So, there’s an article floating around titled: “GUEST ARTICLE - The Truth About Evan McMullin – And Why I Am So Disappointed in My Mormon Friends For Falling For This - by Stacy Stine”.(7)"
Here’s my take on it: Most of it is falsely quoted, poorly and incorrectly summarized, selective generalizing, and putting words in Evan's mouth, alongside lies, slander, libelous comments, and hateful speech common with the more ignorant of writers.
I think I'll go step by step through the article, provide citations, arguments, and overall show why this article is in poor taste for what it is: typical political finger pointing and name calling.
“I challenge any Evan McMullin supporter to tell me what they knew about Evan McMullin a year ago. Unless you are one of maybe a hundred people who ran into him at your ward picnic, the answer is nothing. That’s my answer and I am a huge political junkie. To the dismay of my family I can rattle on about all sorts of obscure politicians and behind the scenes players who influence elected politicians, but for the life of me I couldn’t have told you a thing about Evan McMullin... because he was a nobody.”
Absolutely nothing. I challenge every __________ supporter to tell me what they knew about whomever _________ is a year ago. Unless you follow every single little comment about who may or may not be running for president and who has actually made their bid for office known every step of the way, all 443 of them as of July 2, 2015. then your claim is completely irrelevant.(1) Yes, of course, many have dropped out since then, that is irrelevant. As for the attempts to say he’s a political nobody: So was Trump. Sure, household entertainment name, but a political nobody, along with, as I personally could guarantee, 90-95% of those 443 individuals running last year. "McMullin is a nobody, therefore not fit for being president" your point is invalid and irrelevant, and definitely not criteria for running for president. Moving on.
“McMullin worked for the UN for a bit. He worked for the CIA for 10 years – doing what? He can’t really tell us much….’It’s secret.’ He worked for the bankers at Goldman Sachs for a few years…. 'His work was private.' And then he went to work for the Republican House Conference where he did… well he can’t really say…’it’s confidential.’"
What is your point? Most work in the private sector is confidential, and find me a single field agent for the CIA who can speak about the work they did in detail. As for saying "‘he can’t really tell us much'" Here’s a lovely Ted Talk where he goes into quite a bit of detail on what he did.(2) I’d also like to point out that this individual is attempting to quote Evan McMullin without actually citing anything. Way to go, friend, your point and content is irrelevant and will not hold up under any scrutiny.
“On his Facebook page for the three years prior to running for President, he never posted about social issues, economic, or domestic issues. He says now he is personally against gay marriage but thinks the Supreme Court's decision is fine and wants to move on. Summer 2016 rolls around and political outsider Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination and suddenly Evan McMullin is the 3rd party choice of establishment Republicans from the Bush and Romney families and of the Wall Street donor wing of the GOP.”
Citations needed, though I’ll assume you’re referencing this article(3), I find it to be also devoid of CITATIONS, a very needed thing when inspecting any truth or lie. Your point is, therefore, irrelevant.
As for the comment, or more accurately described, false quotation on how the “Supreme Court's decision is fine and [he] wants to move on.”: Let’s talk about what he actually said, because, once again, you’re putting words in his mouth. What he really said was: "As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I believe in traditional marriage between a man and a woman, but I respect the decision of the Court, and I think it's time to move on,”(4) When further asked, McMullin said he would have “ideally” liked that the issue have been decided by individual states, “but it's been handled by the Supreme Court, and that's where it is." McMullin claims to base his definition of marriage on his faith, but “my faith isn't everybody else's faith. I make my decisions for me [for] those kinds of things.”. When asked if he would appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn the case, he replied, "I wouldn't.". This is hardly anything close to “he thinks the decision is fine.” Seriously. Your bias against McMullin is leaking everywhere.
As for my personal opinion on overturning the case, it’s not something I want a president for. I don’t want someone to appoint supreme court justices to overturn previous issues that have been resolved, I want a president to appoint justices to solve FUTURE issues, those are more important. A justice has no right to change laws without a case to be presented before them, and even then, they are to ONLY review what the constitution means, not change the laws. A good justice would overturn the ruling if and when a case is brought before them that justifies it.
The nonsense about “Evan McMullin [being] the 3rd party choice of establishment Republicans from the Bush and Romney families and of the Wall Street donor wing of the GOP.” Is irrelevant and reeking of your personal opinion and still doesn't have CITATIONS.
“I have been a Republican since I first registered to vote. I have worked with hundreds of Republican campaigns going back 20 years, I have served in party office here in Arizona. I have always supported Republican candidates but I will be the first to tell you that there are a lot of dirty Republicans. The reason so many people look at politics today and say there is no difference between the Republican and the Democrat on their ballot is because all too often it’s true.
"There is a powerful and established section of the Republican leadership (elected officials, party members, big donors) who do not support the values of grassroots conservative Republicans. They are bought and paid for by large corporate interests. They seek the approval of the liberal media, academia, and Hollywood. They support open borders, amnesty for illegal aliens, free trade even when it’s not in most Americans’ best interest, gay marriage, abortion, euthanasia, and a plethora of foolish wars and bad foreign policy.
