Utah governor says he’s optimistic Trump can unite the nation despite recent rhetoric

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox reaffirmed his support for Donald Trump on Thursday even as the former president has continued to spread insults and inflammatory statements on the campaign trail — a behavior Cox said he hoped Trump would abandon when he endorsed him in July.

The governor, long seen as a moderate Republican in the manner of Mitt Romney, shocked political observers and Utah voters when he pledged his support to Trump after the July assassination attempt on the former president. Cox did not vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020, and he said days before the shooting that he would not vote for him this year.

In a letter of support, Cox urged Trump to treat his political opponents with “basic human dignity and respect” and said he believed Trump could save the country “by emphasizing unity rather than hate.”

Trump said after the assassination attempt that he had no plans to change — as demonstrated by his recent remarks about Haitian immigrants — but Cox told reporters he remains hopeful that the Republican presidential nominee will adopt more unifying rhetoric.

“I have to be optimistic, and I will remain optimistic, and I’m going to do everything I can to help him and others to bring our country together,” Cox said. “I also don’t believe that I’m important enough that President Trump is going to change or do things differently just because of me, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try.”

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