Went on Time to read the piece. I’m really not convinced that hardcore Republican voters will go back to Codeine #3 when they’ve had the Fentanyl of Trump and Trump is still around, in prison or not. Trump sees and treats all of the people who worked for him (including Ron) as his creatures and he is not wrong.
As for Pence... part of it is his actions on Jan. 6, but part of it is directly his doing. After 40-plus years of arguing he was the proper moral choice for voters, he spent four years as vice president arguing you didn’t need to have Christian morals to be president. He literally argued himself out of the presidency.
I'm not sure they will either. But there are a lot of Republicans here who don't think Trump can win. And they want a winner. But maybe my mind is stuck in the pre-Trump era, hopeful, while the rolling coup is still taking place in the state legislatures. What I'm seeing now from the legislatures is Trump on steroids. Working on a piece about it. Maybe that is my title...
I think there are many of the old time Republicans, especially those in the quieter parts of the state, that think the Republicans are like the way they were in the 20th century. But that's gone. The Republican Party in Iowa is the party of Kim Reynolds and Bobby Kauffmann.
Once I get a chance I'm considering upping my subscription to the Iowa Writer's Collaborative. I'd rather support you guys than the DMR and the QCT.
Hi from down in Chariton (via Muscatine), by the way.
Sure. I wrote it in part because so much of the media, especially television, acts like it's going to be Trump. Iowa is going to play a big role, as you know. The national polling is absurd.
Hi Bob--tonight I was scrolling on my phone on a tram in Warsaw when I opened this Time headline on the Yahoo news feed. As you can imagine, I'm not too crazy about Haley...but I was delighted to see your name on the byline! Congrats!
With regard to the editing which you describe by a New York Times article, this reminded me of a story that Molly Ivins told about being fired by the same newspaper. She was sent to cover a huge chicken barbecue; when she filed a piece that described the event as a “gang pluck,” her fate with the Times was sealed and she was fired shortly thereafter.
Kevin, "You live a cliche" is intriguing to me as well. I shared Robert's column with a friend who lives on the east coast and invited him to interpret the line for me. This is what he wrote back.
"Rural mid-America—with its farmlands and (white) people of the Earth—was once considered an ideal and desirable go-to image/symbol of the nation. Now many consider that same social/cultural connotation to be an irritatingly un-nuanced and persistent idealization that endures beyond its useful/truthfulness: a cliche."
My mother's family made the journey from Bohemia (Czech Republic) in 1867 and arrived in Jefferson County, Iowa in 1874. The two buildings that remain standing look similar to Robert's photo. The house and barns long gone. Buried beneath the endless row crops of corn and soybeans is Grant Wood's American Gothic. And in the horizon, a creeping giant grows ever closer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ZOutWcMFQ
The mess we are making for future generations is astonishing.
Sometimes I feel like the coasts treat this part of the world as a curiosity- the same way they might animals in a cage at the zoo. We're all simpletons, yet somehow the "everyman in a diner" pieces are consistent hits. And there really are people that think the entire upper Midwest looks like Bob's picture.
It is flattering and you deserve the compliment. Question- this Substack stuff seems a bit like people agreeing with one another constantly. I tried to send a criticism to Art C about his attempt to explain Trump voters to the East Coast editors. But I could not because his column only accepts comments from subscribers. I’m only a $10/ month subscriber. Am I missing something about the process? Or is Substack meant only to bolster each other?
Substack is a very supportive environment. But we take thoughtful criticism. Or I do anyway. That's how I learn. I'm not interested in trying to talk with trolls, though. I even gave that up on Twitter. Some people allow comments only from paid subscribers, which is an incentive for people to pay, and minimizes trolling. One has to be a subscriber to individual authors, not Substack, or to the Iowa Writers' Collaborative, so maybe you aren't a paid subscriber to Art? Maybe he only allows paid subscribers to comment, but everyone can read?
Right, some Substack writers allow more comments than others....depending upon level of subscription. I definitely understand the need to week out trolls. That's why I've never been on any social media....and am thus like a leper in this world!
Now back to your predictions--- as an non-party voter who follows Senator Ernst with trepidation, because she is such a nice person and so influential in her party......I will be interested to see whether she breaks with Trump. If not, I suspect the State of Iowa is Trump's all over again.
Your editor's comment, that you live a cliche, really sums up the incredible divides in our country, doesn't it!? The rural-urban, tech-everyone else divisions just keep becoming larger. And our "leaders" keep feeding them.
I thought it was telling. But there is an interesting side to it too. I once asked my NY Times editor what the other editors at the Times thought about our relationship--that he had published many pieces by a rural Iowan. He laughed, and said "every one of them wishes they had a Bob Leonard." I see it as flattering, and as an indication they want more rural writers. As Art Cullen has told me more than once, "We are as good or better than they are, Bob." Which is equally flattering, coming from Art.
HI Bob. Interesting article about Haley. I must say I don't have much respect for her, given how she changes her positions whenever politically expedient. I'm not sure she stands for anything except herself.
Agree. I just worked through the logic. All of their candidates have a long record of doing whatever is politically expedient under Trump. She isn't alone.
At the photo stop, did you go left or right at that fork in the road of editing?
Left. Always left.
Went on Time to read the piece. I’m really not convinced that hardcore Republican voters will go back to Codeine #3 when they’ve had the Fentanyl of Trump and Trump is still around, in prison or not. Trump sees and treats all of the people who worked for him (including Ron) as his creatures and he is not wrong.
As for Pence... part of it is his actions on Jan. 6, but part of it is directly his doing. After 40-plus years of arguing he was the proper moral choice for voters, he spent four years as vice president arguing you didn’t need to have Christian morals to be president. He literally argued himself out of the presidency.
Keep up the good work.
