'Farthest thing from Christian': Ex-Dem governor 'shocked' by how much Iowa has 'changed'
15 January 2024
During a conversation with MSNBC hosts Ari Melber and Jen Psaki ahead of Monday night's caucus, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean expressed that he's "shocked" at how much Iowa has changed politically over the years.
Speaking with Dean, Psaki and Melber played a clip from NBC News Correspondent Priscilla Thompson's interview with a Sioux County, Iowa, self-described evangelical Christian explaining why he disagrees with many fellow evangelicals in the state who continue to support Donald Trump.
"In 2016, this county went for Ted cruz. What has changed?" Thompson asked.
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The evangelical replied, "What's changed is that the evangelical Christians have bought in — and by the way, I consider myself one — have come to the point where they believe that Donald Trump is speaking their kind of issues that they think they need somebody that can take on the 'libs.' So, they've sold out."
"They've sold out," Melber reiterated, before turning to Dean. "I want to be clear, governor, that's the view of an Iowa self-described evangelical conservative who disagrees with what he sees as kind of an evangelical selling out to Trump."
The former Democratic National Committee chair replied, "Well it is. I mean, Trump is the farthest thing from an evangelical Christian. In fact, he's the farthest thing from a Christian, in terms of his own professed values. How he treats women. How he treats other people. His willingness to say whatever he wants, whether it's true or not. I mean, these are hardly what most Christians would call Christian values. So, in many ways, the danger here is that the evangelical Christians have abandoned any pretense of being ethical. And they're just doing this because Trump is their vehicle to their vision of what they would like to impose on the rest of the United States.
Dean continued, "So, I don't know what to make of all of this. Iowa is not a typical state, but it does have an influence because it's the first, and it does reflect how well you can organize in the state.
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Psaki then asked, "Governor, one of the things that's been striking to me — you spent a lot of time in Iowa yourself. Some of the polls have shown that some of the things that Trump has said about echoing Hitler, talking about vermin — they are supported by Iowa caucus goers, according to the polls. Did that surprise you? What does it tell you about the electorate?"
The ex-governor said, "Really, Iowa has changed a lot. I have been somewhat shocked. Iowa used to have, and maybe it still does, one of the highest collective board scores on the SATs, very high educational attainment. A lot a very good small universities there, in addition to the state universities, which are very good. I don't know what has happened to Iowa. I am shocked. It was always a swing state and it isn't anymore. So, there is some bitterness, there's some anger, maybe the evangelicals have made more progress, but something that happened in Iowa. Frankly, I hate to say this because I am incredibly fond of Iowa, because it's a lot like Vermont in some ways, but they really shouldn't be the first for the Democrats. They don't reflect what the rest of America looks like at all. And they certainly don't reflect what the Democratic party looks like. So I think it was a wise decision for the Democrats not to go to Iowa first."
Watch the video below or at this link.
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