...join me in visualizing in as much detail as you can, how it's going to feel that first time that the sun comes up over Iowa and Donald Trump is no longer the President of the United States.”

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Get Out the Caucus Event
Lincoln High School
Des Moines, Iowa
February 2, 2020

[DEMOCRACY IN ACTION TRANSCRIPT  |  VIDEO]

U.S. REP. ANTHONY BROWN: ...and we're seeing record turnouts for Pete Buttigieg. Yesterday alone, five town halls, 3000 Iowans—that's you—from across the state, coming out to hear that message. And what a message it is; what a message it is. As I've traveled around Iowa, I've been to South Carolina for the campaign. [audience member responds] Where's South Carolina? And even in my home state of Maryland people around the country are yearning for change.

I spent a lot of time in state government. I'm new to Washington, only been there for three years. As I listen to caucus goers and voters, they're yearning for change, not the same old same old in Washington, but the kind of change that we need across the country from across the country. That's the kind of change that we need. Got stagnant wages, struggling schools, skyrocketing health care costs. People are yearning for political reconciliation and healing. They're yearning for a leader that's going to help bridge that divide. The divides that have been in the making for a while, but only made worse in the last three years under this president. People are yearning for a change, and while I don't have the privilege today of being able to introduce Pete because Mayor Hart's gonna do that, I'll tell you what, you know, Pete is the leader that people are looking for for that change.

He's got the character, the judgment, the experience we need. I spent a year in Iraq; Pete was in Afghanistan. He understands sacrifice and service. He's a true American patriot and a veteran who's put on the uniform. Yes, he has put on the uniform.

He was probably in a position where he could have said, Afghanistan. I'm not going. But he knew if he didn't go, it would have been your brother, your sister, your niece, your nephew, your cousin, your coworker. But he understood that men and women put on the uniform to serve our country, to promote our values, protect our interests. But he also knows that while we need a strong military, that's not how we lead around the world. We lead with diplomacy, we lead with development, we lead with our values and humanitarian assistance. That's what Pete understands.

Washington is full of good ideas. And Pete's gonna bring plenty of them, but more important Pete's gonna bring a track record of results. Just look at the eight years in South Bend, Indiana what he's able to accomplish, working with the community and in the community.

So I'm really excited about what you're gonna do, what we're gonna do tomorrow on Super Bowl day in Iowa. And it's my privilege now. I got to announce something, Just a few minutes ago, the mayor of Iowa City, Bruce Teague, just endorsed Pete Buttigieg for president.

And now, and now let's welcome for Pete's introduction, a faithful public servant, someone who I admire from afar, give it up. From Waterloo, Mayor Hart.


MAYOR QUENTIN HART: Can we give it up for all our public servants that have traveled far and wide to be here today. And I just want to say what a tremendous opportunity to be here this afternoon with all of you. What a tremendous opportunity. And the great thing about this introduction, is that I'm not introduction—introducing just another former mayor. I have the ability to be able to introduce a person that I call friend, Mayor Pete.

About two years ago I had the distinct pleasure of traveling to Las Vegas and meeting Mayor Pete. And one of our very first conversations that we held was focused on, actually 30 minutes into our first conversation, the conversation was focused on those in our communities that have the least. The conversation was focused on how can we empower African Americans in our community,  Latinos in our community, because we have a lot of people whether you're black, white, or whatever, that are frustrated that politics and resources, stay at the top, and don't reach 95% of us that are below that top 5%.

And then next we had a conversation in Philadelphia and we, we toured the Empowerment Center on creative ways to be able to help entrepreneurship for people like you and I that may not necessarily have all the resources to own businesses. We traveled the inner cities in Philadelphia. And then Mayor Pete came to Waterloo, Iowa, and talked about infrastructure, and he introduced the Douglass plan, which can significantly change systemic racism in our community.

And then we traveled to Dubuque and we traveled to Olwein, and we traveled to Coralville today so he can also address some of the challenges that our rural communities are facing that are important for us as also. So I'm not introducing I can talk about the Harvard graduate, I can talk about the Pembroke graduate, I can talk about being a Rhodes Scholar, I can talk about being a Navy veteran, but I think it takes a mayor's perspective to make sure that we don't forget about every day people that are represented in this audience. And so I want to just tell you about a quick number before we bring the Mayor up, a quick number. Can everyone say the number 28 on a count of 3—1, 2, 3.  [Audience: 28]

And that number, do you know why that number is important? Because 28 hours from now, 28 hours from now, this state will have an opportunity to send a message to the entire country, to the entire world that we want to put Mayor Pete Buttigieg in office. So would you please get off your feet and welcome Mayor Pete to be your next President of the United States.

