DES MOINES – This evening, Donald Trump will hold a rally in Des Moines as part of his Victory Tour across election battleground states. Trump claims the tour is his way of saying “Thank You” to the voters in states that helped him win the presidency. The reality is the tour is nothing more than a media stunt to distract America from his unprecedented conflicts of interest and the extremism embodied by his closest advisors and Cabinet nominees including Steve Bannon and Sen. Jeff Sessions. After campaigning on a promise to “drain the swamp”, Trump wasted no time as President-Elect to surround himself with Washington insiders, billionaires and lobbyists as trusted advisers and potential Cabinet members. In response to President-Elect Trump’s visit to Des Moines, Iowa Democratic leaders issued the following statements:
“After pledging to ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump is filling his transition team with special interest lobbyists, wealthy donors, Washington insiders and billionaires like himself.
“On the campaign trail, Trump told voters that he was going to give the power back to the people. As the President-Elect Trump has assembled the wealthiest, ultra-rich Cabinet in history. Trump’s Cabinet appointees are worth $11 billion and counting.
“If Donald Trump truly wants to represent the working classes and all Americans, he needs to appoint proven leaders with a history of job creation, not Wall Street hedge fund managers.”
Rep. Todd Prichard (HD-52)
“Donald Trump’s selection of Rep. Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services sends a dangerous signal to Iowa’s senior citizens. Price is one of the most outspoken critics of Medicare and favors a voucher system that would raise health care costs by tens of thousands of dollars per year.
“Iowa is home to one of the nation’s largest elderly populations, and millions of Iowans living on a fixed income rely on Medicare for their sole health care coverage. Any attack on Medicare is an onslaught on elderly Americans who worked hard for vital health care coverage that they have earned and that they deserve.”
Jean Pardee (Iowa Democratic Seniors/Retiree Caucus Chair)
“A nominee for Attorney General should have a history of protecting the rights of all Americans and not possess one hint of racism or history of discrimination. Jeff Sessions’ past is littered with a history of racially insensitive statements that include calling both the ACLU and the NAACP ‘un-American’. If these institutions that are in place to stand up for the rights of disenfranchised are ‘un-American’ in the eyes of Senator Session, how can he be trusted to govern without bias?
“To be quiet and allow this to happen without challenge by any leader of any party is to be implicit in the unfair treatment of minorities in this country. It’s is up to all leaders, including Senator Ernst and Senator Grassley, to stand up to Sessions’ nomination and keep radical extremism out of our nation’s highest-ranking offices.”
Representative-Elect Ras Smith (HD-62)
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