I recently watched an episode of 60 Minutes where Gov. Spencer Cox was featured for asking if we could all stop hating our fellow Americans.
I want to understand how Cox can feel OK telling Americans to stop the hate after he endorsed and voted for the most hateful, antagonistic, and divisive president our nation has seen in recent history.
Donald Trump created this volatile moment we are facing when he spread rumors that President Obama wasn’t a U.S. citizen. When he made baseless accusations against the public servants who administer our elections. When he incited an angry mob to go after his own vice president, who refused to falsify election results. When he called Democrats more dangerous than foreign adversaries. When he told American voters that legal immigrants were eating their pets. And in a million different ways too numerous and exhausting for this forum.
Trump did all these things before Cox voted for him in 2024.
It would be nice if the president, who very much sets the tone, could lead by example. It would be nice if Gov. Cox would call the president out on his divisive and hurtful rhetoric. But even if he did, Trump wouldn’t listen, and he would likely respond by attacking Cox’s intelligence, character, and competence in a very public manner. We’ve all seen it happen to others in the president’s inner circle.
And now I’m supposed to take Cox seriously when he admonishes us to all stop hating our fellow Americans? Sir, my president hates me. Not just me, but a whole lot of Americans. And non-Americans. And you helped put him back in this role. How did you think giving him a second term would affect a political climate that was already dangerously close to boiling over?
Amy Pitt, Taylorsville
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