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Eric Skoog, owner of Cronk's café, left, chats with the "Roundtable Boys," a group of men from around Denison, Iowa, who meet most mornings to discuss politics. (Scott Morgan / For The Washington Post)
DENISON, Iowa – "You're going to get me into trouble," said Eric Skoog, owner of Cronk's Cafe, laying a bowl of Oatmeal flakes in the back room of his restaurant, a room covered with calendars, pictures and political memorabilia.
After four decades of seeing presidential candidates and their families walk past his coffee shop near the service station on Highway 30, Skoog knows a reporter when he sees one. And he knows why journalists are stopping these days, more than a year before the Iowa caucus, 22 months before the next presidential election.
"You want to talk about Steve King," he said.
Everyone in Iowa The 4th Congressional District has something to say about King, the elector elected in November for a ninth consecutive term in the US House of Representatives, despite from his long history of racist speech – although his Democratic opponent JD Scholten has astonished the experts in three points of the ouster. in what many see as a sign that King's behavior is becoming tiring for a growing number of his constituents.
Outside King's district, indignation grows. Recently, after King wondered aloud, in a New York Times article, why terms such as "white supremacy" were considered offensive, a challenger named Randy Feenstra, a senator of the state whose the district overlaps that of King, announced that he would challenge King for the Republican nomination. The presence of a viable Republican alternative seemed to give more power to King's colleagues in Washington; he was removed from his position on the committee, including a member of the House Agriculture Committee.
But as national reproaches multiply, the 4th district of Iowa faces a growing dilemma: in a 50% rural district, a seat on the agriculture committee means something. Recent history suggests that in a district where 95% of whites reign, its rhetoric does not make sense.
As the rest of the country grows disapproved, some people in King's district wonder about whether change is happening, while others wonder why so many people think change is needed at all . The Democrats in his district express their frustration with their neighbors who keep him in power and their embarrassment at the inaccurate picture they think of representing their neighborhood – a picture in which his constituents are seen as racist by extension. Some Republicans argue that he is not racist and thinks he is defending the interests of his constituents.
Over the last forty years, a number of presidential candidates and their families have stopped at Eric Skoog's cafe. (Scott Morgan / For The Washington Post)
"I do not know him as you write there," Skoog said. "I do not know him like that."
"What does he say is important here? Yes, says Skoog. "It feeds the democrats. That done. I know it.
King went to high school in Denison, just minutes from Cronk's cafe, and the two met as Skoog, a registered Republican, becoming more involved in local politics. When King was elected to the House of Representatives in 2002, and Skoog regularly went to Washington, they would meet for a drink at the Dubliner.
Now in his small office, a piece sheltered from the influence of Over the decades and decades of political waves, Skoog chooses his words carefully. A few meters away is the round table where he and a group of about thirty men from the region sit and talk about politics almost every morning – the "Roundtable Boys", which they call, some come and go, some agree and some do not. 19659014] Once a month, the Cronk Café hosts a meeting of local Republicans. Once a month, he also organizes a meeting of local Democrats. Skoog now sits on the Crawford County Supervisory Board. His dinner hosted political figures from all walks of life, from George McGovern to Mike Huckabee, from Barbara Bush to Michelle Obama. Skoog saw it all, but not with King.
Souvenirs and newspaper articles about Cronk's coffee decorate the walls. (Scott Morgan / For The Washington Post)
"I am a little surprised by [how people talk about King]. I do not hear it like that, "said Skoog. "I do not know how to say it. I can not put my finger on it. But he is not … when I see him, he is not a candidate. That's the best way to say it.
King suggested that Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein, would make him an al-Qaida favorite, suggesting that immigrants were "of a size comparable to that of cantaloupes", refined by carrying drug, and asked, on national television, "what subgroup of people contributes more to civilization" than whites – all before his comments the most severely criticized this month.
Many members of the GOP government leadership who reside in the 4th district did not respond. inquiries about King. Three members of the state central committee refused to discuss him, explaining their frustrations with his description in the mainstream media. One called him "a good man" whose words were "taken out of context."
