Trump Campaign Stumbles With Latter-Day Saints ‘Coffee Mugs’ And Koozies
Screenshot via X
Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign relabeled some of its new “Latter-day Saints for Trump” merchandise on Friday after it was criticized for seeming to not understand some of the key tenets of the religion.
Samuel Benson, the national political correspondent for the Deseret News, covered the launch of “Latter-day Saints for Trump” on Tuesday and on Friday posted to X a photo of some of the new merchandise being sold on the group’s website. “Nothing says “Latter-day Saints” like coffee mugs and koozies (for hot chocolate and Diet Coke, of course),” joked Benson sharing an image of the merch. Of course, most devout LDS Church followers do not consume alcohol, which most koozies are used for, nor caffeine.
The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins shared the image and wrote, “In the Trump campaign’s defense, pandering to LDS voters is not something Republican politicians have traditionally had to do—it makes sense that they’re this bad at it.” The post quickly raised eyebrows as other social media users wrote comments like, “This really just shows Trump doesn’t understand LDS voters.”
Benson followed up on the story a few hours later with a new image of how the “coffee mug” is now labeled on the website. “RIP ‘coffee mug,’ now simply known as ‘mug,’” Benson wrote, noting that the caffeinated beverage was no longer associated with the item.
While carrying Utah in both of his runs for president, Trump has long struggled more than most Republicans within the LDS community given his highly publicized affairs and crass behavior. “In Arizona, Harris has secured endorsements from a number of Latter-day Saint Republicans, including Mesa Mayor John Giles and former U.S. Ambassador and Sen. Jeff Flake. Giles spoke at a Harris-Walz rally in Arizona in August, and earned a primetime speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago,” noted Benson on how some prominent leaders have moved to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. LDS voters could provide key crossover votes for Harris in swing states like Arizona and Nevada.
