Utah Gov. Spencer Cox sits for an interview with Utah News Dispatch in his office in the Utah Capitol on Nov. 6, 2024. (Katie McKellar/Utah News Dispatch)
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox — a Republican who up until recently refused to vote for President-elect Donald Trump and wrestled with his brash style — said he’s hopeful for what a second Trump presidency will mean for Utah, though he still has his concerns about the health of the U.S.’s democracy.
In a news conference with reporters Wednesday and a one-on-one interview with Utah News Dispatch, Cox unpacked Trump’s win, why he thinks it will bring “opportunities” to Utah, and why he sees Trump’s clear victory as a massive “repudiation” of “the left,” on both culture wars and regulatory policies.
Cox, who changed his stance on Trump after the first assassination attempt and pledged to vote for him, told reporters Wednesday that Trump returning to the White House for the next four years “will be very good for Utah.”
“I think you will see that we’ll have an opportunity to really unleash the economy, the private sector,” he said, adding that Utah has been “succeeding as a state despite the headwinds that we’ve received” from President Joe Biden’s administration.
Cox pointed to more than 60 lawsuits that Utah’s Republican leaders have filed against the Biden administration in recent years over a variety of regulations, including on public lands.
The governor pointed to Trump’s resounding victory at the polls, saying voters “all across the country … have repudiated that type of, ‘We’re going to regulate our way out of problems.”
“We know, we understand in Utah that we need to innovate our way to solutions, and that’s what we’ve been doing. That’s why Utah is leading,” he said. “So I feel like a racecar with a parachute behind us, and in January that parachute is going to be removed and the racecar really gets to take off.”
When pressed about his past misgivings about Trump and what his message may be to Utahns who are feeling anxious about a future Trump presidency and concerns about him embracing authoritarian tendencies, Cox said not to put too much stock into a single person in a democratic system where there are checks and balances.
Throughout the campaign, Cox said he heard “both sides say, often, that if the other side wins, that’s the end. That’s it. This might be the last election we ever had.”
“It’s depressing to me that people actually believe that,” he said. “That we as a country have given the executive of our country that much influence to believe that they could radically change us that much. I just believe in our country so much more than that. … That no matter who was elected, that no one person can destroy what makes this country great.”
Cox added, with a chuckle, that “our country is not great with our president. There’s a good argument to be made of the opposite, that that’s the least impressive thing about our country over the past couple of decades. I’ll leave that to other people (to decide).”
“The thing that makes our country great, are the people. It’s our communities,” he said.
Cox stressed that’s what people should be focusing on, not fretting over who won or lost the presidential election.
“Get off social media. Turn off cable news,” Cox said, repeating a call to action that he has urged before amid the nation’s polarized political climate. “They are making a tremendous amount of money off making all of us miserable and making all of us hate each other. That’s what they do best … and it’s very addicting.”
Cox said Americans have become “addicted to outrage (and) sadness. And if we would just turn that off and go outside and get to know our neighbors, spend some time with people around us, especially those that are different than us, we will soon learn that our differences aren’t nearly as big as the people on social media and cable TV and people running these campaigns are trying to make us believe.”
Addressing Trump’s critics and why he won
To those saddened by Trump’s win, Cox said it’s OK to be disappointed, “but don’t be a fatalist. Believe in yourselves. Believe in this country. Get back to work … doing the things you think are important.”
“If you’re unhappy with this outcome, and I know lots of Democrats that are, look in the mirror and ask yourself, ‘Why is it this happened?’”
“And if you’re just saying that it’s because Americans are terrible human beings, you’re going to lose a lot of elections going forward. Because the Americans that I know and Utahns I know are not terrible human beings. They are good people, and they care about this country and they care about their neighbors,” Cox said.
It isn’t just because of inflation, either, the governor said. To him, what it comes down to is “people are tired of being told that they’re racist or misogynistic or homophobic. What they want is people who will work to, again, unleash the best of our country. That’s what we’re trying to do here in Utah.”
In an interview with Cox after Wednesday’s press conference, Utah News Dispatch pressed Cox on why he thinks American voters handed Trump such a decisive victory and why Utahns — who initially struggled to support him as much as other red states — still vote for him even if they might disagree with his conduct and rhetoric, Cox said he had a pretty “confident” answer based off of what he heard on his own campaign trail.
“It was as much a repudiation of ideology on the left than anything else,” he said. “It’s a repudiation of open borders, for sure. … It’s a repudiation of the excesses of the culture wars, ‘wokism,’ whatever you want to call that.”
