Joe Klein: “Iowa always seemed a classic, American place to me. I visited towns with names like Mason City and Ames and Council Bluffs and Cedar Rapids, counties with names like Linn and Story and Polk. Politics was serious business, and Iowans were stubborn about their right to question candidates, change their minds, and change their minds again. There was very little rancor. Questions were asked with respect. Rationality—sanity—was the rule. The public schools were famously good. Literacy was high. Iowa may not have reflected the diversity of America, but it was a place you could trust, even if the candidates they chose never quite made it all the way to the nomination.”
“That ended last night. Something very terrible has happened in Iowa. Reality doesn’t live there anymore, at least among Republicans, who have come to dominate the state. (Iowa was purple when I started visiting, with liberal populists like Tom Harkin to match every stolid conservative like Chuck Grassley). Iowa has gone nuts. How else can you explain the 62% of caucus goers last night who believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump, according to the entrance polls; how else could a similar number say they would vote for Trump even if he were convicted of a crime?”