Another said that King was "carried away", but objected to the idea that any comment from King would imply that he was suffering harm.
Regular dinners spend the morning chatting at Cronk's Cafe in January. (Scott Morgan / For The Washington Post)
About 90 kilometers away, in a cafe in the largest city of King's District – Sioux City – insurance salesman Nick Raitt was sitting at a counter and was trying to have lunch as a cameramen called for. space. He came to Pierce Street Coffee Works for a soup and a sandwich, not wanting to end up in the middle of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's first tour in Iowa – not expecting to find herself surrounded by Democrats, let alone New York in search of president.
"It's probably the most democratic room you'll find here," joked Raitt, a Republican from Sioux City. The six counties in Iowa that voted most energetically for Donald Trump in the 2016 elections are located near Sioux City in the northwest of the state. Sixty percent of King's district members voted for Trump, one of four districts in Iowa.
According to Raitt, King " is preparing for all the harassment that he is undergoing."
"But I do it With respect to the racist [expletive] the inhabitants of this region are tired of some left-wing groups constantly chanting "racism, racism, racism". It's upsetting people, "said Raitt. "It should not be the main topic of conversation. Does the guy have prejudices? Rather. It's hard to deny that. But at the same time, it's not the biggest problem for the people here.
In King's district, the problems of agriculture occupy an important place. Despite aid provided by a $ 12 billion rescue package to offset the cost of its tariffs, China has decided to retaliate to limit its purchases of US soybeans, leaving poor prospects for 2019 for many farmers. [19659026] "He is completely ineffective now," said Kitty Green, a Democrat from Sioux City, referring to King's removal of committees. "He was fired for all practical purposes. Does it matter? That counts for some people.
For others in the district, issues of racial discrimination are also important. La Prensa, a local Hispanic newspaper, called King's rhetoric "patently racist." A few months ago, the paper published a letter to King Jose Ibarra, an elected member of the Storm Lake City Council, one of the most diverse communities in the state where schools are predominantly Hispanic and nonwhite
Ibarra wrote this letter to King asking him to visit the community and see how the boundaries between immigrants and non-immigrants "were becoming less and less perceptible". in 2018; he won by 16 points in 2016.
King's next election is in 20 months. In the meantime, voters are grappling with the perception of their district – and, even more complicated, that of their neighbors.
"A candidate is more than the sum of a particular question or statement. [King’s] Supporters will talk about things that please them about it, but will not mention its racist side, "said Greg Guelcher, Democrat of the 4th District.
" The problem is that it's all right. they do not take a step back and do not think about what he says gives an image of this neighborhood, "he added.
" When you press [King] on more controversial statements, it always says: "That's not what I meant, you're removing context," Guelcher said. "I met Steve King. He's not so stupid." 19659031] An antique tractor adorns the lawn of a motel in front of Cronk's Cafe in Denison, Iowa.
Neither King's office nor his son, Jeff, who works for his campaign, did not respond to inquiries King made a statement in response to the minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy (right) after the Californian removed him from the committee at the beginning of the month.
"Chief McCarthy's decision to withdraw from his committees is a political decision that ignores the truth," King wrote, saying that his words had been "completely misinterpreted."
In the meantime, Iowa's power structure began to convict King after his fellow Republicans in Washington had begun to do the same.Iowa's governor, Kim Reynolds, said that she would not support Not King at a 2020 primary, unlike what she had done in 2018, a turning point after King was co-chair of his re-election committee last fall. The two Republican Senators Iowa, Charles E. Grassley and Joni Ernst, condemned King Grassley's endorsement of King in the last election, after the House's Republican Election Committee chairman called him a white supremacist. Ernst e st appeared with King at one of his electoral rallies.
The Sioux City Journal editorial board recently called for King to resign, a suggestion he dismissed. But not all Iowans have yet passed judgment.
"It's a beautiful white part of the country. You do not have people who are worried about "diversity, diversity, diversity," like California or New York, "said Raitt, as he finished his lunch, his personal space being almost consumed by the following horde Gillibrand
He added: "This is not a problem as important as what the national media would like to highlight. If and when there is a better candidate against him, he will be eliminated. "
