U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) stands – silently and without objection – at the center of three of the very biggest demolition projects of the “First 100 Days” of Donald Trump’s 2.0 presidency:
- Trump’s assault on Social Security;
- Trump’s corruption of the U.S. Department of Justice;
- Trump’s attack on the federal judiciary.
Let me say at the outset that this column was never intended to be a weekly chronicle of the colossal, miserable and embarrassing failures of Iowa’s senior U.S. Senator. He’s the nation’s longest currently serving Republican senator, and the oldest – at 91.
But sometimes, these stories are just unavoidable.
You can’t really assess what is happening in Trump’s assault on our democracy, on our existence as a nation of laws, and on our government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” without repeatedly bumping into an area where Senator Grassley should be exerting some leadership on behalf of democracy and good government, but is failing – miserably and embarrassingly – to do so.
Grassley’s long tenure as a senator, and the seniority that goes with it, means he has some enormous leadership responsibilities.
Yet, he drops the ball. Every time. …
Read more: Barry Piatt on Politics – Behind the Curtains