What happens after the protest?

Several hundred people is a decent-sized protest. That was the size of the crowd this week outside the Iowa Statehouse. It was part of a series of national protests organized by the 50501 Movement (50 protests at 50 state capitols on one day).

(Some of the crowd at the 50501 protest outside the Iowa Statehouse on Wednesday.)

There was passion. There were numerous F-bombs. And there were arrests later inside the Statehouse.

There was much that happened.

Now What? —In some ways, I am more interested in what happens next.

The people gathered expressed their anger about a variety of topics: Elon Musk’s power leading the DOGE remake of the federal government, the federal funding freeze, LGBTQ rights, and abortion access.

But most of the anger had a central focus of President Donald Trump’s actions since he has returned to the White House.

I mentioned the F-bombs. Those are always a challenge when we are covering a story for TV. The FCC would not be a fan if we included that in our story on the evening news. Commissioners wouldn’t like us to show the handmade signs with profanity either.

Fortunately, there were plenty of comments and signs that were free of profanity that we could use in our story.

My Des Moines bureau TV colleague, Conner Hendricks, had this story about the protest. Watch his story here.

Flood the Zone — With the Trump administration “flooding the zone” with what seems like an unprecedented amount of policy changes and executive orders in his first few weeks of office, it is difficult for protestors to find a theme.

They are upset about a lot. Yelling, “We are pissed about a lot of different stuff!” doesn’t quite resonate.

I also mentioned the arrests. Most of the protestors left after the rally. A small group went into the Statehouse. There was already a rally happening with Moms for Liberty.

The Arrests — Political Left meet Political Right.

There was yelling. There was heckling. There was booing. Eventually, there were three arrests of the 50501 group.

But again, what happens now? I know most people will never go to a protest. So, I don’t want to make too much of one when I cover it. But I do pay attention to them.

Who Are the Protestors? — Are those who show up just a really small vocal minority? Or do they represent additional people who can’t show up on a weekday at noon for a protest? Do they have a message that connects with people who can’t or won’t show up at a rally?

Do they represent some of the political middle that helped Trump return to office?

Will they protest again? Will they overwhelm phones, emails, and offices of members of Congress, especially those whose re-elections aren’t guaranteed?

Trump’s administration has tested the boundaries of the law, Constitution, and Congress. Voters wanted change. They are getting a lot of it. Is this the change that they had in mind?

Or are they more focused on whether their eggs, other groceries, and gas will get cheaper like candidate Trump promised?

Speaking of DOGE — On the same day that protestors showed up at the Iowa Statehouse, Governor Kim Reynolds was in D.C. She spoke before a House committee to share her government reorganization and cost-cutting efforts (DOGE before it was called DOGE).

Congressional Republicans lavished praise on the governor for what she has accomplished. Congressional Democrats used the hearing to criticize what Elon Musk is doing in D.C. and how his DOGE work is different than what Reynolds did.

Here’s the story that I did. Watch that here.

Inside Iowa Politics — For my show this week, I wanted more than just key soundbites from the hearing. I focused on three extended exchanges between Governor Reynolds and Congressional Democrats.

Watch this week’s “Inside Iowa Politics” here.

(On Monday, Governor Reynolds is scheduled to announce plans for the new Iowa DOGE Task Force. Here is what the Iowa DOGE leader, Emily Schmitt, told me about the initiative.)

Down Under — I had a first this week: I interviewed a person in Australia. Wish that it would have been in person rather than Zoom! His name is Danny Thomas, and he is part of the new International Ag Alliance.

Our conversation explains what the Alliance is about and its connection to Iowa. You can watch or listen to the interview for American Farmland Owner here.

The Little Things — When you spend an hour at a political protest or five minutes on what X/Twitter has become, you can get the sense that all we do is fight with each other.

But this week, the glove that my daughter lost at school showed up in the lost and found after a mysterious two-week absence. Does that mean that the world’s problems are solved, and peace and harmony will cover us like a warm blanket on a cold night?

No, but it does remind us there are still plenty of good people doing good things for others, like returning a third grader’s glove that got dropped somewhere during recess.

One Final Thing — Other than the return of my daughter’s glove this week, one of the most remarkable moments happened by accident at the Iowa Statehouse. I struck up a conversation with a man I met there.

We had a few things in common. We are both “Davids” who go by “Dave.” And we both live in Urbandale.

But those commonalities aren’t what made me include that in the column. The other Dave said that he used to live in Illinois. So did I, I told him.

I asked him, “Where in Illinois?”

“Belleville,” he replied.

“What?!” I responded. “So did I!”

“Where did you go to high school?” Dave asked me.

“Belleville East,” I told him.

“Me, too!” Dave laughed.

“What about grade school? Belle Valley?” Dave asked me.

“Yes!” I exclaimed.

It turns out we are three years apart in school. My mom knows his dad, I later found out.

Oh, and we apparently went to the same church, too!

So glad that we bumped into each other at the Statehouse this week. It’s a small world after all.

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About the Iowa town that took a gamble…