Utah Senate race brings MAGA disinformation to the campaign trail
Hits & Misses
By Katharine Biele @kathybiele
Lies and Damned Lies
The New York Times ran a really depressing story on its front page: "Trump allies are winning war over disinformation." Mind you, it's their disinformation, which is often called "lies." Enter Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, to stump for Trent Staggs, who's running for Mitt Romney's seat in the Senate. First, you might note that Tuberville snitched on Mike Pence to T-rump, and he objected to the election of Joe Biden. Here in Utah, he is stoking the flames against those "socialist Democrats who are trying to turn us into Communists" who also say, "We believe that a man can have a baby." If you don't watch out, we're "losing your kids to a satanic cult," he said as he fired up the war. "Sometimes it's gonna be a fistfight." See the whole extravaganza on Trib political reporter Bryan Schott's Instagram. The latest satanic pedophile conspiracy got started in 2017 by precursors of QAnon, and it just gets stronger every day.
Border Disputes
Meanwhile, Utah gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman is also whipping up discontent by hitting Gov. Spencer Cox on immigration. "We must stop pretending this is compassion. There are immigration laws and policies in place for a reason. Utah operating as a 'sanctuary' for illegal immigrants is a recipe for disaster," he says. Lyman points to a piece from the anti-immigration "think tank" Center on Immigration Studies, which called Utah the "reddest and stealthiest sanctuary state." It's well-known that Utah is welcoming to immigrants. The Christian Science Monitor recently highlighted Herriman as a city that "bucks the divide." But Lyman doesn't like it, even in the face of research that shows immigrants promote economic growth and have not driven up crime for the last 140 years.
Directing Traffic
More and more Utahns and our out-of-town guests are wary of navigating Zion National Park because it's too damned crowded. Now, to ease the pain, a major realignment is in order for the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway "from the south entrance to the visitors center, building a new vehicle and pedestrian bridge, expanding parking and reconfiguring trails to reduce conflicts between foot and vehicle traffic," The Salt Lake Tribune reports. The project involves roundabouts and a bridge, among other things. There have to be answers to burgeoning tourism and frustrated crowds. The public will have weighed in by press time, when the park will consider how to handle the nearly 5 million people who visit Zion every year. You'd think if park overcrowding can be solved, maybe there's hope for Salt Lake's Cottonwood canyons, too. Public input is the key.
About The Author
Katharine Biele
A City Weekly contributor since 1992, Katharine Biele is the informed voice behind our Hits & Misses column. When not writing, you can catch her working to empower voters and defend democracy alongside the League of Women Voters.
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