"These Republicans are terrified that if Donald Trump is elected president there will be major shakeups in Washington. He will shine a light on the dark backroom deals that have resulted in policies like Obamacare, The failed war in Syria, and 20 trillion dollars in debt. The livelihoods of their wealthy corporate backers are on the line and with that their own power and perks in Washington. For that reason they would rather see Hillary Clinton become president than Donald Trump. They feel like they can work with Hillary.”
Irrelevant, irrelevant, irrelevant. Personal opinion does not belong when discussing facts and truth. No matter how much you cry and whine, truth has nothing to do with your personal experiences, and again, has nothing to do with Evan McMullin. Spit your bigoted and irrelevant dogma on someone else, preferably not on people when there is no evidence supporting your claims. In other words, CITATIONS NEEDED.
“So enter Evan McMullin, Crony Capitalist Spoiler. No one in the world including Evan McMullin believes Evan McMullin is going to be elected President. What the corrupted Republican establishment and the Clinton campaign hope is that he will keep Donald Trump from getting to 270 electoral votes and thus guarantee a Hillary presidency.”
Nice claim there. I believe he’s going to be elected president, and until proven right or wrong, I won’t change that believe. You see, a vote is my way of saying that I believe someone is capable of being elected, and by voting for McMullin, which I will be doing come election day, I prove your hyperbole false. Also, name calling with no evidence is outrageous, and is exactly what is wrong with our current political spectrum. Dishonor. Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow, for jumping right along and contributing to the filth that is so easily promulgated.
Let’s also talk about your failed logic. Keeping electoral votes away from TRUMP, TRUMP, TRUMP, TRUMP, will in no way give Hillary Clinton more. That means, your claim that “the Clinton campaign’s hope is that he will keep Donald Trump from getting to 270 electoral votes and thus guarantee a Hillary presidency” is pretty ridiculous, and here’s why: No citations, no proof, take your tinfoil hat off. Hillary only cares about how many electoral votes she can take away from Trump, not how many electoral votes 3rd party candidates are taking away. Why? Because she still needs to reach 270 votes, and Evan McMullin taking away at least 6 (Utah) from Trump will not, and cannot help her in any way if she doesn’t reach 270 herself. It only hurts Trump. You may argue that the race is so close that they may both break 270 and McMullin could prevent Trump from staying ahead of her. Well, hate to burst your bubble, but recent electoral college polls show that neither is likely to reach 270 electors(5), which means the House gets to choose from the top three candidates.
“Utah leads the nation in financial fraud schemes. Anti-Mormon critics like to point out the huge amount of Ponzi schemes, real estate fraud, and stock swindles and say it is because Mormons are sneaky, greedy liars. Make no bones about it. Like in any community there some bad apples and Utah has its fair share. In that fair share there are plenty of Mormons but Mormons are no more criminal than most, in fact statistically they are quite a bit less criminal than the average American. But the real reason that Utah frauds are so successful is not that the conmen are any wilier than a Baptist or Catholic conman. It’s because they have a highly homogenous market of overly trusting people. They want to believe you’re a good person and they want to help out the good person.
"In 2016 that good person is Evan McMullin. The Never Trumpers couldn't talk Romney into another run, or Huntsman or any Mormon politician you had ever heard of. So they created Evan McMullin from thin air and Goldman Sachs receipts. Evan is a good member of the Church. Mormons are tight knit and like to support their own, hence Mitt Romney's 93% win in the 2012 Utah primary despite the fact the many Utah Republicans had more in common politically with Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum.
"So here comes the conman’s pitch – 'Evan is a good man, he’s one of us, you don’t have to vote for dirty nasty Donald Trump who has been divorced twice, who swears a lot, who won’t apologize when he hurts people’s feelings.' This is where not all, not even most, but a sadly sizeable number or Mormon patsies reach for their wallet, or in this case their ballot. They've been told and sold that by voting for Evan they don’t have to shed their values and principles. They don’t have to choose the lesser of two evils. But that is the lie that the Evan McMullin candidacy is built on, because in 2016 you do have to choose between one of two people who will be the next President: Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. A vote for anyone but Trump helps Clinton to move ahead and to defeat Trump.”
Blah, blah, blah, blah, CITATIONS NEEDED. Attention readers, this individual is really good at making claims with strawman arguments and holey logic. No, not holy, holey. Full of holes. Poorly structured, and irrelevant information leads to such claims.
Let’s be more specific. “Utah leads the nation in financial fraud schemes. Anti-Mormon critics like to point out the huge amount of Ponzi schemes, real estate fraud, and stock swindles and say it is because Mormons are sneaky, greedy liars.” Irrelevant, useless. Not worth my time to say a thing about.
“It’s because they have a highly homogenous market of overly trusting people. They want to believe you’re a good person and they want to help out the good person.” Citations needed. Oh, don’t have any? I’m sorry, your opinion is irrelevant.
