Sioux County--giant killer!

It was a dream I had, but the vision has faded now that Donald Trump determined no Muslims will come into this country until a bunch of smart guys he appoints figure out "what the hell is going on," in his words.

What I dreamed was that Sioux County, Iowa, would send him back to his casino towers. That's right--Sioux County would be the giant killer. I'm serious. Here's how.

Republicanism, so saith St. Ronald, is a stool with three legs. First, fiscal conservatives are Republican because Reaganites love Reagnomics. They want lower taxes and less government. To them, prosperity trickles down. What's good for Morgan Stanley is good for America. Think, well, Karl Rove. (Is he still around?)

Second, defense hawks are Republican because we should be the world's policeman. Defense hawks are low profile these days; most people, right and left, don't think much of the War in Iraq. Neo-cons think Reaganesque-ly because they want nothing better than for the U.S. of A. to carry one heckuva big stick. And, if need be, use it. Think Dick Cheney.

Third, social conservatives, people who maintain that America's original sin wasn't slavery or what it did with this nation's first nations but Roe v. Wade. Social conservatives shudder at gay marriage; they're sure God will turn his back on a nation where men and women. . .well, we don't want to think about it. Social conservatives?--think Mike Huckabee.

This three-legged stool is a Reagan metaphor, and it works. Republicans stand sturdy as a stool when each faction carries its weight. 

Here's the dream. Sioux County, Iowa, dumps Donald Trump. 

We are, after all, the most heavily Republican county in the State. No county voted more exclusively for Rep. Steve King last time around than we did (that's an editorial we, by the way, not a confession). The Republican who's going to win Iowa, needs Sioux County.

Are most Sioux Countites fiscal conservatives? Yes. I didn't crunch numbers, but most people here balance checkbooks and wish America did. They'd like fewer taxes, and they raise an eyebrow at people who use food stamps. We work hard here. We earn our keep, dang it, and so should you. 

But they don't vote Republican for economic reasons first of all.

Are most Sioux Countians defense hawks? I doubt it. We don't breed Marines here. We're patriotic, but not militaristic. We're not pacifists by any means, but army recruiters don't harvest much from our high schools.

Are most Sioux Countians social conservatives? Well, duh.  Ask a dozen people on the street and most of them will tell you how many babies we slaughtered last year. Gay marriage?--an abomination. Here, Christian convictions create conservatism.

If there's an old Republican milking stool in Sioux County, Iowa, these days, it still stands proudly on all three legs. Two of them may be a little shaky, but one is foundational. It's Christian conservatism that birthed hometown hero Bob Vander Plaats, perhaps the most powerful political player in Iowa, despite his never having won an election.

Trump's failure will come about at the hands of Christian conservatives. He's vulgar. Only his disciples, his cultists, believe his bloviating about being a Christian. He says he doesn't remember asking anyone or anything for forgiveness. He's the kind of man who would find it tough to pass through the eye of a needle.

So I'm thinking Trump loses, big-time, here. Big-time. When red-blooded Sioux County Christian conservative Republicans get in the voting booth and look at a choice between Trump and Carson, they vote Carson. That's what I'm saying. Trump and Huck?--they vote Huck. Trump and Rubio?--they vote Rubio. Trump and Cruz?--they vote Cruz. Christian conservatives in northwest Iowa aren't going to vote for a man who's on his third wife and rakes in millions from his casinos. 

Social conservatives elsewhere may vote for Trump, but not here. Good Lord, not here. 

Because he can't win in this conservative bastion, he loses the state. Suddenly there's a brand new trajectory and it's a falling star. Won't be long and he'll be out. He loves the limelight, but when the spots move elsewhere he'll find the exit. Fast. 

Thus Sioux County, Iowa, brings down the Goliath, Donald Trump. That's the dream.

Here's the newest theory--he honestly doesn't want to be President. Look at what the Presidency did to George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He knows he's not going to "bomb the hell" out of ISIS. He knows he can't ship 11 million undocumented workers across the border. He knows customs can't turn away visitors because they're Muslim. He may well be a bigot and an opportunist, but he's no idiot.

Even though I love the idea of Sioux County, Iowa, bringing Trump down, I can't help wondering after the whole Muslim thing, whether he actually wants the job. He's acting suicidal politically.

And what about the 30 percent or so who compose his mob?

H. L. Mencken would say, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."