President an f, talking about almostdisaster and then a new scandal every day coming out of the white house and then republicans if they talk about him at all are still reflexively defending almost anything the president does. Host what do you think about what grade would you give democrats in congress . Guest its difficult when the democrats dont have any power to do anything. Inare in a similar situation iowa, where republicans have control over both chambers of the legislature. All the Minority Party can do is try to call attention to some of the problems or document the atrocities and i think the democrats i was pleased to see that nobody went along with the disastrous Health Care Bill to i think democrats need avoid being coopted and right now i dont see any chance the democrats are going to go along with any of the trump proposals on taxes or health care or anything major. Host do you think democrats are focusing enough, too much, not enough on the Russian Investigation . We were talking already artist , a liberalampshire saying democrats have to stop focusing so much on that and the need to talk about the economy like President Trump does. Guest i think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. I think health care is a huge issue for people and democrats do need to focus on domestic issues. I think pulling out of this climate agreement, democrats should be talking about how disastrous that is for our potential to be a world leader in solar power and wind power and how many jobs in iowa, we have a lot of jobs in the wind industry and potential for solar. I think democrats could be putting an issue like that in that economic context of how the Trump Administration actions are working against our own economic interest. Aboutear people talking the Russian Investigation, at least the politically engaged people i think it would be a mistake. This is really unprecedented who we have a president invited senior russian officials into the oval office and disclosed secrets to them and is giving them their compounds back secretly as weve just learned yesterday. Was secretly trying to work on dropping sanctions and with at least 18 or 20 undisclosed meetings between Trump Associates and russian officials during the campaign and we still dont even know what financial or hisions the president enterprises have with russian entities. I think he would be a mistake for democrats not to be talking about that. Has your opinion changed of this president and republicans and democrats over the last five months . Caller my guest my opinion of the president hasnt changed. Temperamentally, he is very unsuited for the office. Very little grasp of policy issues and is very difficult to breathe. He doesnt retain information and is not interested in details. I have been disappointed and republicans, but i see republicans in congress, including our own senators from iowa joni ernst and chuck ssley, the Three Islands republicans who represent iowa in the house, ive been disappointed to see them either say nothing or continue covering for the president when so many of these outrageous scandals keep coming out. And the conflict of interest, gottent that he hasnt rid of some of the businesses she is still profiting off the presidency. His sons are profiting off of his presidency. Ive been disappointed to see senator chuck grassley, who likes to style himself as of a watchdog and yet i dont see him doing a lot of watchdog and on the Trump Administration. And when the president fired the fbi director, are senator, the chair of the Senate Judiciary peopleee just said should suck it up and move on. Thats the president s power and now we find out that trump was concerned about the Russian Investigation and what was happening at the fbi and he told russian officials that he was going to be a little breathe easier because he dumped the fbi director. It would be farfetched if it were in a movie i would think that would be beyond the point of believability, and yet we see republicans in congress either say nothing or normalizing this kind of behavior. Laura belin, who should the democrats rally around . Isst i dont think there one person to rally around and i dont think there needs to be. I think we can have a strong voice on different issues that are not in a hurry to have a front runner for the next president ial campaign, in iowa we have a lot of democrats who are stepping up to run for governor and im not in a hurry to jump on any bandwagon. I think its a good thing to have a a lot of democrats i dont think we need to have our party connected in the public mind with one face. Laura belin, author and editor of the progressive blog bleeding heartland. You can find it on bleeding heartland. Com. Thanks for your time. Guest thanks for having me. Host what grade are you giving congress on the presence . The president . Do you