In Des Moines for the First GOP Primary Event
40 Things Overheard at the First GOP Cattle Call Event of the Primary Season
As luck would have it, a member of PurpleAmerica1 is in Des Moines for the first GOP primary event with all the candidates in town. It’s the 2023 Lincoln Dinner and many of the candidates are speaking, including former President Donald Trump closing the place down later this evening. You can watch the whole thing on C-Span here:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?529533-1/republican-presidential-candidates-campaign-iowa-gop-lincoln-dinner
For the record, no, we don’t have tickets. Its a sold out event and its actually just coincidental to why we’re in town. However, we’re not far from where the festivities are taking place and our “on the scene reporter”2 has to say the crowd in Des Moines today is…odd? Crazy? Hmmm…no, I don’t think there is a word for it. Needless to say, it’s Iowa and the MAGA crazies are out in force.
As such, we’ll just have to let the quotes (and I use the term loosely, these “quotes” are close to what was overheard there, there is no recording of them so have no real way of determining if they are word for word accurate) speak for themselves.
On The State of the Race
“Anyone running against Trump is a traitor to the country.”
“DeSanctimonious is D’atrocious.”
“Who the f**k is Vivica Ramaswamy Open Sesame?”
“Why are they even having a primary? Trump as a former President should just get it!”
“Chris Christie is a Democrat. He shouldn’t be in, much less on the stage with the GOP.”
“GOP needs to just become the ‘MAGA’ Party. We don’t need any of this s**t anymore.”
On Nikki Haley and Tim Scott
“I’d like her more if she were supporting Trump.”
“Tim Scott looks like a BLM supporter. I don’t like that. BLM is a terrorist organization as far as I’m concerned.”
“If I had a second choice I’d pick Haley. She’s nice. Easy on the eyes. She’d pick Kamala apart at the VP debate, I could tell you that.”
On Chris Christie
“He’s dead to me. He never should have criticized Trump ever.”
“Chris Christie is a Democrat. Remember when he hugged Obama? I’ve never liked that shifty f**ker.”
“I hope Trump K.O.s Christie tonight. Bye Bye Obama-Lover.”
On Ron DeSantis
“He was doing so good! Going after CRT! Disney! BLM! Those Queers! Somewhere he just went off the deep end. I can’t vote for him now. He’s just stupid.”3
“DeSanctimonious should just get out now. The longer he’s in the more he just damages his legacy in Florida.”
“Trump should’ve just fired DeSantis as Governor of Florida when he was President. I can’t believe he didn’t.”4
On Vivek Ramaswamy
“I like his ideas a lot. He should just wait his turn and run for Senate first.”
“Who the f**k is Rama-lama-ding-dong? You’re making that name up.”
“He’s the Republican Andrew Yang; no talent or status, says all the right things and has a s**t ton of money to spend on something stupid like running for President.”
On Asa Hutchinson
“Who is he again?” (This was followed by a bunch of shrugs and “Beats me” kind of comments at the coffee shop).5
On Doug Borghum
[Blank stares].
On Will Hurd
“I think I saw him on MSNBC or CNN once. That’s disqualifying to me.”
On Mike Pence
“That man is a f**king traitor. Trump would still be President if Pence hadn’t given it to Biden. When Trump becomes President again he should get the DOJ to bring treason charges against Pence and lock him up for life.”6
“Pence is no Republican.”
“Pence should just not run. He should hide somewhere and stay quiet the rest of his life.”
“I wish the protesters had gotten to him.”
On the Issues (This was a question asked to various people about what issues were most important to them)
“BIDEN! WORST PRESIDENT EVER! He gave us COVID. He gave us INFLATION. HE gave us BLM and CRT! He gave us this war in UKRAINE. He hasn’t done anything good for the country at all. We need Trump back.”