“They want to believe you’re a good person and they want to help out the good person. In 2016 that good person is Evan McMullin.” You know, I think this could be considered slander, libel, whatever you want to call it. You need to have proof before making such wild claims. I support Evan McMullin for hi POLICIES, not his religion. In fact, I had no idea that we shared religion until two months after he began running when I had someone I’ll name Kris say that Mormons will only vote for him because he’s Mormon. Well, I’ll say to you what I said to them. I vote for him because I like his stance, not his religion, and no one I know will vote for him because he’s Mormon alone. If Clinton were Mormon, she’d still not win Utah, but that’s just my opinion, I don’t have any proof to back that claim up. I, for one, wouldn’t vote for her if she were the general relief society president of the LDS Church. Why? Because her standards and political views do not align with what I firmly believe to be what our country needs.
“So here comes the conman’s pitch – ‘Evan is a good man, he’s one of us, you don’t have to vote for dirty nasty Donald Trump who has been divorced twice, who swears a lot, who won’t apologize when he hurts people’s feelings.’”. Citations, you liar, are what brings out the best in the cosmos, and by citations, I mean truth. Evan’s pitch for voting for him is simple: “vote your conscience.” hardly anything close to “DON’T VOTE TRUMP CAUSE BAD MAN, I BETTER.”. I’ll vote my conscience, and vote for someone who upholds policies that align most with my own, and that is Evan McMullin. Vote your own conscience, and vote for whomever aligns with your own political views. I cannot and will not vote for Trump because he’s for giving the government the ability to flip a switch and take away my 2nd amendment rights without due process and my knowing(6).
“A Hillary Clinton presidency is one where she will most likely appoint three Supreme Court Justices. They will be radical liberals. They will stand against everything political that good and faithful Mormons believe in. They will gut the 1st, 2nd, and 10th Amendments. They will force all Christians denominations to have gay clergy and to perform gay weddings in their churches or temples. They will bring back abortion on demand at any time during the pregnancy, paid for by taxpayers, performed in church owned hospitals, performed by Christian doctors who will be forced to do so or lose their license. Euthanasia will be the law of the land, not just for the terminally ill and elderly but for handicapped and unwanted children.
“Did you imagine 20 years ago that gay marriage would be legal in all 50 states, mandated by liberal judges despite the sentiment of voters? Did you imagine you would be forced to buy overpriced and underperforming health insurance or be fined by the government? And these things came about with a Supreme Court that was evenly split between conservatives and liberals. Hillary’s new liberal Court will steamroll the America you once knew. You won’t recognize it anymore. Her tried and failed economic policies of higher taxes and more spending will eventually bankrupt our nation. Her support for wars and conflicts not in our interest will bleed the best of our youth.”
This is 100% irrelevant to electing Trump or McMullin and you know it. I will not vote for some of my rights to be taken away over lots of my rights when there is an option of no rights taken away. Your emotionally founded argument that Clinton is worse than Trump is simply not good enough for me, and many others as well, because Trump is just as bad. He will make the government bigger, which will directly lead to a loss of rights down the road. He is a liar, just as much as Clinton is, and I don’t trust him to actually appoint Justices as he claims.
“This is an election with dire consequences. Donald Trump is no saint, Latter Day or otherwise, but he loves America, he respects the rights of Christians, he has vowed to appoint judges who will protect life, the rights of churches, the rights of gun owners and our Constitution as it was written. It's OK to vote for Donald Trump. Read Dennis Prager's excellent article ‘In Defense of Pro-Trump Christians,’ and then join the millions of other Christians who will be voting Trump to save our country from the terrible alternative. Most of the Mormons I know are voting Trump but you can and should be more vocal about it. You need to let your friends and neighbors know that it's OK. You need to encourage the less likely voters to go the polls and you need to keep them from the conman.”
Trump is the conman in my eyes. There is significantly more evidence of this fact than of Evan McMullin being a conman, just check out PolitiFact(8) about him.
Have a nice day, friend. I hope you don’t develop an aneurysm when Trump loses the election because it’s a possibility and I wouldn’t put it passed your body when you're this worked up over someone you know nothing about (Evan McMullin), as evidenced by your inability to provide proof for your hateful and slanderous claims.
Citations/Footnotes:
1: "https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/07/02/since-1980-nearly-2500-people-have-run-for-president/"
2: WARNING: Graphic content. (dealing with murder)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9pNKTNlp6w
3: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/438951/evan-mcmullin-republican-party-establishment-third-party-candidate-conservatives
4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TKAwrKwgzY
5: Clinton is polled to get anywhere from 258 to 262 as of right now, Trump anywhere from 126-157.
That’s hardly enough for Trump to win.
6: See the first presidential debate and find the question about the “no fly list banned from buying guns” question here
7: http://conservativepath.blogspot.com/2016/10/guest-article-truth-about-evan-mcmullin.html
8: http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/
