Picto Diary - 22 April 2023 - Utah Republican Party Convention.

Above: Remove Romney sign at entrance to UCCU Center, Utah Valley University, Provo, UT. 22 April 2023.

Should Romney decide to run for reelection in 2024, despite the antipathy of Utah grass roots Republicans (e.g., convention goers) towards him, he would likely be reelected. He has filed papers to run again but has yet to announce he is running for a second term.

Above: Ron DeSantis, Governor State of Florida, addresses annual convention of Utah Republican Party. 22 April 2023.

Here are my speaker notes: Florida is the Utah of the southeast. We are going to kneecap ESG in the state of Florida. Florida will be the first state to ban DEI as hiring criteria for state institutions. Florida will prohibit voluntary gender surgeries on minors. You should not lose your job for refusal to be vaccinated. Coming. Largest teacher salary increase in Florida teachers. Money to the teachers, not the unions. Fentanyl dealers in FL will be treated like the murderers they are. Florida crime rate is at a sixty-year low. We reject the notion of defunding our law enforcement. We make clear, you are not burning down our cities in the state of Florida. We will remove politically weaponizing prosecutors from office. Schools should educate kids, not indoctrinate them. Parents should have a direct role in educating their children, including access to curriculum. We will eliminate CRT from school curriculum. Kids should be able to be kids without having somebody's agenda shoved down their throat. We run the state of Florida, not the Feds. We are going to do what's right for our kids. Same with Disney. DEI. Discrimination, Exclusion and Indoctrination - a Trojan horse to bring Marxist ideology into our universities. Federal Government. Uncontrolled, weaponized, leviathan. Feds weaponized against people and groups it doesn't like...non vax people, moms protesting against school boards, yada. Fed apparatus needs to be put in its proper place. Don't tell me that men can have babies. Florida is the state where woke goes to die. Pubs, the time for losing is over. We can't afford to lose. Liberty is on the line. Decline of our country is a choice. We need to change direction. Freedom is worth fighting for. UT and FL have led in preserving the sacred fire of liberty. Fire. D day, Iwo, Berlin wall. Fire: all men are created equal. Fire. Arlington Cemetery.

Note: Speech very well received by audience, in contrast to lackluster response to Utah Governer Cox's following speech.

Above: US Senator for Utah, Mike Lee, speaks to Elephant Club, UCCU, Utah Valley University, Utah Republican Party Convention. 22 April 2023.

Here are my speaker notes: Dem protesters: paid. Pub protesters: unpaid grass roots. Paid protesters sign of a dying ideology. Wind and solar not baseload power. China base in Argentina. Blue state refugees in Utah are voting conservative. McMullin was a Dem head fake.

Q and A. Bishop: True or false. Ukraine is a distraction from more pressing US problems. Lee: I understand and sympathize with the direction of your question. Hum hah hum hah. Note: Either a true or false answer would have been a better response than Lee delivered here. Very disappointed.