Iowa Congressional Delegation's "Tulip Mania" and "Self-Demolition Derby"
Also: Over Due Farm Bill Ticker Update
Tulip Mania and demolition derbies aren’t often mentioned in the same sentence, but I’m putting them both in this sentence because the combination of the two seems to be the perfect description of what’s going on with Iowa’s congressional delegation these days.
They are giddy with their support for the new president as he launches Trump 2.0 in the White House. They remind me of those who were in the grip of the “Tulip Mainia” that swept through Europe in the early 17th century.
First, some history: “Tulip Mania” raged across the Dutch Republic, and then much of Europe, from 1634 - 1637. Tulip prices shot up to astoundingly high, dizzying levels. Tulip bulbs became so valuable they were even traded as currency across much of Europe.
Tulips were considered a can’t miss investment. People thought the tulip “boom” would last forever. They were wrong on both counts. It lasted, at best three years. It was at its peak for one year. Fortunes were made from tulip investments, but in the end, even bigger fortunes were lost.
But Iowa’s congressional delegation is not in the grip of “Tulip Mania.” They are in the middle of a “self-demolition derby.”
I don’t think they don’t know it yet, but that’s where they are heading.
In my view, blindly supporting mean-spirited, destructive policies because you think Trump’s long lasting popularity will carry you through any backlash and, even more importantly, prevent a primary challenge - is not only cowardly, it is just as risky as sinking the family fortune in tulips was in 1637.
Most Americans I know are appalled at what Trump is doing. The magnitude and speed with which he is delivering fascism, bigotry, ignorance - and illegal actions - has been breath taking - by design.
Apparently, however, it has been just the cup of tea for Trump’s base.
And so Iowa’s Republicans in Congress - trembling as they always do at the prospect of a Trump inspired primary - embrace all that.
Here’s why they are wrong: They assume Trump’s popularity is bigger than it is, and that it will last longer than it will.
They are also wrong because toadying to Trump is not a strategy that works either for the country or their own re-election prospects in the long run.
First, Trump’s popularity has never been strong enough to warrant the kind of blank checks of servitude members of Iowa’s congressional delegation are giving him.
In 2016, the only year Trump ran as a non-incumbent in the Iowa Caucuses, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) won the caucuses, not Trump. Nor has Trump has ever won a majority of the votes cast in a national presidential election. He won with less than a majority of the votes cast in the general election, in both 2016 and 2024, and of course lost in 2020 with fewer votes than won by Joe Biden.
You may be excused if you think Trump won with a majority of the votes cast nationally in 2024, since he has been constantly gaslighting Americans about his “huge mandate” ever since election night. He won with 49.8% of the total votes cast in the election.
The truth is, 49.8% - while a larger percentage “by a hair” than his closest opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris - it is not a “huge mandate” for anything.
He won a squeaker in the popular vote, by a margin of one half of one percent of the national vote.
Nor is Trump’s popularity growing. It is declining.
Trump is the first president to have a lower approval rating two weeks after inauguration than he did on the day he took the oath of office. That’s pretty hard to do, considering most presidents enjoy a honeymoon for the first several months of their term.
To the extent Trump had a honeymoon at all, it was probably measured in hours.
Which is to say, Trump’s popularity is likely at its peak right now. It will likely be all down hill from here. First, because that’s what ususally happens with presidential popularity although there are often some peaks and vallies. Second, the evidence of predictable failure of the people and policies he is putting place will soon begin to start piling up and will be hard to deny.
Trump’s popularity has never high. Just intense where it exists.
It is already dropping, and it is doing so at a rate that is likely to accelerate in the months ahead. Much of what Trump has done in his first two weeks is not only indefensible but likely to cause even bigger problems.
Does anyone actually believe that 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and another 10% on China will not “goose” the inflation rate in America?
How about his attacks on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal bureau of Investigation (FBI)? His mass firings - purges - to eliminate those who followed the law and prosecuted him for his previous crimes. Does anyone think that once Americans figure out that he’s turned the DOJ and the FBI into his own personal Gestapo that Americans will be OK with that?
The chaos and confusion caused by his on again and off again - and likely illegal - halt in federal spending? Will Americans welcome that kind of incompetent nuttery?
Will Americans of good will be ok with the deliberate cruelty he is bringing to people of color, immigrants, refugees, and people of different sexual orientations? There may be a majority for such cruelty and even violence among Trump’s base, but I don’t think such a majority exists among most Americans.
