Iowa GOP Attorney General Brenna Bird on Trump Guilty Verdict– “Politics Should Have Absolutely No Place in Prosecutions” June 23, 2024
Demagogue Donald has had many negative firsts attached to him. He was the first American who became President without ever having had political or military experience. He was the first American Chief Executive who showed no respect for democracy whatsoever and talked of being a “dictator” on Day One of his second term should he be re-elected. He was the first American President who openly praised neo-Nazis and white supremacists and spoke of a “unified Reich” should he take office in 2025. He was the first American to try to stay in office when he was handily beaten in 2020 and then incited his supporters to attack the Capitol to keep Joe Biden from being certified President by Congress. He was the first President to have been impeached twice. And now, let’s add the latest and most shameful first to Donald’s resume–the first former President to be declared a convicted felon by a jury of his peers. On May 30, 2024, a Manhattan jury of 12 randomly selected New York individuals unanimously found Demagogue Donald, the current GOP standard-bearer in the 2024 presidential election, guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records.These business records showed that Trump had paid off porn star Stormy Daniels with $130,000, two weeks before the 2016 presidential election. The jury found that Michael Cohen, then Demagogue Donald’s personal attorney and fixer, had made this hush money payment at Trump’s orders to keep the fact that Donald had had sex several years before with Daniels from becoming public knowledge just before the 2016 election. Had evidence of Donald’s prior tryst with Daniels emerged in late October 2016, right after his “Access Hollywood” “grab them (women) by the p…sy” tape had surfaced, it would have been political “curtains” for Donald’s White House bid. As the New York Times editorial page put it, the jury’s decision in this trial is “another reminder perhaps the starkest to date– of the many reasons that Trump is unfit for office (Times Editorial Board, 5/30/24).”
President Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign joined numerous Democrats nationwide in celebrating Demagogue Donald’s conviction on these 34 criminal counts. In Biden’s words, “Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president (nytimes.com, 5/30/24).” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a Biden campaign co-chair, commended the jury for its service and asked all Americans, no matter what their party affiliation, to accept the outcome of this trial.” Long Beach, CA Democratic Cong. Robert Garcia stated, “This guilty verdict confirms what we have long known, Donald Trump is a con man and a criminal who has consistently exploited our country for his own personal gain. No one, not even a former president is above the law (nytimes.com, 5/30/24).” Exactly.
The GOP reaction? Just what you would expect from lock step members of the Trumpist cult. Many Republicans echoed what their convicted leader stated, “It was nothing but a witch hunt and an attempt to persecute him.” Iowa GOPers echoed the Trump party line. Hawkeye State GOP Governor Kim Reynolds called the trial a “sham” and blamed NY African American District Attorney Alvin Bragg for “trying to put Trump in jail for years (desmoinesregister.com, Pfannenstiel, & Gruber-Miller, 5/30/24).” IA GOP Attorney General Brenna Bird stood up strongly for Donald. Bird had endorsed Donald ahead of the Iowa Caucuses and had traveled to NY to support him. She joined some GOP Congressmembers during Trump’s trial to form his “rooting section.” Bird called May 30, 2024, “a dark day in American history.” She added that the Trump verdict was a “Case in point why politics should have absolutely no place in prosecutions. The American people, not a court, should decide who the next leader of the free world will be. President Donald Trump deserves better (desmoinesregister.com, 5/30/24, Pfannenstiel & Gruber-Miller).” Get it? Apparently, if a GOPer, especially Donald, is tried and convicted, it is a “sham” of a trial and a “witch hunt.” I guess, according to Bird, GOPers should not be tried for wrong-doing. Unlike Democrats, the “R” next to Trump’s name should make him “immune” from prosecution and conviction. Here’s my message to Brenna Bird. In the U.S., I repeat, no one of ANY political party, no matter how prominent, is above the law. He/she must face punishment for breaking the law just like anyone else. We must not have a two-tiered system where members of one party, GOPers, can escape justice. And remember, Attorney General Bird, our Constitution does not prohibit those with a criminal conviction from being elected or serving as commander-in-chief, even if they are behind bars (nytimes.com, Editorial Board, 5/30/24).
