I had a chance to share the stage with Donald Trump in 2016. Instead, I slipped out a side door.
I was the Republican nominee for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, speaking at Senator Joni Ernst’s second annual Roast and Ride, where Trump was the headliner. I had never supported him, and I didn’t want my campaign associated with him. I took my concerns to Iowa GOP chairman Jeff Kaufmann. He understood and told me I should feel free to leave, so I did.
What I didn’t do was say why publicly until six weeks later, after the Access Hollywood (“grab ‘em by the p****) tape was released. At the time, I said I regretted not speaking out sooner. I still do.
Ten years later, I’m asking Republican voters to do what I did that day: slip out the side entrance. This November, don’t vote for Republican candidates for Congress. The other party doesn’t have all the answers, but Trump needs a check, and a Republican majority won’t provide one.
I understand Trump’s appeal. He has a brash charisma and undeniably powerful political instincts, and he speaks to a real frustration. Americans are struggling financially and emotionally, and the federal government has been dysfunctional for decades. People wanted a champion.
What I saw in 2016 was a man unsuited to the job. The past decade has confirmed it: election denialism, January 6th, vindictive attacks on perceived enemies, cozying up to authoritarian regimes while alienating allies, military intervention in Venezuela and Iran, unqualified appointees like RFK Jr. and Pete Hegseth, start-and-stop trade wars, and $6 diesel.
I wasn’t the only one who kept his distance that day. Senator Chuck Grassley and Congressmen David Young and Rod Blum also declined to join Trump on stage. In 2016, distancing yourself from Trump was a choice Iowa Republicans could make. When I broke with him that October, I wrote that whoever won, we would need “strong and principled legislators to stand up to whatever nonsense might emanate from the White House.”
We didn’t get them. Since then, most Republican officeholders have declined to challenge Trump, even when they knew better. I understand why: no one wants a primary challenger or a target on their back. But understandable isn’t the same as right
That’s why the answer runs through Congress. A Republican majority means no meaningful oversight. A House or Senate in other hands can hold hearings, issue subpoenas, and use the power of the purse, and a Senate can refuse unfit nominees.
You may be thinking of your own Republican congressman or senator, someone you consider decent. Perhaps they are. But every Republican seat counts toward the majority that decides whether Congress checks this president or protects him. This year, that matters more than any one member.
I don’t think that either party currently represents the values and interests of the majority of Americans, and I’m convinced that both parties are headed for dramatic political realignments in the coming years. But, that’s a fight for another day. The fight now is restoring Congress as a coequal branch of government.
In 2016, I slipped out before Trump took the stage but waited six weeks to say why. I know what it is to be late. If you’ve stayed with Trump and what has become his GOP out of loyalty, habit, or hope that things would turn around, it isn’t too late to leave. Slip out the side door. Better late than never.
Christopher Peters is a semi-retired surgeon in Iowa City. He was the Republican nominee for Iowa’s second congressional district in 2016 and 2018.
I cannot fathom you supporting socialists with goals of more taxing, more spending, and harsher laws, the opposite of libertarianism! Checks & balances are working, albeit slowly. His policies are saving America, Chris. Have you seen France? Belgium? Ireland?