The internet never forgets, and for Utah Democratic candidate Nate Blouin, that unforgiving memory just detonated his campaign. Leaked decade-old Reddit posts reveal Blouin, then in his early twenties, calling Latter-day Saints “bigoted [expletives],” labeling their church a “drug cartel” front, and joking about shitting in church parking lots, underage porn, and sexual assault. This isn’t just bad taste; it’s a political grenade, meticulously timed to explode just days before the state convention.
Blouin, barely 35, now claims these posts don’t reflect who he is. “I’m horrified by those comments,” he mumbled, offering the usual boilerplate apology of an “evolved past.”
Give me a break. Ten years isn’t a lifetime; it’s barely a blink in the unforgiving political game. His “evolution” conveniently appears only after he got caught. Do we really believe a man’s core character shifts so profoundly only when his ambition is threatened?
The Convenient Outrage Machine
The reaction? Predictable, and frankly, nauseatingly theatrical. LDS-heavy forums and X threads are bursting with pearl-clutching faithful, demanding Blouin be booted.
“Utah ain’t tolerating anti-Mormon slime,” they tweet, as if genuine outrage isn’t a selective, weaponized tool in this state. MAGA accounts are, of course, amplifying it, painting all Democrats as “godless degenerates” – a convenient narrative that ignores their own party’s moral gymnastics.
Meanwhile, blue-check conservatives are cackling, “Progressive evolves? Nah, just got caught.” They relish this, a perfect distraction from their own party’s baggage and a chance to project their favorite boogeyman onto the opposition. It’s a perfect storm of faux morality, expertly designed to bury a Democratic frontrunner.
Even the digital natives on Reddit’s r/Utah and r/SaltLakeCity aren’t buying Blouin’s “evolved” act. The cynicism is palpable:
“Early 20s? Dude’s barely 35, that’s last Tuesday for edgelords.”
They see it for what it is: damage control. Even the r/exmormon crowd, who might typically revel in some of the anti-LDS sentiment, called the scat and assault jokes “cringe.” Some lines, apparently, even they won’t cross.
The Knife-Fight Behind the Scenes
Let’s be brutally clear: this isn’t about Blouin’s past maturity or a newfound enlightenment. This is about raw power.
The timing of this “discovery” is too perfect to be accidental: 10 days before the April 24-25 Democratic convention. That’s when delegates pick their candidates. This wasn’t a random Reddit deep-dive; this was a targeted excavation.
Who benefits? Plenty of players. The whispers aren’t just whispers; they’re a deafening roar: this is a calculated “op research drop by the McAdams camp to kneecap the frontrunner.”
Ben McAdams, a former Democratic congressman and a master of Utah’s unique political landscape, knows exactly how to hit where it hurts. He understands that in this state, an attack on the dominant faith is a political death sentence.
Alternatively, the stench of GOP oppo funneled through Washington Post is unmistakable, designed to paint all Democrats as “rapey cult-haters” and poison the well for the entire party. Both scenarios are plausible, both are ruthless. This isn’t a moral reckoning; it’s a political hit job, plain and simple.
The Utah Democratic Party, under Chairwoman Diane Lewis, has been diligently pushing a strategy of “bridge-building” and “respecting deeply held values.” Blouin’s decade-old rants just blew a gaping, irreparable hole through that carefully constructed facade. How do you “build bridges” when your frontrunner was joking about shitting in church parking lots and disparaging the very people you claim to respect?
Red Marker Verdict
This isn’t about Nate Blouin’s personal growth. It’s about the cynical, surgical weaponization of old dirt, precisely timed to disrupt a political race.
The “outrage” is a performance, a shield for the real power play happening behind the scenes. Whether it’s a rival Democrat ensuring their path to nomination, or Republicans trying to tar the entire party, someone spent significant time and money digging this up.
The financial motive is simple: securing a nomination or crippling an opponent. Blouin’s past comments are disgusting, no doubt. But the real story is the political machinery that unearthed them now, not his supposed “evolution.”
This is Utah politics, where “values” are just another cudgel in a brutal, no-holds-barred fight.
Nate Blouin is toast. The Utah Democratic Party just got a brutal, public reminder: in this state, you don’t just “evolve” past calling the dominant religion a “drug cartel.” You get exposed, decimated, and someone else reaps the reward. This isn’t just a scandal; it’s a political execution.
Photo: Eric Connolly
Source: Google News
