This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The day after Donald Trump was elected 45th president of the United States, Gov. Gary Herbert's former spokeswoman announced on Facebook that she was leaving the Republican Party.
"Dear GOP, you may have won an election yesterday, but you lost me," wrote Ally Isom, who now is director of Family and Community Relations for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Isom made it clear to me that she is not speaking for the church, which congratulated Trump in a statement Wednesday but earlier condemned his call for a ban on Muslim immigrants. Nor is Isom speaking for the governor.
"We've been growing apart for some time," she wrote in the open letter to the GOP. "Somehow I thought you'd see it. You'd change — the verbal abuse would end, fresh ideas would rise, you'd remember those principles to which we pledged allegiance, you'd safeguard the future for the sake of our children."
Isom, who has been an active Republican all her life, said her gradual exit from the party began in June after the primaries. But since Trump's election, the rhetoric and "gloating" she has observed from fellow Republicans who were Trump backers pushed her over the line.
"I subscribe to a faith tradition that teaches, 'By their fruits, ye shall know them,' and your national outcomes scream inexcusable vulgarity. You reject that about which I care most — sound policy, principled leadership, fiscal responsibility, respectful dialogue and mutual respect, not to mention women, culture and faith. You celebrate spectacle over policy. You champion slogans over values."
Isom did not mention Trump by name in her Facebook post, but she made it clear that his election was a main contributor to her angst.
Another close ally to Herbert, Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, was unyielding in his condemnation last summer of Trump. He vowed then that unless the candidate changed drastically, he could never support the GOP presidential nominee.
Herbert, meanwhile, was careful and tepid about endorsing the party nominee while criticizing some controversial things Trump has said and done.
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Trump-speak • The following message (with my strategic sanitizing) was discovered at Utah Valley University on Thursday morning. It was taped on the walls of several restrooms, on the door of the history department, as well as that of a faculty member:
"Donald Trump won! Now all you liberal pus—— better shut the f... up with your Muslim rights, gay rights, illegal immigration rights, & all that other bulls...!
"America's economy will now finally be booming again and the world will tremble at the thought of facing America's military! If you liberal a..holes don't like it, do America a huge favor and get the f... out and go join some socialist paradise that you bast—— idolize so g..damn much."
A faculty member told me the Orem university needs to focus more on sensitivity training for students.
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Cashing in • The right-wing Breitbart News Network, which has multiple ties to the Trump campaign, has announced it is expanding its operations overseas, launching sites in France and Germany, and plans to hire more journalists as it grows into a global operation.
The announcement came right after Trump was elected president. What a coincidence.
In late summer, when the Trump campaign was struggling, it brought on Breitbart CEO Stephen Bannon as its campaign CEO and hired Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager.
She had close political ties to New York hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, who reportedly invested millions in Breitbart, a news service known for its attack tactics.
No word yet on whether Breitbart will expand into Russia.
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Here's an irony • Veterans who have regular Friday appointments for outpatient medical procedures had to skip them or change the day this week because most noncritical units at Salt Lake City's George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center were scheduled to be closed — for Veterans Day.