Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column.

The United States system of government is one of the most complicated such mechanisms in the world. It’s a blessing and a curse.

A blessing, because it disperses power. That’s what the Founders intended with the Constitution in 1787, and it’s what has guided America since then. Federalism (dividing power between the national government and the state governments) and a tripartite national government (dividing power among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches) give everyone a piece of the power pie. Theoretically, at least.

A curse, for the same reasons. Dispersed power creates inevitable disputes over which entity holds the upper hand in innumerable cases every day. To borrow a term from former President George W. Bush, just who is The Decider?

When President Donald Trump gave Senator Chuck Grassley his “complete and total endorsement” during an October 2021 rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, he said one undeniably truthful thing about Iowa’s senior senator: “When I’ve needed him for help he was always there. […] He was with us all the way, every time I needed something.”

At the latest Trump rally in Des Moines, Grassley showed once again that the president’s assessment was on the money.

Douglas Burns is a fourth-generation Iowa journalist. He is the co-founder of the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation and a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, where this article first appeared on The Iowa Mercury newsletter. His family operated the Carroll Times Herald for 93 years in Carroll, Iowa where Burns resides.

It hit me in the heat of the evening.

President Donald Trump models his stage style after none other than Frank Sinatra.

The swagger, the rhythm of the humor, the observations about women. (I heard Trump thank a female voter once at another event. He called her “doll.”)

A Trump speech like the one in Des Moines on July 3 takes cues from the famous Sinatra album/CD “Sinatra At the Sands,” in which the crooner ad libs in a swinging way, baby, between songs.

The Sinatra influence on Trump is uncanny — similar to what you see with Bill Maher’s opening monologues on “Real Time,” clearly inspired by Johnny Carson.

Trump came to Iowa to kick off the America 250 celebration: a slate of events scheduled for nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026.

The president addressed thousands at the sun-swept, scorched Iowa State Fairgrounds.

Here are ten takeaways from the event, which Iowa Mercury covered in person.

Jack Hatch is a former state senator who chaired the Iowa Senate Health and Human Services Committee and was the 2014 Democratic nominee for governor.

I was one of the legislative authors of expanding health care through the expansion of Medicaid in 2013. At least two members of Iowa’s current U.S. House delegation should know that the expansion was designed to help children and adults who previously did not qualify for Medicaid. Randy Feenstra, who now represents Iowa’s fourth Congressional district, was a state senator at the time. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who represents the first Congressional district, was then the director of the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Iowa became the only state with a Republican governor that enacted Medicaid expansion in 2013. The Iowa Health and Wellness Plan would eventually extend health insurance coverage to nearly 200,000 residents of our state.

Steve Corbin is emeritus professor of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa and a contributing columnist to 246 newspapers and 48 social media platforms in 45 states, who receives no remuneration, funding, or endorsement from any for-profit business, nonprofit organization, political action committee, or political party. 

Peggy Noonan has been a conservative voice for The Wall Street Journal since leaving the Ronald Reagan administration as his primary speechwriter. Five of Noonan’s books have been New York Times bestsellers. Consuming every word of her weekly column keeps me politically balanced.

In Noonan’s June 14-15 column titled “America is losing sight of its political culture,” she characterized our 47^th president as America’s Mr. Tinpot Dictator. This term refers to a leader who acts like a dictator, often with delusions of grandeur and authoritarian tendencies. I decided to investigate how much Trump resembles a dictator.

Herb Strentz was dean of the Drake School of Journalism from 1975 to 1988 and professor there until retirement in 2004. He was executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council from its founding in 1976 to 2000.

Given the turmoil of today’s politics and environmental concerns, it’s time to revisit Okefenokee Swamp and attend to the wisdom of Pogo Possum. He sagely advised more than 50 years ago, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Cartoonist Walt Kelly wrote that line for the Pogo comic strip in 1971, as Pogo Possum and one of his cartoon companions, Porky Pine, surveyed the human despoliation of their wetlands home. The swamp covers almost half a million acres straddling the Georgia-Florida border; the cartoon depicted it as awash in discarded furniture, a bath tub, a car half sunk in the swamp and other tons of trash.

Bleeding Heartland is republishing this post from July 2024 to celebrate America’s Semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Happy Fourth of July!

A previous Iowa wildflower Wednesday post showcased a different collection of red, white, and blue wildflowers. Click on any link for more pictures and information about that plant.

Most of the photos enclosed below came from the Iowa wildflower enthusiasts Facebook group, which now has nearly 11,900 members. Join us to share pictures, ask ID questions, learn about gardening with native plants, or just enjoy a break from negativity on social media. It’s a politics-free zone. I also republished some pictures by Bleeding Heartland guest authors. You can find the full wildflower archive here.

