Trump's "Presidential Vandalism" Draws Cowardly, Dangerous Response from Iowans in Congress
Also This Week: Weekly Overdue Farm Bill Ticker Updated
Iowa’s all Republican congressional delegation has offered a meek, cowardly, dangerous - and largely supportive - response to the sustained outburst of “presidential vandalism” with which President Donald Trump has launched his second term in the White House.
Trump and his supporters call his first week’s actions “directives” or “executive orders.” As if they are all quite normal.
They are not normal. They are, many of them, pure presidential vandalism.
They are not designed to strengthen the federal government or the American people, but rather to hobble them. To cut back in order to claw back money for more big tax breaks for the super wealthy.
Others are rooted in Trump’s stated desire for revenge and retribution.
What is the point of taking away Dr. Anthony Fauci’s federal protective detail when Trump knows there are significant and credible death threats against him, generated only by his professional work protecting millions of Americans?
Why would Trump fire the Inspector Generals of more than a dozen federal department and agencies on Friday, the very people who are the front line in protecting against taxpayer rip-offs?
Why would he make it more difficult to access affordable medicines with Medicaid coverage, or obtain health insurance under the Affordable Care Act when the alternative is often no health insurance at all?
Why stop federal cancer research in its tracks?
There are literally too many of these destructive first week actions to keep straight. That is intentional, by the way. So that we know just how clever they are, people like Steve Bannon, convicted felon and “Trump Whisperer” talk openly about “flooding the zone” - pushing so much out so quickly, at the same time, that the opposition can’t possibly track it all, much less effectively oppose it.
It’s designed to prevent thoughtful consideration and debate, and stifle democracy in favor of an authoritarian autocratic approach to governing.
It ought to tell us something that they want to push their policies through this way, avoiding public scrutiny, and meaningful, thoughtful debate.
It is telling, too, that House Speaker Mike Johnson is talking about sending many changes that will get congressional “consideration” through as part of huge bills that include so many different subjects that no individual piece of it will get adequate study or debate in the time allotted for the legislation.
News outlets are doing the best they can do to keep up with all of Trump’s executive orders. I won’t try to list them all here, but I have listed a few, above. What I really want to write about this week is the reaction from Iowa’s congressional delegation to Trump’s acts of vandalism, to the extent that they have reacted at all.
The big item, of course, is Trump’s pardon or commutation for more than 1,500 January 6 insurrectionists. His action totally by-passed the normal Justice Department procedures for considering and vetting requests for pardons and commutations.
He by-passed that process even though documented cop-beaters and cop-killers - violent, unrepentant and unreformed - were among those he let out of prison. All were convicted by a jury of their peers.
The mob’s violence on January 6 resulted in the deaths of 5 Capitol police officers and the serious injury of more than 140 additional officers.
The reaction from Iowans in Congress to Trump’s pardons - his reckless, flippant, and dangerous “get out of jail free” passes to violent criminals - has been cowardly and dangerous.
No one in the Iowa delegation has even challenged Trump’s action, questioned it, or even cleared their throat over it. Their meek acceptance of Trump’s narrative and his pardons is dangerous: it tells Iowans that political violence is OK and, if it is on behalf of Republicans, it will actually be rewarded.
Is that really the message Iowans should be getting from their elected officials? No. It only encourages more violence.
That’s the dangerous part. Here’s the cowardly part of their “response.”
First, if members of Iowa’s Republican congressional delegation believe the pardons and commutations were justified, then let them talk honestly and directly about it. Give us the facts that make that case. That’s what leadership is all about. It’s also how democracy works.
That is the opposite of what they have done.
What they have done instead is to descend into irrelevant and partisan “what about-isms” which seek to change the topic. They have not attempted to explain the need for, or justify Trump’s pardons and commutations. They have only tried to divert the discussion into false equivalencies between Trump’s corrupt use of a president’s pardon power and Joe Biden’s use of that power at the end of his term to protect innocent individuals from corrupt, vindictive and groundless prosecutions by Trump that are meant only to harass.
By taking this track, they have apparently over looked one hard fact: by embracing Trump’s vandalism, politically, they now own it all - even the pardons and commutations - every bit as much as Donald Trump does.
Trump doesn’t have to worry about re-election in two years. But they do. Much of Trump’s first week vandalism is not popular now. It’s not likely any of it will get more popular over the next two years.
Secondly, members of Iowa’s congressional delegation, are hiding behind “spokespersons” who they put forward to do the talking. The intended effect is to shield Iowa’s elected US Representatives and Senators from direct questions from reporters that may seek to follow up, clarify, probe inconsistencies, see through “spin,” or persist in a line of questioning the member of Congress would rather avoid.
In all honesty, there are sometimes good reasons for a spokesperson to do the talking. When I worked on the Capitol Hill as one of those “spokespersons” for elected officials, I frequently answered questions from reporters, on the record, when it would be helpful to a reporter. There is nothing wrong with it, inherently. For example: an approaching deadline for a reporter and commitments for the Senator’s time that I knew would prevent a return call in a timely manner that was compatible with that deadline.
Hiding a member of the House or Senate from what might be difficult questions on a major issue - especially one like whether it was a good idea for the president to skip the normal vetting process and let more than 1,500 violent cop-beaters and cop-killers, out of prison - was never one of those good reasons.
These are questions that deserve answers - direct answers, and not partisan “spin” -from the people Iowans voted for and elected to represent them in Congress.
If Iowa’s congressional delegation is not up to answering those questions, then they should perhaps consider other lines of work. Leading in a functioning democracy may not be their thing.
Iowa’s congressional delegation also has a responsibility to protect and preserve America’s democracy. Trump is a threat to our democracy.
Each member of Iowa’s congressional delegation needs to decide - sooner rather than later - where they are going to draw the line and when they will stand up for democracy.
WEEKLY OVERDUE FARM BILL TICKER - 483 Days: The number of days that have elapsed since the 2018 Farm Bill expired on September 30, 2023, without Congress passing a new one. (Total days as of Sunday, 01/26/2025).
Two thirds of Iowa’s congressional delegation serve on the House or Senate Agriculture Committees.
With President Trump now thinking about abolishing whole, vital federal agencies - like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) - prospects for getting a stronger new Farm Bill than could have been obtained with a Democratic President and a Democratic Senate look increasingly dim. The choice to let the expired 2018 Farm Bill continue to twist slowly in the wind for the entire last Congress is looking more and more like a major blunder with significant ramifications for farmers.
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Barry—Your insightful commentary is desperately needed now, more than ever. You are a sentinel on the frontline of the defense of the republic. We cheer you!
I’m with Richard, Barry. You are indeed a sentinel, and we certainly need you. Our congressional delegation is displaying huge cowardice, one and all. Unfortunately, cowardice seems to be the behavior of choice for just about every Republican in Washington.
Thank you also for continuing to keep our eyes open on the farm bill. There are a lot of moving pieces to keep track of, part of the plan, I think, to confuses us while the government is taken over by the oligarchs. Your voice is essential.