Can Never Trumpers Become Trump Supporters?

There are many Republicans who have been Never Trumpers, but their ranks are thinning. Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox recently said that he would not vote for either Donald Trump or Joe Biden. Then a 20-year-old attempted to assassinate Trump. The near-death experience caused Trump to change his speech for the Republican National Convention, and Cox was impressed with the words and the delivery.

The day after the RNC ended, Cox announced that he will both endorse and vote for Trump in the 2024 presidential election. In his monthly press conference on Friday morning, Cox stated that he would “do everything I can to help” Trump win the election and unify the country.” According to Samuel Benson, this is the way that Cox explained his change of mind: 

During his news conference, Cox detailed his thinking on Trump and the 2024 election. The hinge point, he said, was Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump. “I spent (Saturday) night distraught, worried about our nation and what we’d become and who we are,” he said. He spent the next day “in contemplation: and “prayed a lot,” and decided to write a letter to Trump detailing his thinking.

In the letter, Cox said: “I believe in our better angels, Mr. President, and I believe you are capable of being that kind of leader for this troubled nation. It is a huge burden to be placed on any person,” Cox continued, “but I want you to know that I pledge my support and I know that millions of others will rally to that kind of leadership.”

Cox expressed sympathy toward the former president in the wake of the attempted assassination. “My wife Abby and I watched in disbelief as we saw the images of the attack on your life,” he wrote. “In that moment you represented the best of America at one of our very worst times. Bloodied but not bowed. Courage – literally – under fire.”

Cox noted that Trump’s statements after the shooting showed “a side of you most of us have not seen, and it gave so many of us tremendous hope for the future of our country.”

Instead of lashing out with “hate” and “violence,” Cox counseled, Trump has the chance to “unify and save our country.”

“I fear that America is on the precipice of unmitigated disaster,” Cox wrote. “We need to turn down the temperature and find ways to come together again before it’s too late.

Cox noted that he and Trump “have some differences, and you probably don’t like me very much. And that’s OK. … I’m not writing this letter looking for a position in your Cabinet or a role on your team.”

Instead, Cox is looking for him “to do something that people have said is impossible,” he wrote:

“You have a chance to build a coalition of support that our country has not seen since Ronald Reagan. And you don’t have to compromise on a single conservative policy in order to do it. By treating President Biden with basic human dignity and respect and by emphasizing unity rather than hate, you will win this election by an historic margin and become one of our nation’s most transformational leaders. By extending an olive branch to voters who are open to persuasion and ignoring the extremists, you can solidify a legacy as one of the most important presidents in our nation’s 250-year history. You can make your success, in leading our country to a new era of peace, unity, and prosperity, the greatest way to silence your critics.”

Benson explained as follows how Cox sent the letter to Trump: he sent the letter to Rock Bordelon and Keith Mark. The two men are “leaders of Hunter Nation, an outdoor recreation and advocacy group that counts Donald Trump Jr. among its board members.” The three men were to meet at an event in Wisconsin on Monday afternoon. “Trump Jr. then hand-delivered the letter to his father, according to Don Peay, who learned about the logistics firsthand.”

Mark gave a statement saying that Cox is “a great governor” – “A man of faith, like in Biblical times. We can and are seeing a mighty change of Heart.”