Trump Impeachment Might Shake Up the Senate

By ART CULLEN

We did not think the US Senate race in Iowa was in play until the last week in September. Now it might be. President Trump’s entreaty to the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, forced House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to raise an impeachment inquiry. Pelosi has majority House support. Every indication is that the House will vote to impeach and send it to the Senate for trial, which could result in Trump’s eviction from office.

All of this is likely to set up Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, for the vote of her life.

She has supported Trump every step of the way. Will she vote to oust him?

So far, probably not.

That could be her undoing.

Ernst’s approval rating stood at an all-time high of 57% in February, according to the Des Moines Register Iowa Poll. It was hard to see a way to beat her. The trade wars seemed to deflect off her. She has complained about renewable fuels enough to keep the industry happy with her back home, although corn growers are furious with Trump over it. She generally stands next to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and smiles.

It might not work come impeachment time.

Iowans don’t like liars. Trump is the worst we have seen in the White House — worse, even, than Nixon. Remember what Iowans thought of that: They elected Berkley Bedell to Congress in 1974 and Jimmy Carter to the White House in 1976. It’s why we think J.D. Scholten of Sioux City will unseat Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, as King does a mind-meld with the narcissist-in-chief.

Ernst has seen her approval ratings drop in Morning Consult tracking polls, from 47% in the early 2017, while 37% disapproved, to 42% in early 2018, while 37% still disapproved, to 42% in mid-2018, with 38% disapproving, so plenty of Iowans are still undecided about their junior senator.

The wave started to ripple in the 2018 midterm elections in key Midwestern swing states. That’s why Pelosi holds Trump’s fate in her hands. The wave is likely to build over Trump’s outrageous contempt of the Constitution, of using the leverage of the United States government to coerce a foreign power to smear his political opponents, and of attempting to obstruct justice and interfere with Congressional functions.

Iowans are leery. They like honest. Ernst seemed like one of them when she talked about riding the bus with bread bags on her shoes. The mood is changing rapidly on Trump in the Tall Corn State. Farmers have figured out he is a liar. Even Ernst says she needs Trump’s promises in writing. Sen. Chuck Grassley said he felt “screwed” by Trump.

If Ernst votes to protect the most corrupt President in history, we think any of the four Democratic candidates could beat her.

We did not think that before learning of Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president.

We heard all the Democratic hopefuls Saturday night, Sept. 28, at the Harry Hopkins Dinner in Sioux City: Michael Franken, Kimberly Graham, Theresa Greenfield and Eddie Mauro. Each is an attractive candidate. Greenfield took the crowd of 300 into the palm of her hand when she described how her husband died on the farm near Buffalo Center at age 24, and how she has fought back to build a new life. Although we resent Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer endorsing her and interfering in our politics, Greenfield was the best prepared and mined the energy of a hungry crowd. When Northwest Iowa Democrats show energy, thinking they might actually win that race, something is going on.

Ernst can prove herself an honest Senate broker by rejecting this awful President. He has lied to Iowa farmers for big oil companies. He is holding back immigrant communities that could revitalize rural places. He has killed our manufacturing export markets. He is shredding the Constitution. If Ernst votes to impeach — and the evidence already is clear, by Trump’s own boast, that he in fact did ask a foreign leader to meddle in our affairs — her approval rating will soar and she will win that race hands down.

If she cowers in the face of that clown, a Democrat will reclaim Tom Harkin’s old seat. Bet on it. You could feel it in Sioux City on that Saturday night.

Art Cullen, managing editor of The Progressive Populist, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in his day job as editor of The Storm Lake Times in Northwest Iowa. His book, “Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper,” was published by Viking Press in October 2018.

From The Progressive Populist, November 1, 2019

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