Arlington cemetery controversy shines spotlight on Utah governor

A few months ago, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox was one of the few prominent Republicans consistently keeping his distance from former President Trump, whose brash style seemed to be the antithesis of a brand of politics Cox had carefully cultivated that centered on unity and respect.

Cox did not vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020, and told CNN in July that he would not vote for him this year. The governor said the then-president’s role in inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol went too far.

Days later, after an assassination attempt on Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, Cox changed his mind.

Cox sent a letter to Trump explaining that his defiant response at the moment of the shooting had spurred a sudden reassessment and switch for Cox.

His turnabout bewildered political observers who, for the past decade, have watched Cox methodically build a persona as a moderate in the manner of Mitt Romney, the Utah senator who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, while climbing the ranks of state leadership.

Cox, 49, said in his note that he believed Trump could save the country “by emphasizing unity rather than hate.”

“You probably don’t like me much,” Cox wrote. “But I want you to know that I pledge my support.”

Trump has not in turn endorsed Cox for reelection.

The pair’s puzzling relationship was thrust into the spotlight again this past week when they put themselves at the center of a controversy at Arlington National Cemetery. After Trump’s staff had an altercation with a cemetery official, Cox broke rules — and likely federal law — in using a graveside photo with Trump in a campaign fundraising email.

Federal law prohibits campaign or election-related activities within the Army’s national cemeteries, and officials at Arlington said that rule had been shared widely before Monday’s ceremony honoring 13 service members, including one from Utah, who died in an airport bombing during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago.

Cox’s campaign issued a swift apology for politicizing the ceremony; Trump’s has insisted it had permission to film in a restricted area. A TikTok video of the visit shared by Trump includes scenes of him and Cox at the cemetery with a voice-over of the former president blaming the Biden administration for the “disaster” of the withdrawal.

The opposing responses highlight the disconnect between their political styles and reignite questions why Cox has chosen to stand by Trump, who said after the assassination attempt that he had no plans to change his ways.

“I’m confident that he was there to support a Utah family, and that’s a laudable goal, but in being there with Donald Trump, he got pulled into something that creates some ethical challenges,” said Chris Karpowitz, a political science professor at Brigham Young University. “He allowed himself to compromise his values, and he’s not the first politician aligning with Donald Trump to have found himself in that position.”

The sudden embrace by Cox, who is up for reelection in a race not expected to be close, is not sitting well with some of the Utah moderates he had worked to win over.

Kyle Douglas of Orem said he lost his trust in Cox when the governor chose to back a presidential candidate who does not share his values.

“I used to be proud that my governor was still one of the good guys,” Douglas said. “It’s so disappointing to see him sell out.”

Lucy Wright of Provo put her disgust more bluntly.

“Trump is a big orange stain on his legacy,” she said.

Karpowitz said he, too, was surprised by Cox’s switch, and recalled thinking the governor’s notion that Trump could be a unifying figure for the nation was “somewhat naive.” Like many in Utah, the professor said he found himself struggling to understand why Cox might have thought backing Trump would help the governor politically.

The decision risks Cox’s reputation with his moderate voting base while likely doing little to win over followers of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, many of whom booed Cox at the state GOP convention this year.

Aligning with Trump has been known to bolster the political profiles of some Republicans, but the former president has not been quite as influential in Utah.

The state is a rare Republican stronghold that has half-heartedly embraced Trump, whose divisive rhetoric and comments about refugees and immigrants do not sit well with many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. About half of Utah’s 3.4 million residents belong to the faith known widely as the Mormon church.

Cox, a Latter-day Saint, said he believes God had a hand in saving Trump’s life, even calling it a miracle.

At the time of the July 13 shooting, President Biden was clinging to his party’s nomination in the face of unrelenting pressure from many Democrats to drop out as they feared he might be unable to win reelection after his disastrous debate against Trump in June.

Cox said in his letter to Trump that he was not looking for a Cabinet position or a role on the team, but the governor told the Atlantic he had come to realize he could not have broader influence within the party if he wasn’t on Trump’s side.

Cox has not publicly expressed a desire to run for national office, but he has worked to raise his profile beyond Utah by chairing the National Governors Assn. His initiative as chairman, “Disagree Better,” focused on restoring civility in politics.

The Trump endorsement came a month after Cox breezed to victory in the primary over ardent Trump supporter Phil Lyman, who espoused false claims of election fraud after the 2020 presidential election. Lyman remained defiant and encouraged his supporters to write his name on the November ballot instead of voting for Cox, who is expected to defeat his Democratic opponent even without the support of the state’s MAGA faction.

Cox is not the first moderate Republican, nor even the first from Utah, to be lured closer to Trump despite previous opposition.

Romney had been one of Trump’s most strident critics in the 2016 election, calling him a phony and a fraud. But after Trump’s victory, Romney met the president for dinner to discuss a top diplomatic job in Trump’s administration. After the meeting, he even praised Trump but has since reverted to being one of Trump’s fiercest Republican critics.

Schoenbaum writes for the Associated Press.