News from Congress, caucus campaigns, lawsuits targeting an Iowa law, and more
Dec. 4 "Capitol Week" is online
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Back to our regularly scheduled programming! As always, the whole “Capitol Week” archive going back to early 2021 is available for free on KHOI Community Radio’s website. Here’s the audio from our December 4 program.
This doesn’t happen often: Dennis and I started with Congressional news.
Iowa’s four members of the U.S. House all voted to expel their GOP colleague George Santos, even though top House Republicans opposed the move. I wrote more about this at Bleeding Heartland;
The expulsion forces a special election in New York’s third district, which covers a swingy area of Long Island. We briefly discussed how the candidates will be selected for the special;
IA-03 Representative Zach Nunn introduced a bill saying members of Congress can’t collect a pension after being expelled. It’s a classic example of “messaging” bill that doesn’t address a real problem. Santos wasn’t eligible for a pension, and it’s far more common for unethical members of Congress to resign in disgrace rather than being formally removed;
Former President Donald Trump held rallies in Ankeny and Cedar Rapids on Saturday. I watched them both so you don’t have to, and Dennis and I talked about some noteworthy points;
Trump continues to attack Governor Kim Reynolds, taking credit for her political successes and bashing her supposed disloyalty;
Trump continues to employ apocalyptic and authoritarian rhetoric in his rambling speeches. It’s hard to summarize but quite disturbing to listen to;
One of Trump’s new tv ads in Iowa is a 60-second spot showing Reynolds praising the former president’s accomplishments at rallies from 2018 and 2020. I think it’s quite effective;
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis completed his 99-county tour of Iowa over the weekend. History shows limited success for presidential candidates who completed the “full Grassley” before the Iowa caucuses. For what it’s worth, Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign announced Monday that he is on track to hold multiple visits in each Iowa county;
DeSantis also promised to move the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Iowa, which is grade-A pandering;
We spent a few minutes discussing the Fox News “debate” between DeSantis and California Governor Gavin Newsom last Thursday;
The Koch network endorsed former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley last week. Americans for Prosperity Action has already spent millions in Iowa and other states discouraging Republicans from supporting Trump, to little apparent effect. We talked about how the AFP network of foot soldiers could help Haley. For what it’s worth, AFP’s former state director in Iowa, Mark Lucas, endorsed Trump at his Cedar Rapids rally;
Ramaswamy criticized Reynolds and other Republicans for not opposing eminent domain for pipelines, a big issue in rural Iowa;
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum suspended his campaign on Monday. He spent at least $12 million of his own money on tv ads, radio ads, and numerous direct mail pieces, which generated very little support;
DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, and Christie are slated to appear at the next Republican National Committee debate on December 6 (Trump is skipping all the debates);
The Iowa Democratic Party approved a format for the “presidential preference cards” that will be used for mail-in voting next year. Democrats will be able to support President Joe Biden, U.S. Representative Dean Phillips, Marianne Williamson, and “uncommitted.” I wrote more about the process at Bleeding Heartland;
U.S. Senator Joni Ernst had a scare last week when she started choking at the Senate Republicans’ weekly lunch. Senator Rand Paul, who is also a doctor, was able to perform the Heimlich maneuver. Ernst generated a lot of positive and negative reaction when she posted on X/Twitter afterwards, “Can’t help but choke on the woke policies Dems are forcing down our throats”;
We briefly acknowledged the passing of three national figures: Henry Kissinger, Sandra Day O’Connor, and Rosalynn Carter. Biden’s official statement on Kissinger was fascinating to me. I avoid editorializing on the radio show, but I highly recommend Spencer Ackerman’s piece about Kissinger for Rolling Stone. Two good pieces about O’Connor’s legacy on the U.S. Supreme Court appeared in Slate and Politico;
Dennis and I spent several minutes discussing the two lawsuits filed last week that challenged Senate File 496, one of the discriminatory education laws Republicans enacted this year. I published deep dives on both of these cases at Bleeding Heartland. Eight LGBTQ students and Iowa Safe Schools are trying to have the whole law struck down; the other suit filed by Penguin Random House, four authors, a student and parent, educators, and the Iowa State Education Association focuses on the law’s book-banning provisions;
We talked about some famous books that have been removed from school libraries under SF 496. The Des Moines Register is maintaining a comprehensive database on this.
In closing, Dennis reflected on a dilemma Trump raised again during his Ankeny rally: if you were on a sinking electric boat and there was a shark in the water, would you rather be electrocuted by the battery or eaten by the shark?
I encourage you to check out the work of other Iowa Writers Collaborative
Thanks Laura for all your hard work. Also, the contributions of fellow writers, kudos.
What was the context for Trump’s raising that dilemma? Sounds too complex for him!