The editorial board of the 152-year-old Salt Lake Tribune has demanded that Utah’s governor deploys the National Guard to ensure that individuals unvaccinated against COVID-19 “would not be allowed anywhere.”
The use of one of America’s most storied publications to lobby in favor of the oppression of those unwilling to take an experimental “vaccine” represents one of the most disturbing developments in 2022.
In the January 15th op-ed – “Utah leaders have surrendered to COVID pandemic” – the outlet bemoans state leadership for “waiving the white flag of surrender in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.” Amidst a litany of complaints against Republican Governor Spencer Cox, the Salt Lake Tribune proposes deploying the National Guard, a reserve component of the U.S. Armed Forces, to “ensure that people without proof of vaccination would not be allowed, well, anywhere”:
“We might have headed off omicron with a herd immunity-level of vaccinations, but that would have required a vaccination mandate, which our leaders refused. Instead, we get, “No one could have seen this coming.” That is patently untrue. They were told what to do, and they refused.
Were Utah a truly civilized place, the governor’s next move would be to find a way to mandate the kind of mass vaccination campaign we should have launched a year ago, going as far as to deploy the National Guard to ensure that people without proof of vaccination would not be allowed, well, anywhere.
But it may be too late for that, politically and medically.”
The outlet’s six-person editorial board includes former Governor and failed presidential candidate Jon Huntsman’s son, who bought in The Salt Lake Tribune 2016.
Dave Patel, who served as the Director of National Operations at the Department of Defense’s Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve under President George W. Bush, is also a member of the Editorial Board along with Michelle Quist, an attorney who has been a Utah Republican Party county and state officer.
Quist frequently pens op-eds in defense of “Never Trump” Senator Mitt Romney for the paper, including a piece on May 6th, 2021 lamenting former President Donald Trump’s influence on the Republican party:
“Why did they boo Romney? Because they’re unhappy with his votes for impeachment. Trump, again. And the Big Lie,” she explained before demanding: “Get. Over. It.”
While attacking Utah lawmakers fighting for election integrity, she praised Romney’s objection to the cause in an op-ed on January 15th, 2021:
On the bright side, Utah does have a senator — Sen. Mitt Romney — who was recognized nationally not only for standing up to Trump’s lies about the stolen election before the insurrection but even more eloquently after.
So, for Utah, it’s still an unanswered question as to whether our leaders will put country before party or themselves before all. And if they can’t refine a character like Romney’s, then any good we do will be quickly discredited by those who represent us.
The outlet’s call on the military to be used against unvaccinated Americans follows increasingly strict restrictions surrounding COVID-19 vaccinations and the ability to work and access businesses.