I'm not sure they will either. But there are a lot of Republicans here who don't think Trump can win. And they want a winner. But maybe my mind is stuck in the pre-Trump era, hopeful, while the rolling coup is still taking place in the state legislatures. What I'm seeing now from the legislatures is Trump on steroids. Working on a piece about it. Maybe that is my title...
I think there are many of the old time Republicans, especially those in the quieter parts of the state, that think the Republicans are like the way they were in the 20th century. But that's gone. The Republican Party in Iowa is the party of Kim Reynolds and Bobby Kauffmann.
Once I get a chance I'm considering upping my subscription to the Iowa Writer's Collaborative. I'd rather support you guys than the DMR and the QCT.
Hi from down in Chariton (via Muscatine), by the way.
Tucker Carlson? It could happen.
Ugh.
Trump won Iowa in 2020. Any reason to think he wouldn't do that in 2024? That's assuming he doesn't wind up in jail.
Come to think of it, that might help him. He's the Eugene Debs of our time.
The evangelicals are looking for someone else. Someone with a better chance to beat Biden. But who knows...
I covered "Billy Jack" star Tom Laughlin (and many others) as an Iowa reporter assigned to the caucuses.
He had a "path" to the White House. He knew it was not an open path. I suspect that is true of Haley as well.
Sure. I wrote it in part because so much of the media, especially television, acts like it's going to be Trump. Iowa is going to play a big role, as you know. The national polling is absurd.
Fantastic column and live the piece that ended up on the cutting room floor. Vivid language. And yes people in NY think we live a cliché. So do they.
Hi Bob--tonight I was scrolling on my phone on a tram in Warsaw when I opened this Time headline on the Yahoo news feed. As you can imagine, I'm not too crazy about Haley...but I was delighted to see your name on the byline! Congrats!
Super cool! Thanks for sharing.
With regard to the editing which you describe by a New York Times article, this reminded me of a story that Molly Ivins told about being fired by the same newspaper. She was sent to cover a huge chicken barbecue; when she filed a piece that described the event as a “gang pluck,” her fate with the Times was sealed and she was fired shortly thereafter.
Mike Coveyou
Ames
Oops “editor” not “article.”
If nothing else, the “you live a cliche” line is thought provoking. I’ve been rolling g it around in my head for the last 15 minutes or so.
Kevin, "You live a cliche" is intriguing to me as well. I shared Robert's column with a friend who lives on the east coast and invited him to interpret the line for me. This is what he wrote back.
"Rural mid-America—with its farmlands and (white) people of the Earth—was once considered an ideal and desirable go-to image/symbol of the nation. Now many consider that same social/cultural connotation to be an irritatingly un-nuanced and persistent idealization that endures beyond its useful/truthfulness: a cliche."
My mother's family made the journey from Bohemia (Czech Republic) in 1867 and arrived in Jefferson County, Iowa in 1874. The two buildings that remain standing look similar to Robert's photo. The house and barns long gone. Buried beneath the endless row crops of corn and soybeans is Grant Wood's American Gothic. And in the horizon, a creeping giant grows ever closer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ZOutWcMFQ
The mess we are making for future generations is astonishing.
Thanks for sharing the comment, and the powerful video. I think we need to do a better job of unpacking that cliche.
Sometimes I feel like the coasts treat this part of the world as a curiosity- the same way they might animals in a cage at the zoo. We're all simpletons, yet somehow the "everyman in a diner" pieces are consistent hits. And there really are people that think the entire upper Midwest looks like Bob's picture.
It is flattering and you deserve the compliment. Question- this Substack stuff seems a bit like people agreeing with one another constantly. I tried to send a criticism to Art C about his attempt to explain Trump voters to the East Coast editors. But I could not because his column only accepts comments from subscribers. I’m only a $10/ month subscriber. Am I missing something about the process? Or is Substack meant only to bolster each other?
Substack is a very supportive environment. But we take thoughtful criticism. Or I do anyway. That's how I learn. I'm not interested in trying to talk with trolls, though. I even gave that up on Twitter. Some people allow comments only from paid subscribers, which is an incentive for people to pay, and minimizes trolling. One has to be a subscriber to individual authors, not Substack, or to the Iowa Writers' Collaborative, so maybe you aren't a paid subscriber to Art? Maybe he only allows paid subscribers to comment, but everyone can read?
Right, some Substack writers allow more comments than others....depending upon level of subscription. I definitely understand the need to week out trolls. That's why I've never been on any social media....and am thus like a leper in this world!
Now back to your predictions--- as an non-party voter who follows Senator Ernst with trepidation, because she is such a nice person and so influential in her party......I will be interested to see whether she breaks with Trump. If not, I suspect the State of Iowa is Trump's all over again.
Your editor's comment, that you live a cliche, really sums up the incredible divides in our country, doesn't it!? The rural-urban, tech-everyone else divisions just keep becoming larger. And our "leaders" keep feeding them.
I thought it was telling. But there is an interesting side to it too. I once asked my NY Times editor what the other editors at the Times thought about our relationship--that he had published many pieces by a rural Iowan. He laughed, and said "every one of them wishes they had a Bob Leonard." I see it as flattering, and as an indication they want more rural writers. As Art Cullen has told me more than once, "We are as good or better than they are, Bob." Which is equally flattering, coming from Art.
Cullen's a better columnist than anyone at the NYT except for Paul Krugman, at least.
Pence's religious faith is telling him he can't have it both ways which shows in his facial expressions.
HI Bob. Interesting article about Haley. I must say I don't have much respect for her, given how she changes her positions whenever politically expedient. I'm not sure she stands for anything except herself.
Agree. I just worked through the logic. All of their candidates have a long record of doing whatever is politically expedient under Trump. She isn't alone.