Last week the Republican Party of Iowa sent out a fundraising email asking people for money because Democrats are “drastically outfighting” Republicans in the “battle” over election integrity.
“If we don’t step up right now, we could lose forever,” the email read. “In Washington, House and Senate Republicans are working every day to stop the Left’s election takeover.”
So far, the email said, Republicans have “held the line” and stopped the Left.
Seriously. This is what the email from Jeff Kaufmann said.
“I’m pleading with you. Step up today to help support Republicans as we battle the Left and defend the integrity of our elections. If you don’t, we’re going to lose!”
When I read the email, I just deleted it. I mean, it’s what the Republican Party of Iowa does — raise money. Yes, it dripped with hypocrisy. Yes, it was devoid of facts. Yes, it should be considered one of the most embarrassing fundraising emails ever composed by the Republican Party of Iowa.
All of that is true.
But, hey, whatever. It was a one-time thing.
But then on Wednesday I received another fundraising email from the Republican Party of Iowa — signed by Jeff Kaufmann again. At this point, someone needed to step up to the microphone and tell the truth.
Iowa Republicans are being played by the Republican Party of Iowa here. Look, I love my fellow Iowa Republicans. I don’t let people who I love get taken to the cleaners and made to look like ignorant fools.
And that’s just what this second fundraising email does. Well, the first one did too. But fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Here is some of the excerpts from the second fundraising email, which was titled:
“Was your vote counted, Jacob?”
“There’s nothing more important than defending the integrity of our elections. American voters need to be absolutely certain that our ballots were counted fairly and accurately. Otherwise, how can we trust the reported results of our elections (or the government itself)?
“That’s why I’m fighting every day alongside true Republican Patriots (like you!) to ensure that it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat.
“We’re fighting every day to stop the Democrats schemes, and we need your support to keep going.”
You can read the full email below:
The fact that someone at the Republican Party of Iowa wrote both of these fundraising emails and had no problem hitting the send button indicates one of two things:
- Whoever wrote this email is incredibly ignorant.
– OR –
- Whoever wrote this email thinks Iowa Republicans are incredibly ignorant.
I’m not sure which it is, but I’d like to think my fellow Iowa Republicans are not ignorant. It is important in politics to deal with facts. So let’s examine some facts.
Randy Feenstra, Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley all — ALL — voted to certify Joe Biden’s victory against Donald J. Trump. All five of them. The entire Republican congressional delegation from Iowa rubber-stamped and certified the 2020 Presidential Election. Heck, Hinson and Miller-Meeks even voted in support of Liz Cheney to retain her leadership position within the GOP caucus earlier this year. Feenstra refuses to say whether he did or not (which means he almost certainly did).
Did you know that Iowa is the only state — the only state out of 50 of them — to have multiple Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives and Republicans in the U.S. Senate but not have one — ONE — Republican member of the congressional delegation vote to object to the election results.
Did the Republican Party of Iowa say a word about this? Did it hold its own accountable first?
No. No, it did not. It champions and cheerleads for the GOP Iowa congressional delegation. Which, I get. That’s RPI’s job.
But aren’t some things more important than that?
I mean, what good is being involved in elections if the elections are not fair and honest?
With six months having passed, perhaps the Republican Party of Iowa thought Iowans would’ve forgotten about the Jan. 6 act of betrayal from the GOP Iowa delegation. But Iowans are not idiots.
Feenstra told me that there was voter fraud, but only the states can remedy such problems. And, he said, he had no choice but to vote to certify the election. He didn’t say that leading up to Jan. 6 — it just magically appeared in the Constitution the day of the vote I guess.
On Jan. 5, Feenstra’s office told KCCI:
Feenstra will “continue listening to his constituents and reviewing all the facts before making a decision.”
Why on Earth was that his response on Jan. 5 only to turn around on Jan. 6 and say he had no choice but to certify due to the Constitution?
Was the Constitution rewritten the night of Jan. 5? Was it amended the morning of Jan. 6?
This is where I’d copy and paste those lines from the fundraising emails from the Republican Party of Iowa again to show the incredibly high level of audacity whoever wrote the emails had at the time they put pen to paper — or fingers to keyboard.
But honestly, it would just increase my dissatisfaction even more and, why do that?
If RPI really cared about election integrity, they would’ve called out Feenstra, Hinson, Miller-Meeks, Ernst and Grassley on their votes to certify the 2020 Presidential Election.
But they didn’t. They provided cover and protection instead.
And now here we are, nearly seven months into what will likely be the worst presidency since at least Jimmy Carter. And it is a presidency that received the blessing of every Iowa Republican member of the state’s congressional delegation despite serious concerns over the validity of the results.
Heck, Miller-Meeks and Feenstra acknowledge there was voter fraud in the election.
And now RPI is trying to say that Republicans in Washington are fighting every day against the Left’s attempt to take over elections?
There are two kinds of people in politics — people who want to be somebody and people who want to do something.
The people who want to sincerely fight for election integrity made themselves known on Jan. 6, 2021. RPI’s silence in the aftermath of those votes was deafening.
This may seem harsh. It may seem really critical. But it’s July 29, 2021 and I don’t know about everyone else, but we can’t sit here and pretend everything is OK. We can’t sit here and pretend we have “fighters” for election integrity in Congress from Iowa.
We can’t. That isn’t reality.
When the time to stand up for election integrity came on Jan. 6, Iowa’s GOP congressional delegation stood down. Worse, it waved the white flag of surrender. And nobody from the Republican Party of Iowa called them out for it.
Nobody.
I have not forgotten how our representatives voted on Jan. 6. I have not forgotten how they were able to vote that way with protection and support from the Republican Party of Iowa. I have not forgotten how truly important, valuable and necessary it is that we actually do stand up for election integrity.
I cannot say the same about the Republican Party of Iowa.
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