You have to realize that every candidate in the race was Mormon whether Republican or Democrat. The power brokers and national big money were behind Mitt. Think Mitch McConnell. Religion had nothing to do with the race. The guy who won the caucus primary against Mitt was also a church member. Ben McAdams is a member in good standing. Harry Reid likewise is a member in good standing. Our team is very divided on many issues.

Here is one for you. Back in the day when Utah was far more heavily Mormon the public was going to vote on the repeal of prohibition. The church leadership came out against and told the members to vote no. It passed by a large margin and the members said they were sick of the feds sticking their noses into our business and harassing their neighbors. There is a libertarian streak within the church culture, but it is kind of under the surface and shows up when people vote. More recently Prop 2 for legalization of medical marijuana passed here against the church leadership. I wrote internally to church leaders and gave them hell for telling people to vote against prop 2 and I was not alone. The church leadership wound up backing down against the backlash. This was all done privately. Many of the members were livid. The Prop 2 campaign was run entirely by Mormons in good standing. We tend to be an organized bunch.

More recently there was a tax revolt. Our idiot legislature tried to push through a tax hike they swore was a tax cut during a special session right before Christmas. The public had only 2 weeks to put this thing on the ballot for repeal at the very worst time of year. The signatures came with many extra to spare. This past couple years the anger at the legislature has been bubbling over. The governor is pretty despised right now. He is not running again because he knows he can't win.

I am not from Utah and it is a very strange place indeed, but under the surface it gets more interesting. I can promise you we do not vote as a block. During the 2016 election no one at church said anything about Trump except a few with TDS who were ignored. He won overwhelmingly in my county and as I have gotten to know more people on a one to one basis my congregation is full of very based pedes. Also during the election my neighbor who is active in the Republican Party took me to a county meeting where Jason Chaffetz came to speak. He was talking about Benghazi and how he and his family were afraid for their lives while he was investigating. Very interesting, but during Q and A I gave him hell for saying he pulled his support of Trump because his little girls might some day use bad language. I felt I had to say something because I am a middle aged woman and it is harder culturally for men to defend Trump from the pussy grab comments. At any rate I figured I might upset people when I said his girls may leave Utah some day and they need to be tougher or they will be eaten alive. I told them back in my day girls were strong and could handle that kind of thing. What happened next blew my mind, I was backed up by all the grandmas and only two or three people in the room of around a hundred were bothered by the tape and not supporting Trump. Not long after Chaffetz said he would vote Trump reluctantly because Hillary really was that bad. At that point I was really seeing how strong the underground Trump support was.

Right now the media are still flogging anti Trump in Utah and delicate Mormon sensibilities. I can tell you as boots on the ground that Trump support has increased dramatically in these past 4 years. Peopel forget that there are far more blue collar workers than pearn clutching elites.

I believe the anti Mormons who show up here are just trolls trying to sow discord and they are the same ones advocating preemptive surrender. My most Trump hating friend during the election is from El Salvador and he has come around. He doesn't ike him as a person, but supports his policies 100% right now. It was not going to war with North Korea that got him. Now he understands what I saw in Trump. The trolls are a bunch of racists who think blacks and latinos are also too stupid to every vote Trump. What a way to lose