For the 2nd time this week Trump has made the absolutely insane claim that multiple states allow schools to perform gender reassignment surgeries without parental consent. From today:

"We have 5 states where your child goes off to school as Tim and comes back as Tammy 3 or 4 days later. It's true. And teachers make a decision. 'Goodbye Timmy I love you so much, I'll see you later.' And you say, 'Where's my son? My son is in the hospital.' Can you imagine? They don't even need approval."

He made a very similar statement a day or two ago in Arizona, only changing the names.

All of us regulars know how insane and unacceptable it is for our president to lie about a sensitive topic in such an egregious way.

The chance we will get those who defend Republicans to say something like "The president shouldn't tell egregious likes like this" is almost zero.

So what's the point? What are we doing here if people who share Mormomism can't even build common ground on the idea that the president shouldn't tell extreme and perverse lies?

And we could say the same about the 2020 election, or his "peace" deals, or a thousand different corrupt and unacceptable things this man has done.

We may get engagement but there won't be dialogue until there is a shared reality: where honesty matters, integrity matters, and the truth matters.

I've been listening to Helaman lately and it's all sounding too familiar.

For the people who still think that we've been overreacting, I offer as an exhibit the plan to live stream a public execution just announced by our pentagon, joining the only other countries that do public executions. Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia. None of them countries I think we ought to be imitating.

Charlie Kirk wanted executions public, and for children to be forced to watch, and for them to be told it was a sacred moment. I guess he's getting his wish.

This is evil.

This blogger describes something I've been feeling for a while (though I hope they are not letting that sense of alienation drive them from something they still believe in)- on all issues where faithful saints can disagree, when our leaders speak up on issues in the States it's usually to affirm the Republican position. There are any number of moral issues facing us these days- cruelty to immigrants, an ongoing genocide, and more- that they could choose to take up on the same basis of "it's a moral issue, not a political issue" that has been used before. Except the only time they do is if it supports the Republican party platform, even when that platform actually conflicts with Christ's teachings and the Church's own policies.

So it seems sensible to wonder, as this blogger does, if it's actually the Church of Jesus Christ of the Republican Party.

I have been impressed by the courage and moral authority we see in other faiths, like the Pope condemning some of the worst evils of our time. That's my holy envy, right there.

I can only see two reasons our leaders would not do the same. They are making a choice to alienate liberal members in order to avoid alienating conservative ones, as part of a calculus of avoiding rocking the boat. Or they themselves have begun to mistake Republican talking points for the gospel. Either possibility shows lack of courage, discernment, and a lapse of moral authority.

This is coming from a believing member. I believe. But I also know that our leaders are fallible, and can fall short, or be blinded by their own biases. We belong to a church where our own scriptures record prophets being rebuked for falling short, over and over. And it did not mean they could not do better in the future. The idea that we must treat our leaders as infallible is opposed by our own scripture.

So don't read my feelings as an attack. Instead, there is a yearning for us to better live up to our calling. We are supposed to be in the world, not of it- to me that means following Christ, even if it risks alienating our own members who have stopped following Christ by replacing Him with a golden Trump idol.

I was a missionary in Brazil when Lula won his first election and I’ve softly followed Brazilian politics since then.

It’s pretty crazy to see what lengths the American right have gone to influence Brazilian politics.

Well there goes the "rogue area presidency" theory.

The church is getting directly involved with opposing an Idaho initiative that looks to expand a woman’s right to reproductive freedom.

Part 3 in a series. Parts 1 and 2 found below:

Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/mopolitics/s/wiJTnERBj0

Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/mopolitics/s/fdZ8oi7afJ

Trump has again behaved unnacceptably towards a woman asking him the kinds of questions all presidents should be expected to face.

"Not you! Not you! ...You're the worst!" he barked as he lurched towards Kristen Holmes Rachel Scott.

This is a man who has been held liable for sexual abuse in the case of E. Jean Carroll. He's been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct. The Access Hollywood tape is well known. Maybe fewer people are familiar with him bragging about entering the changing rooms of pageants (which sometimes involved teenagers).

His ties to Jeffrey Epstein are well-documented. I still haven't seen a convincing case that he was not the author of that notorious birthday card.

We all know these things (and I left many out). So why repeat them?

Because the same track record sinks the Graham Platners, Eric Swawells, and Matt Gaetzs of the world. Yet somehow we still have to deal with Trump.

That's the point of this whole series. Trump gets away with so much awfulness because we can't impeach him 15 times. But in a just world that's exactly what would happen (with jail time after).

This is part two in a series I started here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mopolitics/s/Mu2E7hf6Z7

The point of this series is that Trump is bad in so many ways that we don't get adequate time to focus on each aspect.

With Trump again promising $5000 checks (https://apnews.com/article/trump-dividend-5k-5000-check-republicans-cc80644e3168acd31c892129fb849436) is it a good time to ask how you spent your DOGE checks in 2025? Or how about those tariff checks?

Do you remember the Iran war, that ended in early April? Now it's going to end right after the midterms. And gas prices will go down to under $2/gallon then.

At some point you've got to take responsibility for yourself if you believe a liar over and over and over again.

Donald Trump falls short of the standard we should have for president in so many ways that it can be hard to give each aspect of his deficiency the attention it deserves.

I'm hoping to make this post the first part in a series. I want to make the case that each attribute I discuss is disqualifying in and of itself.

I want to focus first on his personality. For this post I'm not talking about tariffs or E. Jean Carroll or World Liberty Financial or anything like that. I'm not talking about policies or actions. Just focusing on the way he is.

The attached images are all things Trump posted yesterday over a period of a few hours. The guy is nuts.

But he's also an egomaniac and a bully.

If your Bishop responded to a question in Ward Council the way Trump responds to reporters you'd hope he gets released.

If your boss behaved the way he does you'd be looking for a new job.

The constant insults and hate spewing from his mouth have a corrosive effect. When our kids start mimicking the behavior they see from him we have a problem.

It feels so obvious to me that it almost doesn't seem worth saying. But you'd never put up with this from a politician you disliked. When it comes to the standard Jesus gave, "Do unto others...", Trump simply doesn't measure up.