Minutes after Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney announced Wednesday that he would vote to convict President Donald Trump in the impeachment trial, Twitter users began wondering if this was Romney’s “white horse" moment.



It wasn't — and it’s far from clear whether the supposed prophecy even entered into Romney’s consideration.

The White Horse Prophecy comes from an often-contested statement believed to have been made by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith. According to the claim, in 1840, Smith said that, one day in the future, when the US Constitution hung by a thread, LDS elders would step in "on the white horse" to save the country.

“In spite of fact that I don’t put stock in the historical accuracy of the so-called ‘White Horse prophecy,’ I could almost be convinced to be a believer after [Romney] announced he’ll be the lone [Republican senator] to do the right thing to vote to convict Trump, upholding the Constitution,” historian Barbara Jones Brown tweeted Wednesday.

Brown, who works as the executive director of the Mormon History Association, an institute independent from the LDS church, told BuzzFeed News that she thinks Romney is too smart to believe the White Horse Prophecy.

“I think he's just doing it based on principles,” she said. “He said he took an oath before God as a senator, and Mormons also take an oath before God to be honest.”

“Mitt Romney voting like the White Horse Prophecy is real. Good for him though,” another user tweeted.

The authenticity of Smith’s prophecy is heavily disputed, and it was not widely known within Mormonism until conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck began to promote it a decade ago. In 2010, the LDS church issued a statement saying the folklore is unsubstantiated

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is politically neutral and does not endorse or promote any candidate, party or platform,” the church said at the time. “Accordingly, we hope that the campaign practices of political candidates would not suggest that their candidacy is supported by or connected to the church.”