A weekend in the (social media) life of Sen. Mike Lee

Utah Sen. Mike Lee posted on his personal "Based Mike Lee" X/Twitter account more than 250 times over the past weekend. Utah's senior Senator's feed was a stew of right-wing politics, amateur media criticism, selective outrage and lots of posts about a squirrel.

Lee's weekend got off to a rip-roaring start on X/Twitter when he joined an audio discussion about why Christians should vote for Donald Trump. Lee attacked Vice President Kamala Harris, saying her moral character was lacking.

"You may not like Donald Trump's tweets. He may not speak like your bishop or your pastor, but he's a good man, and there is great good in him," Lee said. "Moral character matters, and on that basis alone, Kamala Harris loses badly."

At approximately the same time that Lee was attacking Harris' character, Trump was simulating performing a sex act on his microphone during a campaign rally in Wisconsin.

Trump supporters were furious about Harris' surprise cameo on Saturday Night Live. Not one to be left out, Lee joined the howls of protest over her appearance, claiming it was part of a plot against Republicans.

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Republican appointed by Trump in 2017, suggested that NBC violated a rule requiring broadcast networks to give equal time to candidates. Trump appeared as a guest on the show in 2015 as a candidate.

Lee frequently uses his X/Twitter account to indulge his role as a self-appointed media critic.

During a campaign event in Arizona (which Lee spoke at), Donald Trump fantasized about former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney facing a firing squad. Lee was incensed by media coverage of Trump's remarks that claimed he threatened Cheney, suggesting that Trump should file a lawsuit.

That prompted Lee to post a long thread calling for the Supreme Court to overturn New York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark 1964 decision that extended significant First Amendment protections to journalists. If Sullivan were overturned, it would make it easier for public officials to sue journalists and news organizations for defamation.

The decision said a public figure must prove actual malice or a reckless disregard for the truth to sue for libel. Lee argued that the justices "invented a First Amendment doctrine" that "overwhelmingly helps Democrats and creates a severe disadvantage for Republicans."

It wasn't all selective outrage over morality and the media. Lee campaigned with Donald Trump Jr. in Nevada for GOP U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown.

Independent news and commentary about politics in Utah

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

On Saturday, Lee joined the online saga over the decision by New York wildlife officials to euthanize a squirrel named P'Nut. Several MAGA Republicans used the issue to claim government overreach, but Lee's posts were mostly juvenile jokes or ham-handed attempts to use the animal's death to attack Democrats.

Lee's first post about P'Nut came Friday night when he reposted content from far-right commentator Ian Miles Cheong to attack progressives and the government.

In the span of 10 minutes, Lee used a variation of the same joke to attack both Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Collin Allred, who is running against Republican Ted Cruz in Texas.

Two hours later, Lee blamed the squirrel's death on Democrats, posting, "Democrats kill what they find inconvenient." On Sunday, Lee posted a fake headline about cameras being turned off outside the rodent's cage to make a joke about the death of Jeffrey Epstein.

Lee also awkwardly tried to shoehorn a joke about P'Nut into a defense of Donald Trump's record on reproductive rights.

In a bit of terrible timing, Lee made his joke about Epstein the same weekend that journalist Michael Wolfe released audio tapes of interviews he conducted with Epstein where the late convicted sex offender called Donald Trump his "closest friend."

Speaking of accused sex offenders, Lee spent part of his Saturday attempting to connect Harris to Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Singer and Actress Jennifer Lopez endorsed Harris on Thursday. In response, Lee posted pictures of Lopez and Combs together with the caption, "Little Diddy about Kamala's endorsers," a reference to the John Mellencamp song Jack & Diane.

Several users one-upped Lee by responding with photos of Donald Trump and his family members with Combs.

Lee also asked his 300,000 followers if they would favor putting "the entire U.S. government," except for the military and border patrol, on pause for a year.

Lee later revised his hypothetical to exclude Social Security payments from the pause.

Lee also suggested it would be possible to keep Congress and the other core branches of government operating with "just a tiny fraction" of the federal budget. Conveniently, that would keep Sen. Lee on the payroll.

When the government shut down in 2013, Lee defended his decision to continue drawing a paycheck while federal workers were furloughed by saying he was still working. He backtracked and said he would donate to charity each day of the shutdown. During the 2019 government shutdown, more than 100 members of Congress refused to take a paycheck. Lee was not one of them.

Thank you for reading Utah Political Watch.

Support from readers makes this publication possible.

Please consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-time donation.