Iowa, Trump and America’s future
It begins tonight, as thousands of Iowans brave subzero temperatures to gather at caucus meetings to register their partisan preferences for president, the continuation of an arcane small-d democratic process that gives unfairly outsized influence to one small Midwestern state. This year, it’s only really happening on the Republican side — Iowa Democrats will vote by mail, with the results tallied in March — but the start of the season highlights the stark choice before voters.
It’s a shame, given his advanced age, that President Biden isn’t facing much of a challenge in his own party. But the real slow-motion travesty and tragedy is in the GOP, where, though former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is getting some traction, former President Donald Trump looks set to coast to the nomination.
Donald Trump, who continues to spout the lie that the 2020 election, which he lost fair and square and overwhelmingly to Biden, was stolen from him. Against all evidence, he paints a poisonous picture of a vast left-wing conspiracy rigging counts in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and elsewhere. There is no doubt that, if and when he’s dealt a loss in the polls this November, he and his minions will react by making Jan. 6, 2021, look like a picnic.
Donald Trump, who has pledged in a second term to use the power of the presidency to exact revenge on his political enemies, and who’s floated the idea of slapping a 10% tariff on all imported goods — a policy step that would bring supercharge the inflation he and his supporters claim to revile. In countless ways, four more years of Trump would be a debacle for our Republic.
Donald Trump, who maintains through his lawyers that a president is immune from criminal prosecution even after he leaves office should he say, order SEAL Team 6 to assassinate his rival — provided he’s never impeached and convicted for the act.
Donald Trump, who faces 91 felony counts in four different venues. He is under federal indictment for conspiracy to defraud the United States for trying to overturn the last election and also stands charged with mishandling national secrets. He faces state charges in New York and Georgia for paying out hush money in violation of the laws, and for meddling in the 2020 vote count. At least one of those cases could crescendo after the Republican Convention but before the November election, leaving voters to choose between a convicted felon staring down prison and the incumbent Democrat.
Donald Trump, who has been found guilty of business fraud in a state civil trial in Manhattan and will likely face a fine of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Donald Trump, who a Manhattan federal jury found he had sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll and was made to pay her $5 million and who goes on trial for defaming Carroll again tomorrow.
Donald Trump, who even the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board has branded “the Republican Party’s biggest loser,” for how in successive election years he has dragged the GOP down.
Donald Trump, who is increasingly spouting delusional nonsense on the campaign trail. At a recent rally, he said “all I know about magnets is this: Give me a glass of water, let me drop it on the magnets, that’s the end of the magnets.” (Fact check: Magnets work underwater, a fairly important fact for someone who wants the power to command the Navy to understand.
Donald Trump, who has said that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and “destroying the blood of our country,” sick words that echo those of the worst dictators in modern history.
In national polls, Trump gets the support of more than 60% of likely Republican voters, with Haley and Trump-lite Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the distant lowest double digits. Iowa and New Hampshire are closer, but Trump still looks dominant in both.
Hope and pray that state GOP voters come to their senses before it’s too late for the Republican Party — and America.