided many immigrants, calling them criminals and drug addicts and poison to the nation’s blood, conjuring threats of violence and antipathy toward them, the church has taken a merciful, accommodating stance on the issue.

On ‘moral grounds,’ he’s ‘unfit for office’

Regardless of the church’s claims of neutrality, there are times for exceptions. And this is one of them. Yes, on moral grounds, Trump has shown himself, and continues to show himself, unfit for the office he seeks.

Before those who haven’t yet understood what is so apparent turn to scratch and spit in disgust at that declaration, stop and stop again, and then stop some more to evaluate and reevaluate the way you’re leaning, if you care about your country and if you adhere to the principles that your church teaches in Sunday meetings.

That last part is important. And that’s why the anti-Trump message should come from top church leaders, all spelled out. Maybe then, most members will listen. Maybe. They always have their agency, of course, but their leaders are the ones who insist on declaring the need for personal integrity and asking the faithful in temple interviews if they are honest in all their interactions with others. They’re the ones who talk about Jesus and what he taught, stuff like what’s in the scriptural accounts of the New Testament, teachings such as the Beatitudes. They’re the ones who stress the significance of love, charity, kindness, benevolence, truthfulness, discipline, moral strength, moral rectitude, moral steadiness and trustworthiness. They’re the ones who urge all humans to treat other humans with respect and dignity. They’re the ones who emphasize obedience to the laws of the land. They’re the ones who have told their followers to vote for compassionate candidates who “demonstrate Christlike love and civility in political discourse.”

Nobody’s perfect, yeah, but how many of those characteristics does Trump model? How much of what those leaders just spoke of so passionately at General Conference does or has or would Trump exemplify? How many of the decent attitudes and dialogues that senior apostle Dallin Oaks called for at the conference does Trump exhibit? I know, I’m dancing up to the line with this column, with the criticism in it. But I’m not stooping to the juvenile and dangerous name-calling that Trump uses against anyone who doesn’t bend the knee to him. The fact that he’s a threat to our democracy and disregards the fundamentals of the U.S. Constitution, the ones that are inconvenient for him, is, indeed, a fact. What he says in his speeches is testament to that. His hateful phraseology aimed at whomever he targets, were he to be president again, gives permission for all citizens to use hateful speech, as well. It divides, it does not unify. And calling out Trump for his bullying, for his divisive approach does not fit into the same category. Inspired church leaders should know that.

As mentioned, those leaders have asked faithful member voters to properly judge the character of candidates, not just to rely on familial tradition in party affiliation or straight-ticket voting. They requested that voters examine that character and make determinations on it.

Were those messages strong enough? Polls continue to show the Latter-day Saint vote remains strong for Trump. Abortion or no abortion — virtually nobody will agree with a candidate on every issue — how can anyone who considers the vast majority of the tenets of their religion important disregard them when it comes to casting a vote for president?

It’s truly baffling.

Constitution is on the line

A church that underscores time and again for its members to set a good, charitable example for the world, to let the light of Christ shine forth as a representation of what their beliefs and their church stand for, should speak up and out now. It can extend some form of forgiveness after Trump is kept out of the Oval Office, even if the courts don’t.

Is Trump honest? No honest person can answer that question with a “yes.”

Those who say, “All politicians are liars,” would be hard-pressed to find many presidential candidates who have borne false witness more than Trump. Lying has become a habit for the man. An easy one, on the stump, in debates, in his life. He was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in paying off a porn star for an alleged dalliance as a means of improving his chances of being elected. He’s been found liable for sexual abuse. He’s bragged about inappropriately grabbing women and getting away with it. He’s done things to people that most, if not all, Latter-day Saints would object to were he to do such things to them or those they care about. He asserts, with no evidence, that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, and if he loses this time, he might do so again.

And yet, many Latter-day Saints are still willing to vote for him to occupy the office of this country’s president, somehow dismissing his behaviors as made up or insignificant.

At no time in my life, nor in the lives of any of the current Latter-day Saint prophets and apostles, has the Constitution been facing the threat it faces now. Isn’t it time for those leaders to send an unmistakable message to help save what’s most dear to the United States of America?

They might fear such a statement could threaten the church’s tax-free status or that Trump, if elected, would lash back at the church from his position of power or that some church members heretofore devoted to MAGA would walk away from the faith.

On the first fear, that’s unlikely. Other religions have spoken out on political, even partisan, issues without consequence. On the second one, would Trump dare damage, as members see their church, God’s true endeavor on Earth? On the third, members are faced with teachings now and again with which they struggle, which are thought to be tests of their faith. It happens. If that were the case after direction to help save the republic, so be it. It will be up to those Latter-day Saints to determine for themselves what’s most urgent regarding, as they believe, their eternal salvation.

Prophets and apostles are thought to be called to speak, to lead. If not now, on the eve of this particular monumental election, when?

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