By Case Fenner, Iowa City
We can’t keep the people of Iowa City safe by laying low.
In the lead up to the 2024 presidential elections, Democratic leadership at the local, state and national level identified Donald Trump, his MAGA movement and the wider party that supported them as a fascist threat to the people they wish to oppress. In October of 2024 — mere months ago — former vice president Kamala Harris said that Trump would be “a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.” We’re now four weeks into the Trump presidency, and yeah — he is that. Donald Trump is acting in his official capacity as president in a fascist manner. I don’t think you disagree.
A lesser figure that serves in the same “fascist-as-executive” role is Iowa governor Kim Reynolds. One need only look at her actions regarding trans students in Iowa schools, or her actions to ban “critical race theory,” to see that Gov. Reynolds is following a Trumpian playbook. The triumvirate power held by the Republican Party in Des Moines only strengthens and invigorates that playbook.
It seems hopeless to stand against the capitol, huh?
It is not. In fact, it’s something we have to do.
Oliver Weilein is dedicated to doing it, too. If you’ve been to a protest in Iowa City within the last decade, you’ve likely seen Oliver there. In his time as a local, he’s taken active and concrete steps to ensure that the people of Iowa City — trans people, people of color, unhoused and poor people, people seeking reproductive care at the Emma Goldman Clinic, people protesting on the picket lines, people on the Pentacrest, and the Ped Mall, and the public library — are protected. He’s put his life on the line to do so.
Those that haven’t had their lives threatened by the American far-right talk a big game about the fascism coming from D.C. or Des Moines. They talk about how now is the time for community, for organizing, for getting things done before the worst-of-the-worst starts. Yet they offer no solutions besides bowing, kissing the ring and letting the policies of Kim Reynolds, Donald Trump and Elon Musk run down Iowa City’s minority populations — all in an effort to take a “target” off of Iowa City. The thing they haven’t considered, though, is that that target is here to stay. We are a blue dot in a red state — whatever target we’re worried about is already there. We’re not going to remove it by painting ourselves red, by sacrificing our neighbors for the sake of bureaucratic sanctity.
I am proud to endorse Oliver Weilein because in this political era, we need a proven anti-fascist alternative. We need someone who’s taken to the streets, who’s raised their voice to sound the alarm, and who’s dedicated to fighting back. This is not the time for half-measures or hand washing. This is not the time to try to appeal to Des Moines for safety. This is the time to make our own.
If we’re already “the People’s Republic of Johnson County,” it’s time we act like it.
