Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin on Friday questioned whether Donald Trump’s supporters are really conservative after receiving personal attacks from the Right.
“You have to wonder, are they really conservative, and in fact, I think we have to ask ourselves what does the Republican Party stand for anymore?” McMullin said on CNN Friday. “This is a guy who I think is really demonstrating that the Republican party has lost its way and abandoned its core principles.”
The former Republican staffer and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints member has been publicly criticized by some on the right because he threatens to take six electoral college votes away from Trump in his conservative home state of Utah. Trump-supporting Fox News personality Sean Hannity called McMullin an “idiot” on his radio show Wednesday, and Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs recently described the third party candidate as a “Mormon mafia tool.”
McMullin said has “no idea” what “Mormon Mafia” means and would love to ask Dobbs to clarify.
He said he isn’t surprised by the hostility he has received from supporters of the GOP nominee because the “hallmark of Donald Trump’s campaign has been to attack people based on their race and religion,” but said anyone who doesn’t welcome differences in the citizenry has “no business” leading the country.
“This country is for people of all races and religions, and certainly both genders are equal and should be treated as such. That’s something that if you don’t understand that you have no business leading this country, and I actually have the same criticism of those who are standing with Donald Trump from the Republican Party now,” McMullin said. “It’s truly unfortunate if they’re not going to stand up for Americans who are being attacked on these grounds, their religion, their gender, their race, what good are they for leadership of our country?”