Brenna (Findley) Bird grew up on a farm near Dexter, IA and earned her bachelor’s from Drake University. In 2001, she received a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School (hillsdalecollegian.com, 4/21/23, Anderson, A.). In 2010, Bird unsuccessfully ran against Democratic incumbent Attorney General Tom Miller and lost by 11 points (desmoinesregister.com, Gruber-Miller, S., 1/04/22). Bird served as counsel to Republican Gov. Terry Branstad. She became county attorney for Guthrie County, IA in 2018 (desmoinesregister.com, 10/04/22). In 2019, a jury ruled that Branstad and Bird had discriminated against an employee because of his sexual orientation, and awarded him $1.5 million, but in 2021, the Iowa Supreme Court overturned that verdict (Sullivan, 7/16/19, cnn.com, Foley, 6/30/21, apnews.com/article/iowa-courts). In 2022, the second time became Bird’s “political charm.” She ran against Democrat Miller and narrowly defeated him. Miller had served ten four-year terms as IA’s Attorney General (Stern, 11/09/22, bloomberglaw.com, Gruber-Miller, desmoinesregister.com, 11/08/22). IA’s political climate was also starting to take a right turn. Formerly a swing state that had voted for Obama over Romney in 2012 by 6 points, in 2016, IA flipped to Trump by a 9-point margin, the hardest shift toward the GOP of any 2012 swing state. In 2020, although Biden ran ads in IA,Trump still bested him by 8 points. IA has followed the national trend with its rural and small town regions moving right while the bigger cities and suburbs, such as the Des Moines metro area, went left. In rural-dominated IA, the GOP has prevailed (See Cohen & Cook 2022 Political Almanac).
In the IA Atty. General’s office, Bird has acted on her social GOP conservative attitudes. She stopped IA’s practice of paying for emergency contraception or abortions for rape victims (politico.com, 4/09/23). Bird lives with her husband and son on her family farm in Guthrie County (iowaattorneygeneral.gov, McIntosh,raccoonvalleyradio.com, 1/04/19). Many IA GOPers, especially those who vote in the crucial presidential caucuses, are economic, religious, and social conservatives. They are in step with Bird’s political views. IA now has a political trifecta– a GOP Governor, a GOP state legislature, and a total GOP U.S. House and Senate delegation (CQ 118th Congress At Your Fingertips).
The big question remains. Will Trump’s guilty verdict in the Stormy Daniels case affect his ability to win the White House in November, 2024? The Quinnipiac Q Poll taken the week before the Manhattan verdict, indicated that a clear 63% of the majority of voters said the result of Trump’s trial would not make a difference. However, this same survey indicated that this verdict could make a difference with the voting group Biden needs the most, independent voters. According to the Q Poll, some 23% of independents said a guilty verdict would make them less likely to vote for Donald, compared to 11% who said it would make them more likely to back him. According to CNN’s Harry Enten, 46% of the voters before his trial as well as after the closing statements in that proceeding agreed that Demagogue Donald had done something illegal (axios, Nichols, H., 5/30/24). According to Matt Bennett, a co-founder of the centrist Third Way group, “very few voters will change their opinion of Trump based on a guilty verdict.” However, Bennett noted, “it’s (politics’) a game of inches, so any otherwise Trump voters in swing states who switch or don’t vote, matters (axios, 5/30/24).” IMHO, undecided or low information voters may also go against Trump because of this verdict or not vote at all. Hopefully, the Democratic base will now be mobilized even more to come out in droves plus and vote against a person who will do anything and everything to thwart the democratic process.
President Biden understands he can’t coast to victory in 2024 just because of a guilty verdict against Donald. Far too many MAGA devotees will do anything for their “Dear Leader” and, unfortunately, many Democrats may think, as they did in 2016 with Hillary, that the 2024 election for Biden is “in the bag.” It is not. President Biden said it all after the NY guilty verdict. In his words, “There’s only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: At the ballot box (nytimes.com, 5/30/24).” Listen to Biden. Vote, vote, and vote. Our democracy depends upon it. Staying home is not an option.
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