Utah Sen. Mike Lee (R) refused to support presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in an interview with NewsMaxTV, and then went on an uncharacteristically intense rant about how he cannot in good conscience support Trump. Lee cited Trump's unpopularity in Utah as well as Trump's past accusation of Ted Cruz's father of conspiring to assassinate JFK as reasons why he cannot support the candidate at this time.
“Hey look, Steve, I get it. You want me to endorse Trump. We can get into that if you want. We can get into the fact that he accused my best friend’s father of conspiring to kill JFK. We can go through the fact that he’s made statements that some have identified correctly as religiously intolerant. We can get into the fact that he’s wildly unpopular in my state, in part because my state consists of people who are members of a religious minority church. A people who were ordered exterminated by the governor of Missouri in 1838. And, statements like that make them nervous."
Given that Sen. Lee isn't generally known for this sort of speaking style (after all, the man literally serves Jell-O in his office each week), this rather passionate outburst came as quite a shock to some.
Wow, I have never seen Utah's @SenMikeLee go off like this. Not even close. https://t.co/lxfO0uqGLi pic.twitter.com/lwWv66rTTq
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) June 30, 2016
Wow- and I don't even like Mike Lee but he's right here! #ImWithHer #CountryOverParty #NeverTrump https://t.co/pixliOmG0Z
— Remy (@CAGoldenBear) June 30, 2016
Sen. Mike Lee is the most calm person. I've never heard him mad before in an interview https://t.co/cmzRcWupAZ pic.twitter.com/S4YRpcdJKU
— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) June 30, 2016