Voters in Iowa Senate district 1 will elect a successor to Republican State Senator Rocky De Witt on Tuesday, August 26. Governor Kim Reynolds scheduled the special election after De Witt died of cancer last week.

Although Donald Trump comfortably carried Senate district 1 in the 2024 presidential election, this seat should be highly competitive in a low-turnout special election environment.

Following De Witt’s passing, Republicans hold 33 Iowa Senate seats, and Democrats hold 16 seats. The difference between a 34-16 majority and a 33-17 majority may seem inconsequential, but it would matter a great deal when the Senate considers the governor’s nominees during the 2026 legislative session. Flipping the seat would enable Democrats to block some of Reynolds’ most controversial appointments, who need a two-thirds majority vote to be confirmed.

Al Charlson is a North Central Iowa farm kid, lifelong Iowan, and retired bank trust officer.

I had to send Senator Chuck Grassley a quick email to thank him for starting my day with a chuckle. In the latest edition of his email newsletter “The Scoop,” he commended the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that federal district courts do not have the authority to issue universal injunctions blocking the Administration’s Executive Order. Grassley declared the decision “a victory for checks and balances.”

Checks and balances? Since Grassley and his Senate Republican colleagues voluntarily abdicated their Constitutional authority, responsibilities, and prerogatives, we no longer have a functioning constitutional representative democracy. We essentially have a king.

Of course, the biggest show in Washington, D.C. has been the around-the-clock push to pass a budget reconciliation bill. Republicans want to get the One Big, Beautiful Bill (also known as a Big Ugly Mess) to President Donald Trump’s desk for a reality TV style triumphant bill signing on the Fourth of July. The days-long Senate debate ended on July 1 with a dramatic tie-breaking vote by Vice President J.D. Vance. Grassley and Iowa’s junior Senator Joni Ernst voted for the bill, along with all but three of their GOP colleagues.

Congressional Republican leadership have characterized the bill as Trump’s domestic policy agenda. That’s misleading at best. At its core, this legislation is the Senate Republican leadership’s tax cut agenda with enough of Trump’s ideas and MAGA bumper stickers attached to keep his support base on board.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com 

It was a hot mid-August day in 1979. School hadn’t started, but football had. Sweat trickled down my back as I struggled to make a no window, tiny, drab space come alive. The room remained dead, and I was dead tired.

Just as I was going out, I almost collided with the superintendent coming in. I’d met him once, and I had no desire in a sweat soaked shirt to meet him again.

“I’m glad I caught you. I was wondering if you’d run the scoreboard for the game on Friday.”

Nick Covington is an Iowa parent who taught high school social studies for ten years.

How can John Dewey’s ideal of a thriving democratic education revitalize an American commitment to freedom and democracy?

‍In June 2025, Zinn Education Project hosted their 5th annual Teach Truth Day of Action, which organizers in Iowa City have participated in since 2022. Human Restoration Project has been a co-sponsor of the national Teach Truth Day of Action and the local Iowa City event. These are spoken remarks from the author edited for publication. Photos are also from the author documenting the Iowa City Teach Truth Day of Action event held in Chauncey Swan Park on June 14, 2025.

My name is Nick Covington. I taught social studies for ten years at Ankeny High School before leaving in 2022 after being told “Current Events Do Not Belong in History Class.” I’m a co-founder of Human Restoration Project, an Iowa-based progressive education non-profit and co-sponsor of the national Teach Truth Day of Action.

Sometimes resistance looks like taking care of yourself and those around you. Shout out to every caregiver building a better world one child at a time. Shout out to everyone trying to make ends meet, balancing the needs of their families with the urgency of this moment and couldn’t be here today. In a system intended to grind you down, sometimes resistance looks like survival.

An updated version of an essay published in 2020.

Connie Belin passed away on June 23, 1980. She was only 49. I was eleven, the youngest of her five children.

I’ve learned a lot from the defining event of my childhood, but it comes down to this: you never stop needing your parents.

Republican State Senator Rocky De Witt passed away on June 25 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was first elected to the Iowa Senate in 2022, representing most of Sioux City in Senate district 1. Before that, he served for six years as a Woodbury County supervisor.

De Witt was passionate about gun rights; he was a federally licensed gun dealer and a Life Member of the National Rifle Association. He also believed strongly in keeping taxes low. His most high-profile moment as a state lawmaker was leading this year’s effort to pass a state constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote in the Iowa legislature to raise income or corporate taxes (but not sales or use taxes).

