President Trump vowed to defend the caucus structure used by Iowa after a Monday night debacle delayed the results in the early voting state’s Democratic presidential nominating contest.
Iowa has used the caucusing method to hold primary elections since 1972. A victory in Iowa is seen as pivotal to gaining national momentum for any candidate running in a primary election for president. Critics of the system, however, have argued that it does a disservice to more liberal and minority candidates in a state where the majority of the population is white.
“It is not the fault of Iowa, it is the Do Nothing Democrats fault,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning after the botched caucuses. “As long as I am President, Iowa will stay where it is. Important tradition!”
It is not the fault of Iowa, it is the Do Nothing Democrats fault. As long as I am President, Iowa will stay where it is. Important tradition! https://t.co/bX3FLvua1C
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2020
Hours passed Monday night with Iowa Democrats providing no results following what they called “inconsistencies” in reporting from local precincts across the state. Issues with a new smartphone app used to report results to the state Democratic Party led to flooded phone lines, which left some precinct managers on hold for hours.
“This is simply a reporting issue. The app did not go down, and this is not a hack or an intrusion,” the state party said in a statement. “The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results.”
As of Tuesday morning, no results were in yet. The situation was met with harsh criticism from several Democratic presidential candidates. Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed local Democrats for allowing “the app that was intended to relay caucus results to the party” to fail and demanded to see the discrepancies cited.
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, meanwhile, declared himself the winner Monday night with no results to prove that assertion.
With no election results to analyze, political pundits across cable news began to question the merits of the caucusing process and wondered if the system is outdated and excludes some voters.
“We gotta get Tom Perez in here and beat him up a little bit and make him tell us — why do you still start in Iowa?” MSNBC political analyst Chris Matthews said. “Because it’s a strange decision.”
“Iowa’s outsize role has faced attacks for decades, along with periodic failed attempts by other states to take the first-in-the-nation slot,” said Steve Kornacki, national political correspondent for NBC News. “But criticism has been louder than ever this past year, and now those critics may have the ammunition they need to kill it.”
Iowa’s outsize role has faced attacks for decades, along with periodic failed attempts by other states to take the first-in-the-nation slot. But criticism has been louder than ever this past year, and now those critics may have the ammunition they need to kill it.
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) February 4, 2020
Prominent Democrats echoed that sentiment early Tuesday morning.
“I think the Democratic caucus in Iowa is a quirky, quaint tradition which should come to an end,” Sen. Dick Durbin said. “As we try to make voting easier for people across America, the Iowa caucus is the most painful situation we currently face for voting.”
In an earlier tweet Tuesday, Trump said it’s not the process that takes place in Iowa that’s the problem but the people running it.
“The Democrat Caucus is an unmitigated disaster,” he wrote. “Nothing works, just like they ran the Country. Remember the 5 Billion Dollar Obamacare Website, that should have cost 2% of that. The only person that can claim a very big victory in Iowa last night is “Trump.”
Trump cruised to victory in the state’s Republican caucus, garnering 97% of the vote. The president has no legal authority over how either party conducts internal or general elections.
