To: i-node who wrote (944272 ) 7/1/2016 9:04:44 PM From: bentway Read Replies (1) | Respond to Senator Mike Lee Unloads on Why He Can’t Embrace Donald Trump nytimes.com Donald J. Trump has asked Republicans who do not have anything nice to say about him to not say anything at all.Senator Mike Lee , the Republican from Utah, could not help himself.interview with Newsmax when he was asked why he had not endorsed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Faced with the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency, how could he not?“Well, we can get into that if you want,” Mr. Lee said. “I mean we can get into the fact that he accused my best friend’s father of conspiring to kill J.F.K.” The comment was a reference to Mr. Trump’s insinuation that Mr. Cruz’s father was invo lved with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.“We can go through the fact that he has made some statements that some have identified correctly as religiously intolerant,” Mr. Lee said. He added: “We can get into the fact that he is so unpopular because my state consists of members who were a religious minority church — a people who were ordered exterminated by the governor of Missouri in 1839, and statements like that make them nervous.” The remarks from Mr. Lee reflect the raw feelings among some Republicans toward Mr. Trump that are lingering after a primary race that devolved into ugly personal attacks and conspiracy theories dished out by the Manhattan businessman. That, combined with Mr. Trump’s vague and shifting mix of positions on issues that are held dear by conservatives, have left many Republicans in a tough spot.“I would like some assurances that he is going to be a vigorous defender of the U.S. Constitution, that he is not going to be an autocrat, that he is not going to be an authoritarian,” Mr. Lee said. “That is not an unreasonable demand.”
