Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin and running mate Mindy Finn made a stop in Logan on Friday. Before a speaking event on the campus of Utah State University, McMullin and Finn responded to recent death threats received from white nationalists.
McMullin said that the threats were reported to the authorities and that his campaign has taken adequate steps to safeguard personal safety.
“It’s shocking when you have someone attack you based on your faith or your race or your gender which is a hallmark of the Trump movement, it’s gotten worse,” McMullin said. “We have received death threats but we’ve reported those to the authorities appropriately and we’ve also taken appropriate countermeasures to ensure our security. The white supremacist movement has even called for a genocide of my faith (I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).”
At the beginning of the week, a series of robocalls went out to Utah voters from a self-described white nationalist who urged them to not vote for McMullin. Finn said that leaders in the Republican Party have enabled Donald Trump’s movement.
“These white nationalists and other hate groups are a small minority in this country but unfortunately with Donald Trump’s rhetoric, he’s stoked that anger, he’s normalized that behavior. This is why it’s so concerning that leaders have failed to repudiate him because they’ve used their credibility to then enable Donald Trump, who is normalizing this white nationalism, antisemitism and calling for Mormon genocide,” Finn said. “It’s one of the reasons that we’re in this fight because we believe that there is no place for that in a healthy democracy. There is no place for that in the country. Somebody has to stand up and push back against it.”
McMullin adds that if the GOP cannot or will not change, it will be time for conservatives to find another political home.
