Letter: Senator Mike Lee’s disgrace
On Thursday, June 12, 2025, the Standard Examiner had a half-page article about Governor Cox expressing his support for President Trump sending the military to California as a show of force to stimulate fear among immigrants and US citizens in Los Angeles. That action did not tamp down the anger and violence. It only made it worse.
Governor Cox went on to say he wants Utah to be the best place for people to protest peacefully. He was hoping a violent protest would not happen in Utah. He even said if people want to be violent, they should “go to California”. That sounds very mean-spirited to me. We did have violence in Salt Lake City and sadly an innocent bystander was killed.
Politicians and other good faith leaders have condemned violent, mean-spirited rhetoric as a cause of violence. Governor Cox did not want Utah’s good reputation to be ruined by violence. He never mentioned the violence perpetrated by ICE, Homeland Security, the FBI, and even some local police against peaceful, hardworking, Immigrants. Governor Cox has said he did not want to see immigrant families separated. What has he done to prevent that happening?
Now Utah’s reputation has been ruined nation-wide by the cruel remarks Senator Mike Lee made about the murders of a Minnesota legislator and her husband and the attempted murder (17 bullet wounds) of another legislator and his wife. Lee blamed the violence on the victims calling them Marxists. He didn’t mention that the killer, Boelter, was a Trump fan and that he had a list in his car of 75 democrats he hoped to kill. Senator Lee caused so much pain to the families and loved ones of the 4 people shot. He wrote on X several times “joking” about the horrible event and promoting conspiracy theories and lies even while the killer was still on the loose.
I listened to 4 different national TV stations this weekend that specifically mentioned Senator Mike Lee of Utah and his horrible remarks. Today I saw two different messages on different social media posts also condemning the Senator of Utah, Mike Lee and even mentioning his supposed religiosity compared to his lack or moral values. I have not heard that he has apologized for his cruel remarks. I hope he does apologize, ask forgiveness, and do something to try to repair the pain he caused to the family, and friends, the people of Minnesota, and the residents of Utah he represents.
Kay Novak
Ogden