Tag Archives: Kathy Byrnes

Dave Funk: Retired Northwest Airlines Captain, Trump voter

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By several metrics, my interviews with Iowa Trump voters have gone well. The dialogue is good. We’re finding common ground. We’re dispelling the false notion that Trump voters are stupid. And on some fronts, I’m having my own views challenged.

What’s not coming together is clarity on the climate emergency. Take my conversation with Dave Funk. What to me are solid, irrefutable facts are, to Dave, either up for discussion or simply false. While I respect that, I also find it frustrating. Continue Reading →

Nancy Suby-Bohn: Des Moines resident, Trump voter

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Beyond our presidential candidate preference, Nancy and I don’t see eye-to-eye on a bunch of things, especially climate change. But when I ask if she agrees or disagrees with 11 of my priorities, we’re on the same page with 10 of them!

Says Nancy to Ed, “You sound like a Republican!”

Says Ed to Nancy, “You sound like a Democrat!” Continue Reading →

Joel Kurtinitis: Columnist, Trump voter

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Iowans heard the lies over and over again during the DAPL fight. Once again, Big Oil can’t seem to tell the truth. The polar vortex had barely wrapped up its historic disruption of Texas’ power grid when fossil fuel’s spin room revealed the culprit: Windmills! Continue Reading →

Joel Brown: Former Democratic lawmaker, Trump voter

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Joel’s interest in politics is driven by two key passions: decentralizing the economy and freedom of speech. “The first speech I gave as a lawmaker was on a bill to extend First Amendment protections to student newspapers, protecting students from school administrator censorship,” Joel told me. “In my mind, that’s a big part of what the Democratic Party was all about.” Continue Reading →

Steve Hickenbottom: Organic farmer, Trump voter

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Regarding climate change, Steve says it’s definitely a concern. He’d like to see us invest in research to develop better batteries for electric cars. “Let’s start working on cars that get 100 miles per gallon. We’d burn less fuel, reduce the need for pipelines, and maybe slow climate change. But we can’t make the cure worse than the problem. Take Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) for instance. That was pushed, and now DEF is showing up in the water supply, and it’s toxic.”

Steve’s also concerned about coal-fired power plants: “Worldwide, I don’t think we’re the biggest problem. China is putting up hundreds of new coal plants. If we turn the US 100% green, we’re still not going to get the results we’re after. We’ve got to get the rest of the world on board.” Continue Reading →

Building bridges in the Heartland

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Joshua Barr, Director of the Des Moines Civil & Human Rights Commission, joins us with positive news about Breaking Bread, Building Bridges — an initiative bring people together, one-on-one, to talk through their perceived differences and discover common ground. Pairings include a young man who was very anti-police with a woman police officer. The short video is encouraging and worth watching. Continue Reading →

Coral Reefs in Deep Trouble

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A new report paints a disturbing picture of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The coral’s status has declined from “significant concern” to “critical,” as bleaching continues to kill more and more coral. The report fingers climate change as the primary culprit. It’s not just coral: One-third of all natural World Heritage sites are threatened by climate change. Continue Reading →

How bad is the COVID surge going to get?

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I received this disturbing and heart-wrenching message from a worker at an Iowa healthcare facility: “We are fighting a battle that we just can’t win here. No matter what we do, no matter how careful we are, I know without a shadow of a doubt that all our people WILL GET this thing. It has taken on a life of its own. A third of our people have COVID and half of our staff has it. We are drowning!!!!!!!” Continue Reading →

52 Conversations With Iowa Trump Voters

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In 2021, a key collaboration between the Fallon Forum and Bold Iowa will be “Fifty-two Conversations With Trump Voters.” Each week, I’ll have an hour-long conversation with someone who voted for Donald Trump. I’ll publish a summary of that conversation in my weekly blog and also interview that voter during my talk show.

This will, no doubt, anger some of you. “Ed, how dare you give any more coverage to those people!”

A key element of our way out of the current divide is through dialogue. I reject the rhetoric that most Trump voters are racists, misogynists, and “deplorable” — as Hillary Clinton so memorably referred to half of Trump’s supporters in 2016. Continue Reading →

Damn the Trumpedoes, we’re planting artichokes

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Last month, I wrote that for Trump to win, he would have to pull it off in the courts. I thought then that a good old-fashion military coup wouldn’t work because so many high-ranking officials were anti-Trump. Yet with Trump tightening his grip on the various tentacles of national defense, appointing solid Trump loyalists to key positions, a military coup may be his backup plan if the judicial coup fails. Continue Reading →