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Cleveland • The Utahns at the Republican National Convention were often seen as agitators and Donald Trump foes. They sought to disrupt the nominating process and when that didn't work, they sat on their hands, responding glumly to the speeches and calls for party unity.
But the constant bashing of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate, and warnings about the future of the Supreme Court did have an effect. Trump may not have won the admiration of the Utah delegates, who gave his fiery nominating address a lukewarm response, but he convinced many of them they should support his campaign.
Apropos was the Rolling Stones song blaring in the arena as the balloons fell from the rafters after Trump's closing speech: "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need."
"I haven't forgotten all of his antics. I mean Trump doesn't have the character I want my kids looking up to in a president, but for me it comes down to Supreme Court nominations. If my only choice is Donald Trump making those nominations or Hillary Clinton, I'd rather have Donald Trump," said state Sen. Todd Weiler, whose wife, Elizabeth, was an alternate delegate. "It is him or Hillary and this week has helped crystallize that in my mind."
Gov. Gary Herbert, who continues to express reservations about Trump and holds out hope to have a meeting with the candidate in the near future — a scheduled meeting this week was canceled — said it was a start to making him more comfortable with the nominee.
"Some of the details and specifics are going to have to be worked on and certainly have to get some participation with Congress," Herbert said. "This is certainly a step in the right direction."
Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton said she planned to vote for the Republican nominee over Clinton, but the speech Thursday demonstrated for her why voters in other states seem drawn to Trump.
"The irony is what we hated about Trump, which is some of his brutal honesty and willingness to share his weaknesses and things, is what I think people love about him," she said.
Trump's culminating speech Thursday was, at times, met with ambivalence by the Utah delegation, most of whom remained seated through almost all of the speech, giving half-hearted applause at times.
In particular, Trump's tough talk on immigration and building a border wall appeared to fall flat, with Utah delegates sitting with arms folded and some shaking their heads.
As the speech went on, delegates appeared to lose interest and Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka fell asleep mid-speech.
The address may not have done much to ease residual hard feelings among supporters of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz from the perceived slights and booing of their candidate earlier in the week, but most said they will begrudgingly back Trump in November.
"I have no problem voting for Donald Trump to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House," said delegation chairman Phill Wright. "Look, most Utahns think Hillary Clinton should be in prison, so they'll vote for Trump and Utah will win with Trump."
Delegate Peter Greathouse, a Cruz backer, said the convention didn't change his feelings about Trump, "but he is our nominee and I will support him."
"It's reluctant support," said Greathouse. "He's the nominee. He's the one that went through the process and won. Some of it is, you move on."
Stan Lockhart, a former Utah Republican Party chairman, had been agonizing over this election, because he doesn't believe Trump is a conservative, but as he listened to the convention speeches, he began to see some benefits to having an aggressive candidate, who doesn't stick to the normal political rules, in fighting terrorism and tackling the national debt.
"When you look at Trump as [an] agent of addressing the real problems facing America, I'm becoming persuaded that he is the right answer," Lockhart said. "Because he is willing to address them head on, the hard issues. It is very compelling to me."
This metamorphosis for some of Utah's delegates was hard earned. The group, almost all of whom are Cruz-backers, wanted to reject the convention rules, hoping they could open up the nomination to others. They also sought to make sure their delegates ended up in Cruz's column, though party rules required that they went to Trump.
At the delegation's breakfast, the morning before Trump's big speech, Spencer Stokes, a lobbyist and former chief of staff to Sen. Mike Lee, told Utah's Trump skeptics they should at least fake enthusiasm during the big speech. "All I'm saying is let's do whatever we can tonight to appear to support the nominee."
But even before then, some of Utah's delegates had come to terms with their unorthodox candidate.
Selma Sierra, a delegate from Draper, was one of the most ardent Cruz supporters. She's decided it makes sense to vote for Trump, hope he wins and then push for him to be a one-term president.
"We know who Hillary Clinton is and what she is all about, I'm not quite sure about Donald Trump yet," she said. "I'm willing to take my chances."
Still, there are delegates like Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox and political consultant Ryan McCoy, who say they are not ready to line up behind Trump, though they are not closing the door on that option.
"I'd say there's a 50 percent chance I vote for Trump, 50 percent chance I vote for [Libertarian candidate] Gary Johnson or a Constitutional Party candidate," said McCoy.
"Trump's proven that the only person who matters in his world is himself and so, if I thought he was going to be more collaborative then I think the Pence pick would move me, but it definitely hasn't," he said.
McCoy, in a major departure from most of the delegates who gathered in Cleveland, doesn't see Clinton as an untenable choice and yet, even he won't consider voting for her this November.
"Hillary doesn't terrify me," he said. "I don't have grave concerns about Hillary's ability to lead the country or make good decisions, but she is not a candidate I would vote for. I'm a Republican."