President Donald J. Trump dominated the last two elections here in Iowa. His coattails helped Republicans expand their majority in the legislature and aided Joni Ernst in maintaining the U.S. Senate seat while helping Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks earn spots in the House.
Trump won Iowa 53.1-44.9 percent in 2020. He won Iowa 51.2-41.7 percent in 2016.
Barack Obama’s 2008 win (53.9-44.4) was a similar margin, but he won by just 5.8 percent in 2012.
Unfortunately, the Republicans who benefitted from sharing the ballot with Trump have failed to fight for — and like — Trump.
Today is Aug. 6, which means it was 19 months ago today that Randy Feenstra, Chuck Grassley, Joni Ernst, Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks all voted to certify Joe Biden’s “victory.”
Hinson and Miller-Meeks voted for Liz Cheney to originally retain her leadership position. Feenstra refused to say whether he voted for her or not (we know what that means — our money would be on him having voted for her).
Miller-Meeks attended a summit on climate change in Colorado shortly after winning her seat. Hinson has called for banning conversion therapy for minors. Both of them voted to codify homosexual marriage and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act — which is a clear contradiction to the Republican Party of Iowa platform.
Heck, Miller-Meeks was censured by the Mahaska County GOP for her vote on that bill.
Feenstra has done OK, but by no means is he a leader — let alone a conservative leader. Has he delivered?
Well, he delivered a $5,000 check to Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald J. Trump. In fact, his largest PAC contribution to another member of Congress was that $5,000 contribution to Herrera Beutler.
Herrera Beutler blasted Trump, saying that he “incited a riot” that led to the deaths of five people. She said the “violent mob bludgeoned to death” a Capitol police officer — something that has since been shown not to be true.
And she called the Americans who entered the Capitol — their Capitol — “terrorists.”
She said Trump released a “pathetic denouncement” of the violence with a “wink and a nod” to those who perpetrated it.
Herrera Beutler voted for the Jan. 6 Committee. She has a 57 percent lifetime score from Freedom Works. She has a 50 percent score from Conservative Review for her own Liberty Score.
And that is the person Feenstra has given the most money to.
Miller-Meeks’ PAC has contributed to almost every Republican who voted to impeach Trump that is seeking re-election. And yes, Hinson’s PAC contributed to a few of them as well.
Hinson and Miller-Meeks both signed a letter to Biden congratulating him on his win and the beginning of his presidency in January of 2021.
This doesn’t even touch on the fact that Chuck Grassley votes for the Biden agenda more than 50 percent of the time.
The only Republican Senators who vote with Biden’s agenda more than Grassley? Here are some of those names:
Lisa Murkowski
Susan Collins
Mitt Romney
Mitch McConnell
Lindsey Graham
There are a few other lesser-known names on that list — but none who are stalwart conservatives.
Speaking of Murkowski, who has voted for the Biden agenda 69.4 percent of the time (as a Republican, mind you), received $10,000 from Grassley’s Hawkeye PAC earlier this year.
And Chuck isn’t the only one. Ernst’s JONI PAC has given Murkowski $5,000 earlier this year as well.
So where is the conservative leader in Congress from Iowa? There isn’t one. Plain and simple.
And some Iowa Republicans may be just fine with that. But Iowa is as red as it has been in quite some time. And there’s no excuse not to have a conservative in Congress from the Hawkeye State.
Quite true, and it isn’t going to be any better if Nunn joins the group. They are all in favor of enriching the military industrial complex and depleting American taxpayers to support the crooks and neo-nazis in Ukraine. None of them want to bring home troops and put them on our southern border to protect the US, and they don’t seem to be bothered by risking WWIII with Russia and/or China. They must be getting big bucks from defense contractors. I won’t vote for Nunn if he is just another neocon warmonger and McConnell toadie.