“Inflation. Its as bad as I’ve ever seen it. It’s worse than it was in the 70s!”7
“The economy is in free fall. We need to put someone in charge again who knows what he’s doing and and not some 80 year old.”8
“Illegal immigration. Biden is just letting anyone who wants to come into this country come in and steal our jobs, bring fentenyl and traffic kids. He should be impeached.”
“Let’s Go Brandon. Vote Trump.”
“Bidenflation. I can’t afford to buy a house now because the interest rates are so high. Its a joke. The economy is as bad as when right after Obama took over. These Democrats wreck the economy every time they’re elected.”9
“Child trafficking. These democrats are trafficking kids around. Why doesn’t someone do something about it? I’ll tell you , Trump would put an end to that as President again.”
On Who Should Be Vice President
“General Flynn would make a great Vice President.”
“Nikki Haley would be good. I think she could take Kamala.”
“Tim Scott. If the GOP can take some of those black votes away from Biden, there’s no way he can win.”
“I just saw that Schwarzeneggar Documentary. He’d be a good V.P.. He and Trump get along right?”10
“Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity would make a great V.P. They’re the ones who could really stick it to the libs.”
“I saw Michael Flynn speak, and he was sensational. He should be Trump’s V.P.”
“Tim Scott. I like how he talks and he can peel away votes from Dems.”
Conclusion
America, the voters in one of our major parties in the state that leads off the primary schedule and has a disproportionate amount of power over the decision, can we just say they are not the brightest people on the planet, and certainly not worthy enough to be making such an important decision that will impact our country and the planet?
PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject
Giving it to founding father Thomas Jefferson:
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Footnotes and Fun Stuff
To clarify, a friend of mine is in Des Moines and he sent me many of these “quotes” in an email as he overheard conversations there close to the place it’s being held.
Again just a friend on the ground giving anecdotal hearsay. Take it for what it’s worth.
Irony is dead.
“The 70+ year old woman in a scooter who said this had a number of doozies.” People like this I seriously question whether they should be allowed in a voting booth, but you know, America. Elections just hold up the mirror to the country. I’ll add, the amount of people who have strong political opinions but not the first sense of how American Governance actually works is kind of startling. Not only do they need to teach civics more thoroughly in schools again, I’m seriously thinking half of these seniors around her should be forced to take the Naturalization Exam just to humble them that they know substantially less about American Government than a refugee trying to come into the country.
A podcaster/local newsperson(?) was there at a coffee shop asking questions of random people. Its what made some of this post so easy for my friend to write, he just piggybacked on their questions and answers. When she asked him what he thought about various candidates, he just said he didn’t want to offer any opinions. She went away probably suspecting he was a GOP operative given the proximity to the event, typing away on the laptop and listening attentively to her questions and the answers.
By far, the most vitriol and hatred heard was not reserved for Biden or Democrats, it was for Mike Pence. There’s clearly a level of hatred there.
Note. In the 1970’s, inflation peaked much higher and lasted longer than it did under Biden.
Note, Trump will be 78 in November 2024.
Note. The economy crashed while George W. Bush was President. Obama became President less than a year later.
As he was born in Austria, he would not be able to ascend to the Presidency should anything happen to the President. As a matter of practice, parties would hate the prospect of this as it would mean the Speaker of the House is next in line, and the possibility of a President Hakeem Jeffries ascending would be a horrible prospect to most Republicans.
Alright, I have to admit, the Republican Andrew Yang made me laugh. Also, "Pence shouldn't be running" is a sensible, bipartisan opinion, one of the few things all people can agree on, and yet, there he is.
I have to admit, if I had never heard comments of this caliber in person before I would swear you’re making them up. Sadly I hear this sort of thing everywhere in my town.
The weird thing is knowing most of these people usually don’t act this dumb. I’ve known extremely smart and kind folk who’d help you out no questions asked but will proclaim the nuttiest things as if they’re as obvious as the color of the sky. It’s like Jekyll and Hyde if Hyde only came out at the mention of the economy. American politics are just sheer poison to the soul.