Here’s the video of De Witt’s closing remarks in support of Senate Joint Resolution 11 on April 15. He posted on Facebook the following day that floor managing the constitutional amendment requiring a supermajority to raise taxes was “one of the most rewarding opportunities of my career in the legislature.”

Jeff Ewoldt grew up in northwest Iowa, currently practices law in Des Moines, and has always had a keen interest in nature and conservation.

On the first day of June, I headed out on my trusty mountain bike for a ride around Spencer, Iowa, intending to get some exercise and investigate wildflower activity in the northwest Iowa town where I grew up.

My primary destination was Oneota Park, located on the southeastern edge of town, not far from Spencer High School and my old neighborhood. Named for a prehistoric Native American culture that existed in the Upper Midwest from about 900 to 1700 A.D., Oneota consists of more than 220 acres of prairie and river bottom woods through which the Little Sioux River runs. It’s a place I’ve enjoyed exploring since it first became a county park in the late 1970s or early ‘80s, and the spring flowers on the expansive prairieland are particularly interesting to me.

Randy Evans is executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes openness and transparency in Iowa’s state and local governments. He can be reached at DMRevans2810@gmail.com. 

Several dozen people gathered in Monticello on June 21 for a citizen workshop the Grassroots Iowa Network organized to get more everyday Iowans engaged in the political process.

They spent the day listening to speakers (including me) and exchanging ideas and observations, without fear or reprisal. They lunched and learned.

Former officeholders and current office-seekers were there, too. So were people who have spent countless hours working on issues or on behalf of candidates.

Ed Tibbetts, a longtime reporter and editor in the Quad-Cities, is the publisher of the Along the Mississippi newsletter, where this article first appeared. Find more of his work at edtibbetts.substack.com.

In February, House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana justified the looming cuts to Medicaid by complaining the program wasn’t designed to cover a bunch of “29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games.”

Give Johnson credit: that is a powerful image.

Nobody wants their tax dollars going to pay for government health insurance for some dude who just hangs around his parents’ basement gaming while the rest of us have to haul ourselves out of bed each morning to go to work. Which is why Republicans have been focusing so much on the Medicaid work requirements in Donald Trump’s big, ugly tax bill.

They won’t admit the money they save by taking health insurance away from millions of poor Americans will go to finance tax cuts for some of the wealthiest families in the country. So, they falsely claim these cuts will protect the most vulnerable, who also are covered by Medicaid.

Wally Taylor is the Legal Chair of the Sierra Club Iowa chapter.

For four years the Sierra Club has been working with impacted landowners to pass legislation that would restrict the use of eminent domain for hazardous liquid pipeline projects. In 2022, 2023 and 2024, we were able to get legislation through the Iowa House with strong bipartisan majorities, but Republican leaders in the Iowa Senate blocked all of those bills.

This year the House approved two bills, again with strong bipartisan majorities. House File 943 was a short bill, which would have banned the use of eminent domain for hazardous liquid pipelines. It was referred to the Iowa Senate Commerce Committee and never got a subcommittee hearing.

The other bill, House File 639, would have changed state law on pipelines and eminent domain in several ways. It likely would have died, but was eventually brought to the Senate floor after twelve Republican senators pledged “to vote against any remaining budget bill until a floor vote occurs on the clean HF639 bill.”

Chuck Isenhart is an investigative reporter, photographer and recovering Iowa state legislator offering research, analysis, education and public affairs advocacy at his Substack newsletter Iowa Public Policy Geek, where this essay first appeared.

Never have I ever had the nightmare, much less a daytime phantasm, that a friend of mine could be the victim of a political assassination in the United States of America.

Never have I ever looked to the sky, as I did on Saturday afternoon, admiring three great blue herons over the Mississippi River, which flows from Minnesota to Iowa, then starkly recognize that the majestic birds are flying in “missing man formation.”

Never have I ever met a public servant quite like Melissa Hortman.

John Kearney is a retired philosophy professor who taught at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has lived in Waterloo, Iowa for the past six years.

After twenty-eight years of distinguished service, ABC national correspondent Terry Moran is out of a job. He was recently informed that his contract with ABC will not be renewed. The network determined that Moran’s late-night post on X about White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller violated journalistic standards.

Moran’s June 8 post described Miller as “a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater. You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.”

Diane Porter of Fairfield first published this post on My Gaia, an email newsletter “about getting to know nature” and “giving her a helping hand in our own backyards.” Diane also maintains the Birdwatching Dot Com website and bird blog.

When I planted its seeds, I’d never met Large-flowered Beardtongue (Penstemon grandiflorus) in real life. All I knew was that it was a primeval wildflower. I wanted to see what it was like, once upon a time, back when this land was a tallgrass prairie.