By Max McAuliff, Opinion Editor
Even a night that should’ve been about Democrats still managed to be a win for President Donald Trump.
The Iowa caucus took place Monday night and was an unfathomable disaster. The caucus was supposed to be the first step for Democrats toward defeating Trump in November’s Presidential election and instead provided Trump with more ammunition against Democrats.
A caucus is different from a primary in that instead of casting a ballot like in a primary, voters participate in local meetings and break into groups depending on which candidate they want. Iowa had gotten through this process and did so more efficiently than in years past. The problem arose after people had left and Democratic Party precinct leaders across the state tried to submit their results.
New this year, the Iowa Democratic Party unveiled a smartphone app that would be used to report each precinct’s results. When precinct leaders went to report results, however, they were unable to do so. This was due to what the Democratic Party is calling a “coding issue in the reporting system.”
While technical difficulties are bound to happen here and there, the problem with this new app is that it had not even been tested yet. Dan Patterson of CBS News said that the app, which was developed by tech company Shadow, “appeared to be beta testing using our democracy.” That is certainly a shocking statement, to say the least, and yet it appears to be true.
The good news is that Iowa had a backup plan in case something was to happen with the app. Plan B was for precinct leaders to call the Iowa Democratic Party on a hotline. The hotline was set up for a couple of phone calls because of app failures, not 1,600. Even when precinct leaders did manage to call the hotline, some were put on hold for upwards of two hours. Overall, caucus night in Iowa could not have gone worse for Democrats.
Even with most results from Iowa now in and showing that Pete Buttigieg will win the state, the nights win really goes to Donald Trump. Democrats’ first chance to show the nation that they can defeat Trump come November was an epic failure.
Trump could not be having a better week. Not only was he acquitted of all charges by the Senate, but he also delivered a State of the Union in front of Congress Tuesday. A speech that sounded like a speech at a political rally. On top of that Nancy Pelosi ripped up Trump’s speech at the conclusion of his speech, which has drawn a lot of criticism.
While this has been Trump’s week, Democrats should not worry. If the remaining caucuses and primaries go smoothly and the party can unite and stand behind one nominee, Democrats still have a good chance to defeat Trump.
mcaulimr18@bonaventure.edu
