Thread by @planetJoseph

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone I agree with your general points but unless you do have inside info, I think it’s faulty to assume that we’d be surprised how many church leaders vote dem. What we do know, just from my own personal experience and observation, is the following:

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone 1. Ezra Taft Benson created a rhetoric around political and religious identity that established the fusion of right wing with righteous. This is still a burning conviction among the majority of active Latter-day Saints.

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone A former president of the 70 (general authority) and brother of an apostle (Oaks) took to the church-owned platform to advocate for trump, while running his Utah election effort in 2016, when 61% of active LDS voted for Trump.

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone 3. That apostle’s daughter, who had been massively platformed by the church and church owned Deseret book, who gives spiritual firesides and makes social media videos giving spiritual advice to missionaries, used her platform to insinuate LDS for Trump in 2020

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone 4. I was at a music and the spoken word a few years ago when Glenn Beck happened to be there as a visitor like me, but he was sat in the premium seats, recognized from the pulpit and given a standing ovation. In the tabernacle.

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone 5. I’ve sat with an apostle’s son and wife, a state rep, who just returned from being mission presidents, and listened to them spew the most hateful right wing and racist rhetoric. This guys dad, and 2 other men on his father’s side have been apostles, so if the pattern holds...

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone 6. I watched as the church sent its musical ambassador for good, the beloved tabernacle choir, to Trump’s inauguration, for an election much closer than this one, where he didn’t even win the majority of votes. And where his campaign was marred with immoral controversy.

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone 7. I’ve seen for 2 decades the church’s publishing company and bookstore, Deseret book, feature and promote right wing pundits on its shelves, beyond Glenn Beck.

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone I watched in dismay as a Utah resident, publicly known exclusively for her high profile as a church leader, tap into that notoriety to pray at a rally for Trump. The symbolism is right there.

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone I saw a church dead silent on the children and families being separated at the border, until there was substantial enough backlash from people and press that it issued a brief and nonspecific condemnation via its newsroom....

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone While they sent an apostle to make a video to advocate for a Utah specific minor liquor law. And had letters read over the pulpit advocating for certain marijuana policies.

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone I’ve seen the church publicly excommunicate liberals, activists, feminists and others, including someone who was agitating for more protection-oriented policies for children, while Julie rowes, daybell types, Bundy fundamentalists, and more have thrived.

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone There is a lot of winking and nodding. And not a lot of courage to specifically condemn the toxic culture the right wing=righteous people have made among the community of the faithful.

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone I read reports of Harry Reid trying to give a fireside in evade while he was a senator and having to call it odd because death threats and trucks showing up at the stake center to block it.

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone Speaking of Reid, I was at byu when he gave the devotional, while he was Senate Majority Leader. When he closed in the name of Christ and said amen, a kid screamed “don’t believe Harry he’s a gadianton robber” and no one...did anything. Went right to the prayer.

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone What we have known regarding political affiliations among high ranking church leaders is that the dems stick out because they are so rare. And they keep more quiet because they don’t use their position of ecclesiastical authority to insinuate political ideology like others have.

@ZogUte @PVCarter3 @JoshyTheBone The result is in 2020 we have 71% of the active LDS population backing Trump, many of whom are deciding that refusing election outcomes (after 50+ lost court cases and many recounts/certifications of election) and tossing the church under the bus is a normal reaction to have.