McKay Coppins: A Latter-day Saint Biographer and a Latter-day Saint Politician

All In

DB Podcasts

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 October 2023

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

McKay Coppins began covering Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential race and because the two shared a common faith as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, other reporters often looked to McKay, a very young journalist at the time, as a source on Romney’s religion. Over a decade later, Coppins’ new biography profiles the Latter-day Saints’ life and career in the public sphere. In anticipation of the book’s release, we talk with Coppins on today’s episode about the faith that is deeply embedded into both he and Romney’s lives.

Show Notes

2:08- Varied Latter-day Saint Characters
5:04- “I’m Actually a Member of This Church”
7:27- Folding Into Faith
11:27- The Latter-day Saint on the Campaign Trail
16:22- Sharing Faith in a Secular Biography
22:24- Refusal to Denounce Faith
28:50- A Young Missionary in France
35:24- More To Your Life Than Making Money
40:38- The Worth of Integrity
45:21- By Their Fruits
49:10- Legacy
53:03- What Does It Mean To Be All In the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

“I realized in that moment that I could do both. I didn’t have to pretend like I wasn’t a Latter-day Saint to be a good reporter and I didn’t have to be a bad reporter to be a good Latter-day Saint. I could do all of it and I wasn’t going to set aside my faith.” —McKay Coppins

Links & References:

Romney: A Reckoning biography

Romney on CBS News

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	There are many references that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
0:05.3	may appreciate more than most in McKay Coppins' new biography of Mitt Romney, Romney, a
0:12.0	reckoning.
0:13.0	There's a reference to lead kindly light toward the end of the 2012 presidential campaign,
0:18.9	a reference to something being praiseworthy and of good report, prayers offered, and
0:24.2	unprecedented blessings given.
0:26.9	Coppins understands these aspects of Mitt Romney's life.
0:30.6	He is, after all, a Latter-day Saint himself.
0:34.8	McKay Coppins is a staff writer at the Atlantic where he covers politics, religion, and national
0:41.0	affairs.
0:42.0	He is the author of The Wilderness, a book about the battle for the future of the Republican
0:47.1	Party, and he has been a visiting fellow at the University of Chicago's Institute of
0:52.2	Politics.
0:53.9	He lives near Washington, D.C. with his wife and children.
1:02.1	This is All-In, an LDS living podcast where we ask the question, what does it really mean
1:07.0	to be All-In, the gospel of Jesus Christ?
1:09.7	I'm Morgan Pearson, and I am so honored to have McKay Coppins on the line with me today.
1:15.2	McKay, welcome.
1:16.2	Thanks for having me, Morgan.
1:18.5	Well, I almost said on the line with me tonight, because McKay and I are recording
1:23.5	this.
1:24.5	This is a late night episode of All-In.
	...

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