White nationalist funds anti-Evan McMullin robocall telling voters he's gay
Voters in Utah are receiving a robocall in support of Donald Trump from a white nationalist named William Johnson, who isn't trying to sway them away from Hillary Clinton but rather Evan McMullin.
Johnson, a Los Angeles attorney, starts the call off by announcing his name and his intentions: "I make this call against Evan McMullin and in support of Donald Trump." Johnson says that McMullin is for "open borders" and an "amnesty supporter," then goes into McMullin's personal life: "Evan has two mommies. His mother is a lesbian, married to another woman. Evan is okay with that. Indeed, Evan supports the Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage." Then, Johnson just starts speculating, announcing that McMullin is "over 40 years old and is not married and doesn't even have a girlfriend. I believe Evan is a closet homosexual. Don't vote for Evan McMullin. Vote for Donald Trump. He will respect all women and be a president we can all be proud of."
McMullin is a Mormon former CIA operative who became an investment banker and then a Republican congressional aide. He launched his long-shot bid for the White House as a conservative alternative to Trump, and he has significant support in Utah — a Salt Lake Tribune/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll has McMullin with 30 percent in the state, just behind Trump with 32 percent. After his parents divorced, McMullin's mother did marry a woman, and McMullin hasn't kept quiet about it — he told the Tribune that while he believes in "the sanctity of traditional marriage," his "mother has a different view. That is okay. I love her very much, and she is one of my best friends." He also told the newspaper his "greatest aspiration is to be a husband and father."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
McMullin condemned the robocall Monday afternoon, saying on Twitter that since he has "stood for liberty and equality in this race," it's natural for "Trump's white supremacists to attack me. A fight worth having." He asked GOP leaders in Utah if they will stand by as his faith is attacked and "baseless lies" are spread, and declared that Utahns won't be fooled by Trump's "bigoted, deceitful campaign."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Political cartoons for January 19Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include Greenland tariffs, fighting the Fed, and more
-
Spain’s deadly high-speed train crashThe Explainer The country experienced its worst rail accident since 2013, with the death toll of 39 ‘not yet final’
-
Can Starmer continue to walk the Trump tightrope?Today's Big Question PM condemns US tariff threat but is less confrontational than some European allies
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