[MUSIC: "High Hopes" by Panic! at the Disco]

PETE BUTTIGIEG: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Iowa. Thank you Mayor Hart. I've been so proud to have the support of mayors like Mayor Hart and Mayor Teague because mayors get things done. You'll never see a city government shutting down because the two parties can't agree on what to do. We have to just solve the issue so the streets get plowed, and so that the water flows and the time has come to get Washington working a little more like our best run cities and towns before it starts happening the other way around.

Thank you, Congressman Anthony Brown, and thanks to everybody who is trying to bring common sense to Capitol Hill. We need more like him.

And a big thank you to everyone who's here. It is difficult to believe how far we have come from a year ago when we first turned up in a coffee shop in Ames thrilled because there were literally dozens of people there, although most of them were just there to get a cup of coffee. And by the end of our first tour we went to Ankeny, to a senior center, and had a fantastic conversation there. In fact we mopped the floor at that event. No, literally, my campaign manager and political director were there, we didn't have a campaign staff; we felt guilty about all the snow that got tracked into the event. And so, they literally picked up the chairs and mopped up the floor on the way out hoping to make a good impression on the good people of Ankeny.

[Chants: Boot-Edge-Edge, Boot-Edge-Edge]

Thats how this thing began. No personal fortune, no big national name recognition. We had an exploratory committee with a staff of four, a office smaller than the area that I was standing in right now, but we had this idea. And thanks to the compassion and energy of our volunteers and the power of our message, we are now just one day away from victory in the Iowa caucuses.

So I'm here to thank you for supporting this effort, but I'm also here mindful that even at this late hour there's a lot of folks still making up their minds, sorting through the choices that Iowans take so seriously. And I could tell how seriously you take those choices here in Iowa because over the months that I was working to get known and to make our case, when we got to the late summer and the fall, you'd start saying things to me like oh that was a really good speech and a really good message you are now in my top seven. And I know how much you are weighing even now the, the importance of that influence, that thumb on the scale that you've got and deciding the future the nomination and the presidency, and therefore the country. And I'm here one more time to look you in the eye and to ask you for your support tomorrow evening, so that we can begin to turn the page and bring about a better day in this country.

[Chants: Boot-Edge-Edge, Boot-Edge-Edge]

So let me begin as I always do. And many of you have done this with me before. I'm going to ask you to join me in visualizing in as much detail as you can, how it's going to feel that first time that the sun comes up over Iowa and Donald Trump is no longer the President of the United States. Feels good, right?

Are we ready to make sure that that day happens sooner rather than later.

Are we ready to say goodbye to the chaos and the corruption.

Are we ready to say goodbye to the cruelty and the division.

Are we ready to say goodbye to the tweets.

Well here's our chance. And on that day when the sun comes up our real work will begin, because we know the next president of the United States is going to face issues the likes of which we hadn't even thought of just a few years or decades ago. We're going to be dealing with climate change that has leapt off the pages of the science journals and is now threatening cities right here in the middle of the country with the once in a century floods happening on an almost annual basis. That is why we need to be prepared to look to the future, and deal with climate change once and for all.

We're going to be facing an economy profoundly reshaped by the emergence of technology, the role of gig work, things we barely understood just a few years ago. That's why we've got to make sure that we deliver an economy that values work over wealth and protects workers, whether you're a gig worker, a contractor or an employee, we've got to make work pay in the United States of America.

Around the world we're going to face new kinds of issues, global health security challenges, climate security challenges, cyber security challenges mounting as we speak, and requiring a president prepare to lead the nation and looking to the future, and facing the 21st century issues, that are going to come before this nation. And we're going to have to do it at a time when Washington is more paralyzed by partisanship, polarized by politics than we have been in generations.

That is what we will be faced with on the day of that sunrise we're looking forward to. And that's why we need a president prepared to leave the politics of the past in the past, and guide our nation toward a better future.

