Utah governor says GOP needs to focus on more than just ‘owning the libs’

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) is urging members of his own party to focus on more than culture wars with Democrats.

“There’s more to being a conservative than just owning the libs,” Cox said during an interview on the “Matt Lewis and the News” podcast released on Wednesday.

He added, “I still believe in a Republican Party and a conservatism that lifts everyone and really is about opportunity for everyone, and we don’t do that by turning people away or ruining people’s lives or again just these fake controversies, these false choices that we keep presenting people.”

Cox slammed GOP lawmakers for not prioritizing policy issues affecting average Americans and instead focusing on being victorious over the other side.

“I’m very worried that … we’ve lost our way, our core values as a party,” Cox said. “It seems like we’ve just defined ourselves in opposition to whatever the left is doing.”

The United States’ deficit is one of the issues that Republicans have started to ignore, Cox said.

“No one brought up the deficit over the last four years,” he said, arguing that policy needs to be put at the forefront of the political conversation.

“These are the conversations we should we having and unfortunately we’re not. We’re spending more time on Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head,” he said.