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Letter: Trump-style leadership at a local level?
Op-Ed · September 08, 2016


An Aug. 29th article in the Washington Post discusses the Iowa Republican Party’s unconditional support for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.


The author mentions a concern for down-ballot candidates, Iowa’s treasured “first in the nation” caucus status, and the desire to have a conservative pick the next Supreme Court nominees.

I ask, how hard would it be to vigorously support the down-ballot candidates and general conservative principles, while decrying the demeanor and offensive statements Trump has used over the past year and a half? I refuse to believe that most Iowa voters would encourage his level of civility.

On our first-in-the-nation status, this is a relatively recent “tradition.” The process as exercised on the Democrat’s side is not democratic. Realigning support groups without recording original raw support numbers sends a misleading number to the rest of our country. People with legitimate reasons to keep their choice private are excluded. Party building and actual issue discussion/education can be better handled before the actual day of choosing delegates. The first state in the process should be expanding information available, not winnowing the field.

Whether we remain a caucus state, or change to a primary system, I am pretty damn sure that my reward/punishment situation in the afterlife is not dependent on Iowa’s role in politics. Our economy and our egos will adjust if we lose FITN status. Healthy perspectives might include asking if our state’s demographics are best for starting this nationwide process.

As Ms. Clinton has expressed continuing with Iowa as First, this issue is not a good reason to support Trump unconditionally.

If we went through the process correctly this cycle, and the process ended up with a candidate the caliber of Mr. Trump, something is grievously wrong with the process. Trump is unqualified for this job, from every angle. Why are we willing to ignore his casual disrespect of John McCain, and the Khan family? Do Iowa Republicans want the sort of family values displayed in Mrs. Trump’s publicly published nude photos? Do we want discourse on issues to be handled Trump-style locally?

I refuse to believe that most Iowa Republicans want our country’s most solemn obligation, participating in our “We the people” government, to be handled with such little respect.

While I sympathize with the desire to have “your own side” pick the next court justices, we must also respect the processes in place currently. Refusing to “interview” judicial candidates based on party affiliation is unacceptable. Refusing to fill judicial vacancies at any level, in hopes of a better election next time, destroys democracy in a way that social values differences never will.

Laura Twing

Tipton