Our Holy and Righteous No!
And the hope of our courageous yes!
Speakers and candidates at the Warren County Democrats summer picnic June 14 in Norwalk, Iowa.
It’s been a week. Last Thursday, I heard someone say “next Tuesday is like a thousand years from now.” That was regarding the June 12 ruling by the U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ordering the command of the California National Guard be returned to California Governor Newsom by noon the following day. Within hours the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay until they could consider the case on Tuesday June 17. Thus the quote.
In addition to that court case about the power of President Donald Trump to bypass governors in taking control of the national guards in all 50 states, we had a series of political events that would be striking if they happened within a year, let alone within a week.
The same day Judge Breyer ruled that President Trump was playing fast and loose with the National Guard, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was taken to the ground and handcuffed while doing his job in a federal building in his home state of California. He was attempting to correct false statements of the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem at a press conference. The entire, shocking, and unprecedented law enforcement action against a sitting senator was documented on video and immediately shared across all media platforms.
On Saturday, two members of Minnesota’s state legislature were shot in an act of political violence leaving Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband murdered and Senator John Hoffman and his wife seriously injured.
Also on Saturday, President Trump held an extravagant military parade on his birthday costing tens of millions of dollars and considered by most historians to be unprecedented. Military Historian Richard Kohn offered some insight in an interview with PBS News: “Military historian discusses the message Trump’s military parade sends to the world.” That message isn’t one of strength in our global leadership through democracy.
The No Kings protests drew more than five million Americans into the streets on Saturday at over 2100 events in every state. No Kings on June 14 marks the largest single day of protests in our nation’s history.
Israel bombed Iran on Thursday. Iran bombed Israel on Friday. Both continue to bomb each other. President Trump is making, if not contradictory, confusing statements about what role the US will play in the conflict and what demands the US might or might not make.
Trump arrived in Canada on Sunday at the 57th annual meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) summit and left early on Monday. He left planned diplomacy to the heads of state who remained including meetings with Ukrainian President Zelensky about ending the war resulting from Russia invading Ukraine in 2022. By returning to the White House early, he also shut out US allies from any role in helping the US cool down the situation in the middle east.
On Tuesday Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller and a candidate for mayor, was handcuffed as he tried to steer a man on his way to appear in immigration court past Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The Trump administration has now put in handcuffs or arrested a US Senator, a member of the US House of Representatives, a Wisconsin Judge, and the second highest elected official in America’s largest city. I’m probably missing some.
Yep, I am. Here’s a longer list with more details in The Hill.
Well it hasn’t really been a thousand years since last Thursday, but it’s been a hell of a week. I’m not even mentioning historic Supreme Court cases and other major news that would be headlines in normal times.
Back to the origins of a “thousand years” statement. Tuesday came and went and it’s looking like the 9th Circuit is set to tell governor’s they only have control over their national guards at the pleasure of the president. I believe that will make for a new precedent in terms of the role a governor plays in commanding their state’s National Guard. Republican governors like Iowa’s Kim Reynolds apparently are in lock step with bending a knee to President Trump and handing over their national guards to a president willing to deploy military troops to police the actions of US Citizens .
In the face of all of these unprecedented events, the No Kings protest was an exercise in a collective holy and righteous NO. This isn’t just street theater against an unpopular president. This is a historic NO to the entirety of the direction President Trump and the MAGA movement are trying to take our nation.
It’s a NO to the Republicans in the House and Senate who refuse to hold President Trump accountable for anything. It’s a NO to those who attempt to explain away the unprecedented actions or tell outright lies about what’s going on.
Iowa Senators Grassley and Ernst, as of Wednesday, had made no statement about the physical take down and handcuffing a week ago of their fellow US Senator in California.
When I did a google search of their names and Senator Padilla I got these two top results.
For Ernst it was a press release from her website from August 2024. She could partner with Senator Padilla to celebrate farmers markets, but remains silent when he’s pushed to the ground and cuffed.
U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced the passage of their bipartisan resolution to celebrate National Farmers Market Week from August 4-10, 2024. This resolution recognizes the crucial role farmers play in uniting communities, feeding America, and enriching lives.
For Grassley it was this letter from his Democratic colleagues on the Judiciary Committee.
