The Most Important Mormon In The Fight Against Trump Isn’t Mitt Romney or Jeff Flake: It’s McKay Coppins.

In 1972, Richard Nixon’s animosity toward a Mormon journalist named Jack Anderson had reached a breaking point as he expressed his frustration to Attorney General John Mitchell.
“I would just like to get a hold of this Anderson and hang him,” Mitchell said.
“God damn it, yes,” Nixon replied. “So listen, the day after the election, win or lose, we’ve got to do something with this son of a bitch.”¹
If that sounds like a sitting President suggesting a plot to assassinate a journalist, it’s because it is.
Jack Anderson had been a thorn in Nixon’s side for years up to that point, from reporting on Nixon’s secret slush funds to publishing classified documents showing the President and his administration secretly arming Iran. Anderson’s dogged pursuit of truth had become just too much for a President who famously despised the media. According to Nixon, Anderson had to be dealt with.

As the story goes, Nixon brought in his now-infamous “plumbers” – G. Gordon Liddy and Howard Hunt. According to detailed confessions outlined in a 2010 book written by journalism professor Mark Feldstein, Hunt and Liddy considered different assasination methods to take out Anderson at the president’s behest. They even met with a retired CIA expert to determine the viability of slipping poison into one of Anderson’s medicine bottles. Thankfully their plot never advanced past the planning stages, as the impending Watergate scandal diverted all resources.
This was the cost of Jack Anderson’s work. Nixon despised Anderson not because he published lies about him but because he published the truth. Truths that Nixon didn’t want public.
As a practicing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I look up to Anderson as not just an icon in journalism history...but a Mormon icon in journalism history. It gives me a sense of pride knowing that someone from my community played such an important role in holding the President of the United States accountable.
Which begs the question…who is that person today?
Sure, there are many politicians and journalists who decry Trump on a daily basis. Armies of people are attempting to hold him accountable for his actions. But where are my people? Where are the Mormons?

It’s important to note that when I ask this question, it’s not coming from a partisan angle. I’m not interested in fighting back against Trump because he’s a Republican or because I disagree with his conservative agenda. The reasons I expect my community to stand up to Trump are two-fold:
- Many of Trump’s initiatives (such as the Muslim ban, attempts to block refugees from entering our country, separating families at the border, etc.) are antithetical to foundational Mormon beliefs and doctrine.
- Trump lies with staggering regularity.
So, back to the question. Who is it gonna be?
Former Senate Majority leader Harry Reid is both retired and irrelevant. (Also…he’s kind of a liar).
Orrin Hatch occasionally disagrees with Trump. He also referred to him as “one of the best” presidents he’s seen in office. I’m not holding my breath for Mr. Hatch.
Mitt Romney took a bold stand against Trump in 2016, famously calling him a “phony, a fraud” and that “dishonesty is Donald Trump’s hallmark.” But in a disappointing about-face, Romney allowed himself to be considered for a cabinet position in the Trump administration…leading to this iconically embarassing photo:

Additionally, Romney’s eventual candidacy for Utah Senate caused him to temper his Trump criticism.
Arizona Senator Jeff Flake has been the most principled and consistent LDS politician to stand up to the President, even lamenting that “our presidency has been debased” and that Trump has a “seemingly bottomless appetite for destruction and division. And only a passing familiarity with how the Constitution works.”
Unfortunately, Flake’s principled stand made him an enemy to his own party, tanking his approval ratings to the point that he gave up a reelection bid. I will always admire Flake for not backing down, but unfortunately he’s about to exit the national stage…along with the relevance and influence that comes with it.
The reality is that a politician isn’t going to satisfy my desire for a latter-day Jack Anderson. To make the kind of impact Anderson did, it can’t come from a politician at all.
Which is why Mckay Coppins, staff writer for The Atlantic, is the most important Mormon in the fight against Trump.
While Coppins might not be the type of muckraking journalist Anderson was, the parallels between the two are nonetheless fascinating.
Coppins was getting noticed for his work at Newsweek and Buzzfeed as early as 2012, but his meteoric rise to national prominence came in early 2014 when he wrote a profile on Donald Trump and his “fake” campaign for President. While Coppins’ assumptions at the time proved to be completely wrong (not only did Trump end up running, he won), the significance of the piece came in the form of Trump’s fiery disapproval of how he was portrayed.
Trump went after Coppins with a verbal barrage that rivaled the way Nixon spoke about Anderson. But unlike the 1970s, this time we’ve got the tweets to show for it:
Thankfully, Trump’s attempts to smear Coppins’ credibility proved unsuccessful. Coppins has continued to publish compelling stories (including a deep dive on Mike Pence’s faith and an incredibly entertaining expose on Stephen Miller’s trolling tactics).
As Coppins has continued to produce well-sourced and highly-respected stories for The Atlantic, his appearances on national TV have significantly increased. I’m embarrassed to admit how proud I feel when I flip on the TV and I see Coppins’ on NBC answering questions from Chuck Todd or chatting with Seth Meyers on Late Night.
I’m proud because that guy is part of my community. He’s representing my community in a way that I believe is consistent with our values. And that guy is on the same journalistic crusade that Jack Anderson was on in the 1960's.
A crusade to report truth and hold our elected leaders accountable. A mission to keep the powerful in check.
I can’t think of anything more Mormon than that.