[Chants: I-O-W-A. Mayor Pete all the way]

Now as I talk about that future we're building toward and I talk to caucus goers getting ready to make that final decision, the number one thing I'm hearing about now is we've got to make absolutely sure that we win in November. So much depends on it. And so, the good news is you don't have to choose between the best way to govern well and the best way to win big. If we want to win big it's gonna require that exact same focus on the future. I know there's some ads on TV saying that this is no time to take a risk on anybody new, but I would say at a moment like this history has taught us, we cannot take the risk of meeting a fundamentally new challenge by falling back on the familiar; we can't be afraid of moving to the future, and new voices in our leadership.

I know you're gonna see some ads saying that there's only two ways to go; either you're for a revolution, or you're for the status quo. But the good news for America today is that we have a historic majority ready not only to rally around what we're against and get a better president, but to come together in the name of what we are for as a country. And that historic majority is not just my fellow Democrats; it's independents and an awful lot of what I like to call future former Republicans, and if you're one of those and you're here now, we welcome you to this effort to bring change to this country. And we're glad you're here, because we have to do this together.

And when we come together, we see that what we actually want to get done is a shared set of goals. We are ready to see to it that there is no such thing as an uninsured American when it comes to healthcare. We're also ready, across party lines, to act to ensure that all of the same resources and attention that we're putting into physical medical concerns finally are directed to addiction and mental health too because that's an issue that affects all of us.

We are ready to make sure that a corporation making billions of dollars in profits will not pay zero dollars in taxes, but that we have a fair system to fund the needs of our country.

We are ready to let the message go far and wide to voters of faith that while this country belongs equally to people of every religion and of no religion, it is also okay as a person of faith to realize you've got a choice and insist that God does not belong to a political party in the United States of America.

There is a multi-generational, multi-racial coalition in this country ready to take steps now to see to it that your race has no bearing on your health or your wealth or your life expectancy or your relationship with law enforcement in the United States of America. We are ready.

We are ready for a democracy that is worthy of the name, even if it means a constitutional amendment to end Citizens United and a 21st century Voting Rights Act to protect the right to vote. We're ready.

And whatever your party affiliation, I think there's a powerful American majority ready to backup our teachers with a Secretary of Education who believes in public education.

[Chants: Boot-Edge-Edge, Boot-Edge-Edge]

But this is not theoretical; this is not just about the issues as they splash across newsprint. This is about our lives, and if there's one thing I've learned traveling across Iowa, traveling across America, speaking to the people impacted by these choices we're about to make is that all politics is not only local it is personal, personal for each of us in a different way.

That's the lesson I learned from the guy in Bettendorf, a lifelong Republican, who came to one of my rallies saying he's got a full time job, but he's still driving for DoorDash® because everyone needs a side job these days, as if these days were a time of national hardship not a time of American plenty.

I'm thinking about the person who introduced me at my Webster City event, said we were lucky that we were on the day that we were because it's only once every two weeks or so that she gets a day off—even though she is a full time qualified preschool teacher, she's got to work at HyVee just to make ends meet. That's what's at stake in finally making sure that this is a country where one job is enough.

I see the stakes in the faces and the stories of people I'm meeting, some of them not yet old enough to vote. Sadie in Emmetsburg arose at an event, a teenager, asking about immigration policy, not because she's been anywhere near the border but because she knows what it meant to her family when her father left; she knows what family separation meant to her, and has the moral imagination to connect her story to that of a five-year old Salvadoran boy caught up in this President's cruel border policies who looks and seems nothing like her, but who might share that very same pain. Now if she has the moral imagination to try to put herself in the shoes of someone that different from her somewhere on the border in Texas 1,000 miles away, shame on us if we can't get a Washington that can respond to that same moral imagination.

When an 11-year old comes to see me in North Liberty and asks about how to afford insulin when he grows up; when a 13-year old asked me what we're going to do to keep his school physically safe, we are reminded that all of these issues are deeply, deeply personal and they are so incredibly urgent. But this is our chance to finally get it right. And we've got to do right by the people whose lives depend on the decisions that we're about to make.

This campaign by coincidence made it possible for me to be reunited a few weeks ago with somebody I had served with. [I] ran into her by chance at the airport in Los Angeles as she walked down the concourse with her teenage son. I had not seen her since we were both serving, and since she was injured in an insider attack in Afghanistan. And when I asked her how she was doing—I saw her walking down that concourse—she was wearing a T-shirt from the Wounded Warrior Project that said some assembly required. She smiled and she lifted up her knee and she tapped on her prosthetic leg, she said the Navy fix me up just fine. And then she let me know that she was looking forward to her next deployment, because the people who put on the uniform of this country will do whatever is required of them by the United States of America. That's why they deserve a commander in chief who will always do right by them.