This is where the “self-demolition derby” comes into the picture.
Iowa’s congressional delegation may think they are helping themselves politically with their unquestioning support for Trump, his appointments and his policies. I believe they are doing just the opposite, because there will soon be a cost for supporting Trump as his predictable failures come into sharp focus.
Iowa’s congressional delegation has had little to nothing to say about any of Trump’s bad choices over the past two weeks. They have a responsibility to speak up when they see something unacceptable, but they haven’t.
Either they have not seen anything that troubles them - trying to erase the 14th amendment to the US Constitution by the stroke of his pen should have set off at least some alarm bells - or they have abdicated their obligation to speak up in favor of partisan acquiescence.
The other option, of course, is that they are fine with all of it. No reason to object, because they don’t object.
While Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) did manage to clear his throat over Trump’s firing of 18 Inspector Generals, he has had precious little to say about the wholesale firing of senior officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Those firings are clear retribution against those who followed the law and prosecuted Trump for his multiple felonies during and after his first term.
Trump firing those officials is a textbook case of corruption of the justice system.
Moreover, as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the senior member of the majority party in the Senate, Senator Grassley had a responsibility to object and protect the integrity independence of the DOJ and FBI.
Yet, according to his official Senate website listing of press releases, he has said virtually nothing, even though Trump’s action puts America on the path to creation of a personal Donald Trump Gestapo-like force with full police powers, unless challenged and stopped.
So much for Chuck Grassley’s flea bitten, moth eaten, faded image as one of the Senate’s biggest fighters against waste, fraud, abuse - and corruption.
Meanwhile, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) has been busy incinerating her own hard earned reputation as an advocate for women in the military. She just threw women in the military under the bus by voting for a Trump Defense Secretary nominee who openly questioned the ability of women to serve in the military and who has been credibly accused of sexual abuse. She wouldn’t even meet with his main accuser to hear her story.
So much for advocating for women in the military.
Over in the House, Zach Nunn (R-3rd IA), showed up on Fox “News” recently to suggest that the California wildfires present the perfect opportunity to hold urgently needed humanitarian aid for California hostage in order to force California to change its own state laws and policies to conform to MAGA wishes.
Is that an expression of Iowa values? I don’t think so.
Sooner or later Iowans in Congress will discover they have wrapped their arms around some very odious appointees, policies and proposals in the name of loyalty to Donald Trump. Some are actually harmful to democracy, our system of justice, and the safety of our country. Many do not reflect our values, as Americans or as Iowans.
Donald Trump will never have to face voters again. But members of Iowa’s congressional delegation will.
Iowa’s Republicans in Congress will discover that Trump’s popularity - which they think will protect them - like every president’s popularity - is fleeting. When it shrinks, or even disappears, the impact and pain of his destructive policies, which they embraced, will remain. As will the record of their embrace of those policies.
They will have to not only defend those policies, they will own them. Their silence at the roll out means they own them every bit as much as does Trump. Their silence will speak as loudly as part of their records as their votes on the House and Senate floors do.
Iowa’s congressional delegation needs to stop the on going self-demolition derby now, for their own sake as well as the country’s.
They need to do their jobs.
WEEKLY OVERDUE FARM BILL TICKER - 490 DAYS: The number of days that have passed since the 2018 Farm Bill expired on September 30 2023m without Congress passing a new one. (Total days as of Sunday, 02/02/2025).
Two thirds of Iowa’s congressional delegation serves on the U.S. House and Senate Agriculture Committees.
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What breaks my heart every day is the level of hatred. Do they just stay up at night wondering what new level of hatred they can sink to? What keeps me going is the belief that Americans, and Iowans, will show that this is not who we are, and that one of these days those "representatives" will be forced to look in the mirror and wonder who they have become. Thank you for what you do, Barry.
What are we waiting for? Start impeachment proceedings and see where this goes, if this group of Trump monkeys supports not impeaching Trump, they are basically throwing away any possibility of re-election! If impeachment goes through and Vance is made President, my guess is he too will try and pull a fast one, and supporters should be counted on impeaching him as well to avoid the same out come! Eventually, someone will have the sense to do the right thing, and take control for the People, even in the most modest way will be far better than the wrecking ball operation currently at hand!