Cox added economic policy also played a big part, with federal regulations that are “so suffocating” for businesses, public lands and energy, “the types of things we’re fighting over and over again, just one bad decision after another, that has made us worse off.”
Cox — who during his chairmanship of the National Governors Association led a “Disagree Better” campaign meant to reduce tribalism and hatred in political discourse — said he still believes Utahns can “show the rest of the nation that there is a better way, a hopeful way, an optimistic way.”
“That’s what makes America great. It’s not her presidents. It’s not her governors … It’s everyday people in every neighborhood.”
Lingering concerns about a ‘declining democracy’
Though Cox maintained a hopeful tenor while discussing Trump’s win, he still has his concerns.
Last year, while discussing the rise of the number of violent threats and political violence against politicians, Cox said the U.S. was a “declining democracy.”
FBI intercepts ‘suspicious’ envelope containing white powder addressed to Utah Lt. Gov.
That’s still a worry for him, the governor told Utah News Dispatch. He pointed to a scare in Salt Lake County on Election Day, when a poll worker opened a ballot envelope to find a large amount of white power. After law enforcement officials responded, they determined the powder was harmless, but Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson said the incident would be “fully investigated” and that “anyone attempting to intimidate election workers or disrupt election administration in any way would expect to face criminal charges.”
Cox also pointed to hoax bomb threats on Election Day at polling places in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania (many of which appeared to be linked to Russian email domains), as well as past threats on his and Henderson’s lives.
However, Cox said “the good news is that we all woke up this morning” and there were no violent protests.”
The governor said he was thankful that Trump’s win was decisive, with a margin that was unquestionable, by likely both the popular vote and electoral college vote. He said he hopes that this year — especially with the assassination attempts against Trump — “that people are starting to realize that violence can’t be the answer and there’s got to be a better way.”
Cox also said he does worry about Americans’ historically low trust in institutions, something he blamed on both Republicans and Democrats, though he also said he takes “full responsibility for my team,” Republicans, “doing a lot.”
Republicans are losing trust in elections, even in Utah. What should be done?
“I don’t tear down institutions. I’m a big believer in institutions,” he said, pointing to efforts to cast doubt on the election system and on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trump has been the most prominent politician to sow doubt in elections — continuing to wrongly claim that he won the 2020 election while also laying a foundation to possibly deny the 2024 election results if he lost.
But over the years, Cox said “the left has also been tearing (institutions) down”, pointing to proposals to pack the U.S. Supreme Court or get rid of the filibuster. Those didn’t come to be, but now that Republicans have also won control of the Senate, Cox said he hopes they also leave the Supreme Court and the filibuster alone.
“I still think the filibuster matters, even when we’re in charge, and packing the Supreme Court is a bad idea,” he said. “So that’s something I’m worried about.”
What about Ukraine?
Concerns about geopolitical politics and the war in Ukraine were also on Cox’s mind — though he said he’s “hopeful” that Trump will be able to navigate the issues with his “peace through strength” approach.
“I do believe the world was a safer place during Trump’s four years in office, that projecting strength across the world we’ll be able to stop some of the evil actors out there,” Cox said.
When pressed about Trump’s friendliness with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Cox acknowledged Trump has at times been friendly, but he said “he’s also said that Russia needs to be held accountable.”
Trump has said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours if he’s elected president — something Russia’s United Nations ambassador says isn’t true, the Associated Press reported. Trump has also been critical of the amount of money the U.S. has sent Ukraine in military aid. In response to Trump’s win, Ukrainians reacted with “a mix of trepidation and grim resolve,” Politico reported, with officials in Kyiv acknowledging they’ll likely have to turn to other allies in the West for support against Russia’s renewed offensive backed by troops from North Korea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has congratulated Trump and welcomed dialogue. Putin also congratulated Trump while expressing admiration for how he reacted to an assassination attempt and willingness for dialogue.
Cox said as he’s “talked with our allies across the world, even though we’re giving funds to Ukraine, that’s not projecting strength. And we’ve created a vacuum as we’ve abdicated our place on the world stage.”
Cox said the issue dates back several presidential administrations, and even though he doesn’t think we “fixed it” during Trump’s first four years, “it was better.”
“It’s allowed the actors on the margins — not just the big guys like China and Russia, but also the little guys, like Hamas and others — they’ve been emboldened because we’re not there,” Cox said.
“So we have to be strong. We have to be decisive. We have to be willing to do whatever it takes. I think Trump did do that like Syria and others where he launched some attacks to surprise people. He’s not a war hawk, but I’m hoping he’s willing to do what is necessary to make the world safer.”
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.