A letter from Frank W. Fox addressed to “Arizona Mormons” is being circulated on social media and around the country. It has been picked up by various news outlets in the West such as the Salt Lake Tribune as well as nationally. Its distribution on Facebook is being supported by paid promotions, apparently by Fox himself.
Furthermore, not only has this letter been sent to many people in Arizona in mailings that were supported by the Democratic Party there, but at least one candidate for congress in Arizona has used it in her campaign efforts.
Fox is free to support whomever he chooses, but his denigration of President Trump, with documented falsehoods, needs to be called out. While Annie and I support Donald J. Trump for President, we are not, as Fox describes, members of “a mindless, militant personal following” who support the president. We recognize that Trump, like the rest of us, is imperfect.
While we are open about our support of President Trump for reelection, we are not blind to his failings. Our position is described quite well, however, in an excerpt of one of the sources we came across, a Facebook group, “LDS Fact Checker.”
Some have asked: Why would any Latter-day Saint ever vote for Trump when we all know Trump exaggerates excessively, tweets too much, viciously attacks his critics, and gloats and boasts ad nauseum? What is it that has convinced so many Latter-day Saints to “hold their noses” while mindfully and thoughtfully choosing to support Trump and vote for him?
Maybe it’s because they believe, as a popular Facebook meme states, that a vote is not a Valentine nor a way to profess one’s love for a candidate, but rather, it’s a strategic chess move—a strategy, designed to move the various chess pieces toward a desired end.
President Trump, despite his great weaknesses and flaws, has done more than any other president in the last several decades to protect the sanctity of life and religious freedom, and he has committed to continue doing the same if re-elected. Biden and Harris, on the other hand, have done the exact opposite in their political careers and have committed to continue to do the same if elected. Biden and Harris’ voting records on religious freedom, life, and on other critical issues of great concern to members of the Church speaks volumes.
This group describes itself as “Members concerned about confusing & harmful misinformation often perpetuated by media, social media and in public and political discourse in relation to life and family.” Their Facebook page was created on 14 October 2020, most likely in response to Fox’s efforts. The entire response of the group is located here. We found another, slightly shortly document that also takes issue with the various points of Fox’s attempted justification at his anti-Trump position, this one by Kevin Ray Hadlock.
We also subscribe wholeheartedly to the description of one political commentator, who recently said that the president “violates rhetorical norms on a daily basis,” which is an apt description. This commentator, Ben Shapiro, explains his views in this short video, which we strongly recommend. He states that although he did not vote for Trump in 2016, he is definitely voting for him this time. Our feeling is that people who consider themselves conservatives but who have doubts about voting for Trump would without a doubt benefit from watching what Shapiro has to say. For anyone who lacks the time to watch the video, the transcript of this video is available here.
Here are links to several additional interesting resources:
- Three Video Documents
These were created by “actor, writer, and director,” Darrin Southam. Southam is earnest and perhaps even a bit overdramatic, but the essence of his response to Fox’s letter is sound. - Comments written in reaction to the first video above:
- Thank you, thank you for making this video. I was so upset when I was sent this letter as an alumni of BYU. What a wonderful rebuttal. We need to stand up to falsehoods and lies. We need President Trump desperately to continue to support our freedoms as written in the Constitution. Thank you for your courage.
- I keep hearing that quote about ” Imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. ” played over and over in my head. Anyone who wants to condemn president Trump over his imperfections ought to be thankful that our Savior, Jesus Christ doesn’t condemn them for their own imperfections.
- Amazing!!! Thank you for saying so eloquently what so many of us felt after reading Prof. Fox’s letter. God bless America! And God protect all true freedom fighters!
- I about puked when this professor bet his eternal salvation that the brethren were not supporting Trump. He doesn’t know and neither do I. Thank you for putting this together.
- Use of the Fox Letter by Joan Greene, Democratic Candidate for Arizona’s 5th Congressional District
- The Pro-Abortion Position of Senators Biden and Harris.