Grassley Fails to Use Key Posts to Protect Social Security, DOJ and the Judiciary From Trump's Wrecking Ball
U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) stands - silently and without objection - at the center of three of the very biggest demolition projects of the “First 100 Days” of Donald Trump’s 2.0 presidency:
Trump’s assault on Social Security;
Trump’s corruption of the U.S. Department of Justice;
Trump’s attack on the federal judiciary.
Let me say at the outset that this column was never intended to be a weekly chronicle of the colossal, miserable and embarrassing failures of Iowa’s senior U.S. Senator. He’s the nation’s longest currently serving Republican senator, and the oldest - at 91.
But sometimes, these stories are just unavoidable.
You can’t really assess what is happening in Trump’s assault on our democracy, on our existence as a nation of laws, and on our government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” without repeatedly bumping into an area where Senator Grassley should be exerting some leadership on behalf of democracy and good government, but is failing - miserably and embarrassingly - to do so.
Grassley’s long tenure as a senator, and the seniority that goes with it, means he has some enormous leadership responsibilities.
Yet, he drops the ball. Every time.
Recent polls indicate that Trump’s popularity is plummeting. Of course it is. What American in their right mind thinks you can take a sledge hammer to Social Security and thoroughly corrupt the federal Department of Justice, and work to neuter the Judiciary branch of government - in addition to hundreds of other outrages - without enormous push back from the American people?
It’s apparently not as small a group as you’d think.
For starters, there is a whole Capitol building in Washington, DC filled with Republican senators and House members who think exactly that. They are happy to turn everything over to Donald Trump, sit back, cash their pay checks, issue their self-fawning press releases, and let Trump swing his wrecking ball. Daily. Without much or any input from Congress.
Iowa’s Senator Chuck Grassley is chief among them.
The rest of Iowa’s “Silent Six” congressional delegation is right there with him, but Grassley - by virtue of the fact of his long tenure, and the seniority and leadership positions that lengthy tenure gives him - deserves special attention.
You’ve heard about Trump’s assault on Social Security, right? Of course you have. Many of you are likely worrying about it right now.
What you might not know, however, is that Chuck Grassley is the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on Social Security. You may not know that because - on this most important issue for many Iowans and millions of Americans - Senator Grassey has had so little to say about Trump’s assault on Social Security.
Chuck Grassley should be the point person, the loudest voice in the room opposing Trump’s attempt to dismantle Social Security offices, their toll free phone numbers, and staffing.
Instead he has been worse than silent. He’s been a source of disinformation.
Last month, well after many of the so-called “DOGE” cuts were announced, Grassley told Radio Iowa in an interview that, golly, he couldn’t confirm that any of the DOGE cuts in the news were being made and that, in fact, Trump’s pick to lead Social Security assured him, he said, that services were going to be enhanced, not cut deeply.
Oh, so that’s why Trump/DOGE proposed unplugging the phone lines, massive staff firings, and selling local Social Security offices. It was all in the name of enhanced service.
Yeah. Right.
Grassley also told NBC News that he had not even been briefed on DOGE’s plans. When asked if it would be helpful if he were briefed, Grassley just wandered off down the hall repeating, “I have not been. I have not been.” Avoiding further questions.
Well. That’s really standing up and fighting for your prerogative as chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdicion over Social Security to know what unelected “tech bros” are imposing at the agency for which you have congressional jurisdiction, isn’t it?
It boggles the mind that Grassley claimed not to be able to confirm massive cuts being ordered, when they were in plain sight. Reading the daily newspaper was all the trail he needed to follow this one to discover what was afoot and that it required a massive response from him and his subcommittee.
As Chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee, Grassley has an enormous platform to use to stop Trump/DOGE’s dismantling of Social Security.
He should use it.
He should introduce - and pass (his party is the. majority party) - legislation to stop the destruction of Social Security. He should hold hearings to examine the legality of Trump’s destruction of it without congressional action. There is a plethora of other actioins Grassley and his subcommittee could take to stop this. Apparently, neither he nor his staff have seen a reason to think of any.
Chuck Grassley should do everything with his subcommittee that he can to protect Social Security and the Iowans who depend on it after paying into it for decades.
Yet, most Iowans have no idea Grassley even holds the post. That’s how little he’s stirred himself to use it to proect Social Seccurity from Trump’s demolition derby.
Grassley needs to speak up, defend and save Social Security, and get the subcommittee he heads off “snooze control.”
On another front, Grassley is also the Chairman of the full Senate Judiciary Committee. Trump is thoroughly corrupting the Department of Justice (DOJ) and is now attacking the Judiciary branch of government daily.
Once again, Grassley is in a key position to protect a core element of America’s government: a system of honest justice. Has he done anything with it? No, he has not. He has this committee on “snooze control,” too.
Trump is now actively and openly turning the DOJ into his own personal political Gestapo to investigate, persecute and prosecute Trump’s political opponents. He is now actually arresting judges. He is deporting U.S. citizens and legal immigrants to foreign gulags, after abducting them on the streets and shipping them off to other countries without even a whiff of the due process the US Constitution guarantees to every “person.”
One would be hard pressed to come up with a better description of authoritarian fascism in America.
One would think the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee might have something to say about that.
But not Chuck Grassley.
You’d think Grassley would summon his committee with the urgency of a five alarm fire bell to respond to this very real, clear and present danger. He could schedule hearings to document the danger; hold hearings to examine the damage; draft legislation to pass and stop Trump’s all out assault on one of the things that most makes our country America, our system of justice. He could send letters, make calls, and organize colleagues to visit the White House with him to demand of the president that the laws - and the Constitution - be obeyed.
None of that is coming from Grassley.
He just keeps tapping the “snooze” button, rolling over and going back to sleep.
Just be sure to wake him when American democracy is over and American justice has died.
WEEKLY OVERDUE FARM BILL TICKER - 575 DAYS: The number of days that have passed since the 2018 Farm Bill expired on September 30, 2023, without Congress passing a new one. (Total days as of Sunday, 04/27/2025).
Two thirds of Iowa’s congressional delegation serves on the U.S. House and Senate Agriculture Committees: Grassley (R-IA) and Ernst (R-IA) in the Senate; Nunn (R-3rd IA) and Feenstra (R-4th IA) in the House.
There is little indication Congress will act any time soon to pass a new Farm Bill, or if it does - given the Trump-Musk wrecking ball and the eagerness of Republicans in Congress to appease them - that it will be helpful to farmers.
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Maybe when “American democracy is over and American justice has died,” he’ll finally frickin’ RETIRE.
Jim, speaking: Grassley is a ZERO, NOTHING, a NOBODY —as are the balance of IOWA's representatives in Washington D.C. IOWA was once a leader in education and straight thinking abilities - that reputation is LONG GONE, NO LONGER IN EXISTENCE — blown out of the state by a FREAK storm —the result of a FREAK G.O.P. hoodwinked by a FREAK POTUS who's never LEGITIMATELY been who he's claimed to be. GRASSLEY'S LEGACY: Closing the barn door when it is empty — it took him how long to accomplish this? I'm not the least bit proud.