We request that you immediately convene a Judiciary Committee oversight hearing with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to discuss the Department of Homeland Security’s escalating use of alarming immigration enforcement practices.
Later in the letter they state, “The treatment of Senator Padilla is the latest in a string of attacks on our constitutional order.”
To confirm I hadn’t missed a statement, I called the offices of both Senators. As of Wednesday, there was no statement from either. I won’t share my conversations with the staff who answered the phone. It’s not about them, but in both cases these were the most defensive exchanges I’ve ever had with a congressional office.
In both cases, I shared my holy and righteous NO. It is not OK that a Senator be treated this way by the executive branch, and it is not OK that my Senators have nothing to say about this situation, especially when Senator Grassley chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee that should weigh in on this kind of treatment of another US Senator by the executive branch.
I mean for God’s sake, this was Saturday morning cartoons when I was growing up. Thank you America - Three Ring Government - Schoolhouse Rock. Glad you’re a fellow farmer Senator Grassley, but you also have a job to do in the Senate. Please join your staff in watching the video so you can all understand that your role in the “three ring circus” of our federal government isn’t to be the trained monkey for the executive branch.
The No Kings protest was also an exercise in declaring a hopeful YES. Yes to peaceful protests. Yes to joy in standing together. Yes to protests in 23 cities in Iowa with populations of under 12,500.
We should all be proudly singing YES today in celebrating Juneteenth National Independence Day. We honor the history of our nation when we recognize the times that the people of the United States said NO. Our NO to slavery took far too long and cost far too many lives. The consequences of slavery in the United States have not disappeared. Today is a day that calls for courage in proudly speaking YES to celebrating those who lost their lives in the holy and righteous NO to slavery, those who continue to say NO to racism, and all of us saying YES to freedom.
Also yes to amazing Iowa Democrats stepping forward to run for office. Some of them like Nathan Sage running for the US Senate are putting on the identity of a Democrat for the first time and jumping in. Others, like Christina Bohannan running in Iowa’s first congressional district for the third time and Spencer Waugh running in Iowa House district 21 for the second time are jumping back in to build on the work they did in 2024.
I’m proud that I’m able to show up around our great state to share time with Democratic candidates and voters willing to support them. I left the No Kings protest in Des Moines to join the Warren County Democrats for their annual summer picnic pictured above. I’m willing to talk with any candidate or Iowan thinking about being a candidate about agriculture and rural development. There’s an open invitation to come to Coyote Run Farm to walk and talk about the importance of rural Iowa in the 2026 elections.
We have got to keep standing up and saying NO. We must keep supporting each other in this holy and righteous act of putting ourselves in front of attacks on our democracy.
We also have to keep standing up and saying YES. We must keep supporting each other in these acts of hopefulness.
Unfortunately, there are going to be a lot more weeks that feel like a thousand years. That’s by design. It’s MAGA’s strategy for taking and holding onto King-like power in the office of the president. They were counting on congressional Republicans to stay quiet and to go along. That part is happening.
They weren’t counting on the rest of us to punch back so quickly and so boldly.
Keep punching with both the NO and the YES. It’s a one-two punch that is the difference between losing our democracy and saving it.
I’m a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Please take a look at this amazing group of Iowans publishing their work on Substack who are keeping community-based local journalism and commentary alive. It’s an honor to be among this group.
The Iowa Writers Collaborative is throwing a shindig in Winterset on July 26. Paid subscribers of any of the members, including those paid subscribers of this newsletter—thank you for supporting my writing, are invited to attend at no cost. To register, click on this RSVP form.
Saturday, July 26
3 to 5 pm: private screening of "Storm Lake" documentary film at the Iowa Theater, free to IWC writers and all PAID subscribers, followed by Q&A with guest of honor Art Cullen, moderated by Julie Gammack. Free popcorn, paid concessions. (Non-paid subscribers and public members can attend for $20.)
5:30 to 7 pm: Robust appetizers with a cash bar will be served at The Winterset Livery (an event space once a horse livery, just off the square), which is open free to paid subscribers. Non-paid subscribers who paid to attend the movie are also welcome to attend the after-party.
Come! We have a terrific community and want you all to meet one another!
This Iowa is a better place with you in it.