Just a few hours ago I saw somebody who changed the way I think about this campaign when I first met her. Her name is Bridget, and I met her in a backyard in Muscatine over the summer. She came up to me after my speech and told me that our campaign had let her know that she belongs in a way she didn't feel before, that she didn't have to be afraid of being different, that she didn't have to be ashamed just because she had autism. And when she said that it was one of the moments I started to realize we're getting somewhere in this campaign.

Because if this campaign can reach somebody like her and motivate her to be proud of who she is, if we can do that just by the conduct of a campaign months before the first vote is even cast, imagine what we could all do with the powers of the presidency to build a sense of belonging in the United States of America, instead of exclusion. That's what we could do, and it starts tomorrow.

[Chants: Boot-Edge-Edge, Boot-Edge-Edge]

So when I'm asking you for your support, when I'm asking you to take the steps tomorrow to make it possible for us to build the presidency I am proposing that we build, it's based on an idea of what the presidency is for. I'm not running for this office because I decided that I would like to occupy it. I'm running for this office because I believe that the presidency has a purpose, and that the purpose of the presidency is not the glorification of the President, it is the empowerment and the unification of the American people. That is why I'm asking for your support. And that is what you could help us deliver tomorrow evening.

[Chants: I-O-W-A. Mayor Pete all the way]

Now as you know in this campaign we pride ourselves on having conversations, on transparency, on making sure that we're responding to whatever's on folks' minds, so while I've never tried it with a room quite this big, we're still going to try to have a conversation. We gathered up questions from folks on their way in, they're in our famous fishbowl. And I like to ask you to welcome someone from the team to the stage; you already met Kelsey earlier. Now I'd like you to invite Logan onto the stage to be your voice and guide our conversation.

By the way, I am so thankful for the way that our communities out here have welcomed our organizers. And I know that I'm biased, but do we not have the kindest, most energetic, most wonderful staff on this campaign.

Let's have at it.


QUESTION:  Okay, Pete. What are your thoughts on the war on terrorism?

BUTTIGIEG:  And if the question came from you, give a wave and a holler; I'll try to try to look your way. Although it would take a pretty loud holler in this room.

So here's the thing. When I left Afghanistan, years ago, I thought I was one of the very last troops. I thought we were turning out the lights when it was time for me to go home. And years later we are still debating how to get out of there. We are always going to have to take steps to defend the United States, but I think it's clear to Americans that the time has come to put an end to endless war.

That means no open ended commitments of ground troops where we can't even clearly define what the mission is, and it means Congress has to step up too. So, if, and I hope it never happens, but if I'm ever compelled to seek an authorization to use force, I will insist that it have a three year sunset in that authorization, and that if there was ever a need to extend it, there would have to be another vote in Congress, because Congress has a role to play here too. And if our troops can find the courage to go over, Congress ought to have the courage to take up or down votes on whether to send them there.


QUESTION:  Okay this next one's from Barb. Can you expand on your plans for long term health care and why it is such an important topic?

BUTTIGIEG: Yes. Again Barb if you're here, I'll try to look your way. Hi, how are you doing? It's good seeing you.

So, this is personal for a lot of us. I know it's personal for so many of us.

My mother's here and— Isn't she great. And, mom's in great shape.

My mom and I went through a very tough conversation about a year ago at the hospital when my dad was not in very good shape. When he became ill, and we thought he might need long term care. And I remember the social worker at the hospital politely explaining to us that the best solution to get long term care for dad might just be for her to spend everything she had until her assets were low enough to qualify for Medicaid. I'm seeing heads nodding like we're not the only family to have this conversation. But I remember us thinking is that how long term care works in the United States? And for too many people, that's the closest answer they'll get. It's one of many reasons why we need to act nationally to actually deliver a solution. Mine is called Long Term Care America, and it is a national program that sees to it that there is a daily cash benefit supporting not just institutional care but as much as possible the in home care that so often is what somebody needs as they age, and that's a big part of our plan.


