Iowa Disaster is a Big Deal – But Means Nothing About Defeating Trump
by Lanny Davis – 2/4/20
Washington DC, February 4, – Yes, that dateline is not Des Moines, Iowa — it’s D.C. For whatever reason, God gave me a cough and cold on Sunday night, despite mild weather in Iowa (yes, there is global warming). So, I left for home yesterday afternoon. Lucky me.
I tweeted the following messages last night starting at 10:30 pm – and can’t add too much more this morning.
Ok. I will be first to say out loud what most Democrats are thinking, including almost all Iowan Democrats, but few want to say — The Iowa Caucus system and the Iowa Democratic Party officials, who at 10:30 pm EST have still not allowed ANY results to be announced, are a —disgrace.
2) Iowa caucus system = voter suppression, complexity, anti-working family, TV horse-trading, incomprehensible rules and worst – opaque Dem State Officials who won’t tell us what is wrong. Add to the words “disgraceful” and “embarrassing” the word “anti-democratic” (small “d”)
3) Message to Iowa Democratic Party officials – you are violating my basic crisis management mantra more than worst example [of crisis mismanagement] of all — the Exxon Valdez oil crisis – “tell it early, tell it all, tell it yourself.” What an injustice to candidates, Iowan caucus goers, democracy by Democrats
The excuse this morning for continuing silence by Iowa officials remains just plain stupid. They should have told us last night what they didn’t know – but tried to explain what had happened and a plan to count the vote if there is one. Something more than silence. Also, it is now 100% clear. Shame on the chairman of the DNC for not saying it last night or this morning what needs to be said: No more Iowa Caucus system. Good-bye. It should have happened a long time ago.
It’s not about mistakes or an app. It is about a system that is anti-democratic. It suppresses the votes of working families or families with children or seniors or, in fact, normal people who can’t afford to spend three hours on a weekday night to “caucus,” lose their privacy in voting, and then have to figure out who how to “reallocate” themselves after the calculators tell them their candidate isn’t “viable.
The obvious conclusion: The Iowa caucus system MUST be replaced by a primary, where more people can vote and exercise the right to a private ballot, like most Americans. Period.
At the end of the day, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had a great night and won. Former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg had a good night, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former Vice President Joe Biden (especially the latter) performed way below what was expected. And Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) gave her greatest speech at the end of the night about why Donald Trump must be defeated – the only thing that matters. She moves on – contrary to many predictions.
As for Trump, he can chortle all he wants tonight but he can’t escape two facts tonight or ever:
First, leading Republican U.S. senators, privately and in the case of Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and hopefully others today, have called Trump and his lawyers and Republican senator apologists liars. Liars. They vindicated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Democrats, and House impeachment managers. 100 percent. And repudiated their Republican colleagues in House and Senate. The likelihood is now great that Republicans will lose the Senate in 2020. Their Republican colleagues have now said that Trump abused his powers as president to extort and shakedown the Ukrainians to dig up dirt on a political opponent by withholding military aid and a White House meeting. Trump’s legal team and apologists in the Senate, must be embarrassed. Trump and Giuliani too. But they are, of course, beyond embarrassment.
However, there is a second fact that cannot be deleted: a videotape. Click on the link below.
See Trump, seeming mentally imbalanced (for a change!) disrespecting the singing of the national anthem prior to the Super Bowl kickoff. The same man who criticized and mocked African American NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, quietly and with dignity, to express their conscience about an American system that continues to ignore and disrespect many African Americans.
I expect we will see this video tape repeated thousands of times on TV throughout the general election. And I hope Trump voters, as much as they seem to forgive Trump for everything, can’t possibly forgive this, especially those who served in the military.
Click below. Trump may chortle tonight about what happened in Iowa. But he can’t explain this. Ever. And it will be another reason why he must not be reelected to lead our country in a second term. Must not be.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-anthem-super-bowl_n_5e38a94ec5b66c4eafd8b38c
To read the column on The Hill, click here
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Davis served as special counsel to President Bill Clinton (1996-98). He is co-founder of the law firm of Davis Goldberg & Galper and the strategic media and crisis management firm Trident DMG. He authored “Crisis Tales: Five Rules for Coping with Crises in Business, Politics and Life (Scribner 2018). He is being hosted in Iowa by former Iowa Attorney General Bonnie Campbell. Davis can be followed on Twitter @LannyDavis
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