MORRISTOWN, N.J. — It’s been a difficult few days for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, after the death of President Russell M. Nelson on Saturday, followed by the tragic loss of life after a man attacked churchgoers on Sunday in Michigan, leaving four people and the shooter, dead.
Former Utah Sen. Mitt Romney had a cousin who attended church in the Grand Blanc chapel where the attack occurred. He told the Deseret News he called her Sunday when he saw what happened, but said she told him she attends church in a nearby chapel now because the geographic boundaries of her congregation recently changed.
She did know many of the people who were there, Romney said, as he expressed shock over the attack. The Romney family has deep roots in Michigan, where Mitt Romney’s father George Romney was governor from 1969 to 1973.
Romney was in Morristown, New Jersey, on Monday for an event sponsored by Drew University at the Mayo Performing Arts Center. Romney gave remarks and then took questions from CNN news anchor Dana Bash on a variety of issues, including whether President Donald Trump is a threat to democracy and the future of the MAGA movement.
Before the event, Romney spoke backstage to the Deseret News about the tragic events in Michigan, his relationship with President Nelson and his concerns about political violence following the assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, where two of his grandchildren go to school.
Romney on the attack in Michigan
Romney expressed sadness and disbelief over the attack, which hits differently because of his connection to Michigan. Romney, 78, was born in Detroit in 1947.
“I think we are overwhelmingly affected by the loss of life and the injury, and that’s what comes first,” Romney said. “And then secondarily, the sadness of people targeting people of faith, of any faith, for violence. It’s hard to comprehend.”
The videos of the chapel engulfed in flames showed how dangerous the situation was, he said. “I have to think that that Saints there were shocked, but quickly moved into action to protect the children and to get out of a burning building.”
During the event, Romney spoke about his cousin and her connection to the area, and said, “an attack on a religious institution where people are worshiping is unimaginable, unthinkable and inexcusable.”
Romney: President Nelson exhibited ‘extraordinary kindness’
In his interview with the Deseret News, Romney praised President Nelson for his “simple kindness,” saying when meeting with him “you just felt bathed in it.”
“When I would speak with him, he would focus those penetrating eyes on me, listening very carefully and then respond in a gentle and feeling way that just touched your heart,” he said.
Ticking through the themes of the talks given by President Nelson over the years — think celestial, home-centered gospel learning, attending the temple more, being peacemakers — Romney said, “his speeches changed behavior.”
“In each case, prophetic, in that the home admonition came just prior to Covid, and then peacemakers is coming at a time when there is a crescendo of violence and anger and vitriol that’s launched from person to person, and he’s asking us not to join in,” Romney said.
Toward the end of his conversation with Bash, she read several quotes from President Nelson’s talk on peacekeepers.
Romney told the audience about President Nelson’s celebrated career as a heart surgeon and researcher, pioneering advancements in heart surgery before accepting and pivoting to a full-time call to church service as an apostle. He became president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Jan. 14, 2018.
“His most recent and final address was on peacemakers, and quoting from the New Testament, where Jesus said, ... ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” Romney said. “And so he talked about looking for peace, looking for ways to bring down the temperature, and how prescient that was.”
Charlie Kirk’s assassination at UVU
After Charlie Kirk was assassinated at UVU on Sept. 10, in a post on X Romney said the shooting “shocked and sickened me and my family.”
“We extend our prayers and profound sorrow to Charlie and his family, many friends and followers. Another senseless act of violence appalls us,” he said.
On Monday, Romney spoke again about how Americans should be able to express their views without fear of violence.
“I think you’re seeing that in a way that’s very dangerous for the functioning of democracy,” he said. “If you’re not free to speak what you believe, you don’t have freedom. America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. If people are frightened to speak, we lose what is America.”
Romney echoed the words of Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who, during an interview with “60 Minutes,” said social media is at least partly to blame for the rise of political violence in the United States.
Social media leans into a person’s “dark impulses,” Romney said, pointing out that many people saw Kirk’s murder on social media.
“They actually saw someone get killed on social media, and that yields an emotional and visceral response — and anger and fear, all of the most dark emotions, and that wouldn’t have happened 20 years ago," he said.
Romney said he still believes good leaders — including parents, teachers, church leaders, and lawmakers — can get Americans to once again listen to their better angels.
“I look back at the time of the greatest killing in America, the greatest horror, during the Civil War, and I imagine the people in the North and the South when it was over wanted to get back at the other side,” he said. “And Abraham Lincoln stood up and said, ‘With malice toward none and charity for all,’ and set the mood of the country.”
President Lincoln made “an enormous difference,” Romney said, saying it was incumbent on leaders to set people on the path to reconciliation.
Coming tomorrow: Mitt Romney talks to Dana Bash about Donald Trump and the future of MAGA