QUESTION
:  Okay, from Holly. How do you respond to people that are tired of the President, but don't believe a Democrat can win?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, I can give you my answer, but starting tomorrow you can give 'em your answer.

Look a lot of— you don't have to be a dyed in the wool Democrat to be fed up with what this President is doing. I meet so many people, many of whom are used to voting Republican, who are frustrated just trying to look their kids in the eye and explain this presidency to them. Meanwhile the issues that I'm talking about, I think of them as strong Democratic issues, but the truth is they are popular even in conservative states that understand that we've got to do something about paid family leave and act on climate and deliver solutions on gun violence and take these steps to make our lives better.

I know that this is an exhausting, frustrating time to be following the national news. If you're watching the news right now, it is exhausting, almost like it's designed to make you want to turn it off, walk away and give up. But the great news is if the Senators are the jury today., we are the jury tomorrow, and we get the last word on the president and on the Senate too. Let's show them what's possible in this country.


QUESTION:  Okay from Katie. Will your Medicare for All Who Want It include pre-existing conditions?

BUTTIGIEG:  Yes. Katie here? Hi, Katie. I see you.

Yes it will.

Look, we have got to protect Americans whatever their medical challenges are. And this is one of many, many broken promises when the President said he wasn't going to go after your pre-existing conditions, only to try to tear up Medic— There you are, look at that. And again, this is personal in my family. When I married Chasten I gained a mother-in-law, who is here with us today as well.

And she, and my father-in-law Terry, have a mom and pop landscaping business and work hours that even would make presidential campaign workers blush. But mom and pop self-owned business, tough to get insurance. And she is fighting, and I mean bravely fighting cancer right now and winning.

If it weren't for the protections of the Affordable Care Act for pre-existing conditions, and the ability to get coverage she wouldn't be able to get the coverage that makes it possible to afford the chemotherapy that her life depends on. And so many of us are depending on the public sector to step up and do something. That's why I want to make sure that a quality plan is available to everybody. Now we call it Medicare for All Who Want It because I trust you to decide whether you want it, but I want to make sure that there is that excellent plan available to everybody and that one way or the other everybody's getting covered. And yes part of excellent coverage is covering pre-existing conditions.


QUESTION:  Okay. Since you believe climate change is a national security threat, what do you plan to do to help this issue?

BUTTIGIEG:  Very good. That's probably a question on a lot of folks' minds right now.

We need a national project to confront climate change. This can't just be another political tug of war; it's too important, it's existential. Consider this. The scientists with the UN panel tell us that we have until 2030 to make a series of dramatic changes in order to prevent catastrophe. Now, if the scientific deadline is 2030. That means that the real deadline is 2020, because if we don't have a president who believes in climate science by next year we're never going to make it. That's part of what's at stake in making sure that we win in November.

So, I won't take you through all of the details of the plan that you can look up online but it starts with doubling the renewables going onto the grid, works through transportation and industry, and by the middle of the century, when I'm hoping to be here to look back and see if we solved the problem, we will be a carbon-neutral society in the United States.

And this national project will enlist the energies of every American including those who have sometimes been made to feel they're part of the problem. We need industrial workers to be part of the solution. We need the military, which is the biggest buyer of fuel, to be part of the solution. We need farmers to be part of the solution, and that means investing in them, not just asking them to do this, but making sure we pay for it.

And one more thing.

We can't do this alone. The United States is only one fifth of the emissions, and the rest of the world can't do without us because we're the biggest economy. So this has to be a global effort, and at a moment like this with us credibility dangling by a thread, wouldn't it be a good thing for the world to see the United States leading on an issue that everybody knows is life and death for the entire human race.


QUESTION:  What is your plan for ensuring a future for Planned Parenthood as well as advocating for reproductive rights? From Annabel.

BUTTIGIEG:  Annabel, you here? So it starts with a very simple idea, that one of the core values of this country is freedom. And while I think that often we deliver freedom by the public sector stepping up, sometimes, it also does mean government staying out of the way. And I believe in keeping government out of the business of dictating to women what their reproductive health care choices are.

That means appointing judges and justices who respect that freedom.

It means executive action, like doing away with this Title 10 gag rule that makes it hard for Planned Parenthood and other organizations to provide meaningful care to women who need it, reproductive care and women's health more generally.

It means health equity for women that not only honors reproductive health but recognizes that there's more to women's health than the reproductive system and we've got to make sure that we're taking care of everybody.

