The Tragedy of Chuck Grassley

His Legacy Crumbles as He Chooses Political Hackery Over Real Leadership in Trump Saga

If Iowa’s U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley ever planned to leave a legacy of positive leadership behind from his long career in public office - a career that started when Richard Nixon was Vice President, John F. Kennedy was a U.S. Senator, and the nation “liked Ike” Eisenhower who lived in the White House - Grassley is taking a wrecking ball to it in his twilight years as a U.S. Senator.

At a time when Grassley’s leadership in Washington, DC and in the Republican Party could help the nation and his party immeasurably, Grassley’s political hackery is now predictable, partisan, and embarrassing.

It is an American tragedy history will record and not remember gently.

Grassley’s response this past week to the 37 count federal criminal indictment of Donald Trump for stealing, keeping, lying about, and refusing to return hundreds of highly classified national security documents is the latest example of that pathetic political hackery.

Thirty one of those federal criminal counts are for violations of the federal Espionage Act. Those who are familiar with the documents say their content puts U.S. service men and women, those who gather intelligence, and even our allies in grave and direct danger.

Make no mistake - the lives of many young Iowans now serving in the military have been endangered by Trump’s thievery, obstruction of justice, and multiple violations of the Espionage Act.

Grassley, in his reaction to this, should be on the side of those brave Iowans Trump put at risk. He should be on America’s side.

Instead, he chose Donald Trump’s side.

Instead of providing an honest, thoughtful response to the historically unprecedented second round of criminal indictments for the twice impeached ex president, Grassley merely repeated Trump’s clumsy and sophomoric talking points.

The total number of criminal indictments against Trump now stands at 71, with two grand juries still out, both of which are highly likely to return even more indictments, probably even more serious than the ones now pending against him.

Yet, Grassley still plays “Little Sir Echo” to Trump rather than standing up for our country and for the American value that no person is above the law.

In responding to the 37 new federal criminal indictment against Trump, Grassley simply repeated Trump’s worn out, and baseless complaint, that the investigation against him is biased and partisan in nature.

That’s baloney.

Every gangster movie I ever watched featured criminals who claimed that law enforcement was unfairly “picking on them.” That complaint is a cliched crime trope at this point, but Trump keeps rolling it out and Grassley keeps repeating it.

More importantly, neither offer credible evidence to back up the whining.

Grassley ignored the fact that all 71 criminal indictments came, not from Special Counsel Jack Smith, not from Attorney General Merrick Garland, or even from President Biden, but were voted - in every case - by a randomly selected grand jury of citizens.

Grassley’s political hackery also ignored the fact that Special Counsel Jack Smith has handled this case by the book and has, on multiple occasions granted Trump conveniences and courtesies no other private citizens would ever be granted. The basic fact that Trump is not in prison today is the most obvious. Any other citizen facing such serious criminal charges, and so many serious criminal charges would have been incarcerated long ago.

Grassley even let stand Trump’s characterization of Smith as “deranged” and “a thug” without so much as a suggestion that Trump cool the rhetoric.

Nice “strong support for law enforcement” you’ve got going there, Senator.

And most importantly of all - neither Trump nor Grassley defend Trump on the grounds that he isn’t guilty and didn’t do what the indictments accuse him of doing.

That ought to very telling. Grassley apparently didn’t notice that omission before picking up the Trump song book and singing loudly. Or maybe he did and he knows they’re working with all they’ve got right now.

In the 1892 short story “Silver Blaze” author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective, Sherlock Holmes, solves a case of a stolen race horse by noticing “the dog that didn’t bark.”

At this point, if history remembers Chuck Grassley at all, it will remember him as the Senator who should have - but “didn’t bark.”

If he was up to it, and if he chose to do it, Grassley could have provided real, and needed leadership to his party and his country. He could have helped both safely get through the nightmare of Trump’s ex-presidency and crime spree.

What makes Grassley’s failure to do that so incredibly tragic is that he is the one Republican Senator who has the stature to speak the truth about Trump, and could do so without risking a thing politically.

He’s the longest serving Republican US Senator, the current senior Republican Senator, and the 6th longest serving Senator in history of both parties. He’s a former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, experience most would deem relevant to the matter at hand.

And at age 89, Grassley surely can’t believe he is going to run for a ninth term at age 95 in 2028. At this point, he’s got the political running room of a federal judge with a life time appointment. It is highly unlikely Grassley will ever appear on a ballot again. Yet, he cowers in the shadows with the other Republicans who fear their own base.

In these recent months of great peril for our democracy, Grassley has become a classic example of a Senator who “stayed too long,” depressingly predictable and politically afraid of his own shadow.

I am old enough to remember the last time America had a criminal president - Richard Nixon. I remember, too, that even though many Republicans still supported Nixon - despite the towering evidence of his crimes - he was finally stopped in 1974 by the courage, wisdom and patriotism of three top Republicans: 1964 Republican presidential nominee, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, House Republican Leader John Rhodes of Arizona and Republican Senate Leader Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania.

They went to the White House in a group on the afternoon of August 7, 1974, and informed Nixon they had counted impeachment votes in the House and Senate. They told Nixon he was finished. They told Nixon that at best, there would be 16 votes for acquittal in the Senate if Nixon were impeached by the House.

Goldwater reportedly added, “and I’m not one of them.”

That’s not the script for today’s Republican leaders. They simply howl at the moon with the twice impeached, liable for sexual assault, indicted for 71 federal crimes so far, and the dangerous threat to US democracy Donald Trump.

Like Goldwater, Rhodes and Scott, history will record that Chuck Grassley had a unique opportunity to be part of the solution for a nation facing a crisis.

History will also record that, unlike Goldwater, Rhodes and Scott, Chuck Grassley chose instead, to remain part of the problem.

That crumbling sound you hear? It is Chuck Grassley’s legacy disintegrating more loudly and more completely each day.

Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains is a weekly column that is part of the Iowa Writer’s Collaborative. The Collaborative links some of Iowa’s best thinkers and writers directly with readers to help fill the gap left as many of Iowa’s traditional newspapers cut back on opinion, analysis and even reporting on a wide range of topics. Please review the Iowa Writer’s Collaborative columns listed below and consider subscribing - either for free or with a paid subscription - to help ensure that readers continue to have access to informed and thoughtful opinion, analysis, commentary, and reporting. Your subscriptions, especially paid subscriptions, are what makes this effort work and allow these columns to be available.

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