LISTEN: Utah Rep. Phil Lyman blames Baltimore bridge collapse on DEI
Mar 26, 2024, 5:10 PM | Updated: 8:38 pm
FILE: Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, testifies about his bill, HB371, in the House Government Operations Standing Committee at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022. Lyman, who ran against Gov. Spencer Cox in the GOP primary filed a complaint in 3rd District Court Monday morning. (Scott G. Winterton/Deseret News)
(Scott G. Winterton/Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, blamed Tuesday’s Baltimore bridge collapse on “governors who prioritize diversity over the wellbeing and security of citizens.”
The candidate for Utah’s governor made the statement on social media Tuesday morning. It was in response to a post from the Young Conservative Federation.
The group said one of the commissioners for the Port of Baltimore knows nothing about ports but instead is a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant.
Lyman went on to post “DEI=DIE.”
Response to Lyman’s comment
KSL at Night Host Taylor Morgan told KSL NewsRadio that Lyman’s comment seems in line with his politics.
“This tends to be right in line with how he throws out red meat and churns up his base here in Utah, and frankly throughout the nation, on these kinds of charged, political, social issues,” he said.
Governor Spencer Cox didn’t make any explicit comments about the bridge collapse comment made by Lyman.
But, from his personal account X account, he reposted a response from an account called “Enhanced Interrogated Poet.” It said “we can’t handle the concept of a freak accident anymore. The right makes it a conspiracy theory, liberals say it’s a policy failure.”
— Enhanced Interrogated Poet (@agraybee) March 26, 2024
Related reading: Six people missing since Baltimore bridge collapse now presumed dead