And it means legislative action to encode Roe vs. Wade because even if we can't all agree on where we personally believe that the line ought to be drawn, if we can't agree on where to draw the line, let's agree on who gets to draw the line, and I trust women to make that decision for themselves.

[Chants: Pete, Pete, Pete]


QUESTION:  I think we have time for one more, one more.

BUTTIGIEG:  Alright, one more.

QUESTION:  Of course it's a two parter. Okay. If you had to choose, or if you had to choose one way to spend federal dollars, would you provide free public college or provide subsidies generally speaking to low income families?

Oh, and what is your favorite Beatles song?

BUTTIGIEG:  Alright. I like the two-part. That's you?

So here's what we can do. We can make, we can provide the biggest transformation in college affordability since the GI Bill. And I'm proposing that we use resources to create a federal-state partnership so the cost is never a barrier to going to college. First, 80% will see their public college tuition costs fall to zero. Then it's kind of a sliding scale. Now I got to be truth in advertising, if you're in the top income bracket, I'm going to, I'm still wishing you well, but I'm going to need you to go ahead and pay your own tuition because we do make very real choices about those scarce taxpayer dollars. Let's also, let's support everybody who wants to go to college, but let's also make sure that we are supporting different kinds of workforce training skills, training career and technical education. We've got to make it more affordable to go to college. We've also got to make it more affordable to live and thrive and prosper in this country, whether you went to college or not. And we're going to make sure we're supporting all Americans in the future.

As for a Beatles song, it's tough to pick just one.

But I feel like in a moment like this the right answer's got to be "Come Together."

One more time for Logan and our phenomenal campaign team. Thank you for guiding the conversation.


Well here we are. 27 or so hours to go. Here we are. And the decision is going to begin right here in Iowa. It's no longer talking about how to win. It's proving that we can do it. And that starts with you. I want to leave you with one more thing. And it is to make the case one more time for the role of hope in our political life. I know why hope went out of style for a while in our political vocabulary in a dark and divided moment. I would also argue that you would not be here in this room right now if some sense of hope hadn't propelled you into this space. That's why you are here. You only do this if you think it matters who gets their hands on the mechanisms of American government and what values guide them. And that is the sense of hope that propels me into this space too. I believe there is a very good reason why they took the word hopeful, turned it into a noun, and used it as another word for candidate. That's why I'm here as a 2020 hopeful. I'm here because running for office is an act of hope, and so is volunteering, and so is voting, and so is caucusing, and I need you to bottle up whatever hope brought you into this room, and share it with everybody that you know so that they don't give up on the idea that this is our chance to finally make the changes that we've been asking for.

And Iowa, Iowa, you have a beautiful, beautiful tradition of vindicating people's hope. You have a beautiful tradition of expanding what people think is possible in our political life. The first time I ever set foot in this state was as a campaign volunteer knocking on doors for a senator from Illinois, and I was here when you changed what America thought was possible in presidential nominating contests.

And then a couple years later, I was watching from home when Iowa took a step that made it possible for someone like me living in the Midwest to finally have permission to believe that one day I too would have a chance to wear a wedding ring like the one I got on my hand right now. You did that.

So are you ready to make history one more time tomorrow evening?

Are you ready for that sunrise when we put the Trump era behind us?

And are you ready to bring your friends and make sure that everybody has a voice in this process?

Iowa, starting tomorrow, I believe you are going to make me the next president to the United States, and I will do everything I can to make you proud. Thank you for your support. Thank you for
coming. Thank you for caring, and I will see you tomorrow night. Thank you. Thank you.

[MUSIC: Creedence Clearwater Revival "Up Around the Bend"]

# # #
__________________

Observations: Buttigieg spoke for close to 20 minutes, fielded seven questions over the next 13 minutes and made closing remarks for about 3 minutes and 20 seconds. It was an effective presentation. Aside from his lead-off question, there was not a lot of focus on Trump; rather the focus was on moving beyond Trump. Buttigieg asks the audience to visualize "how it's going to feel that first time that the sun comes up over Iowa and Donald Trump is no longer the President of the United States," and then outlines the challenges the next president will face. He doesn't need to spell it out; one can visualize him in the Oval Office addressing those issues. The specific examples of what he has learned from Iowans are also effective. His answers to the audience questions were direct.