Longtime Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who is running for reelection against Democrat Mike Franken in November, told Breitbart News Saturday his Democrat challenger is a radical who would rubber-stamp President Joe Biden’s far-left agenda.
Franken shocked political observers in the primary when he beat former Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-IA) for the U.S. Senate nomination. Since then, the Democrat’s record has been under scrutiny.
Franken has used social media to say that “the wall is idiotic,” and has also promoted the “kids in cages” false attack against then-President Donald Trump.
In return, Grassley noted that walls on the Southern Border work, and said the United States should be a sovereign nation. Franken wants open borders, Grassley added. “He doesn’t worry about the fentanyl coming into the country, killing 70,000 people last year out of 104,000 that were killed by drug overdose,” he added.
Mike Franken, Democrat running for U.S. Senate against Sen. Chuck Grassley in Iowa, speaks with Roll Call reporters in Washington on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“If you get down there and stand by that wall, you know it’s going to work,” Grassley explained. “There must be some concern in this administration about not having a wall, because even this president that stopped building the wall the first day he was in office now says down somewhere around Yuma, Arizona, that he’s going to build some more of the wall.”
Grassley said Franken is “really far out” because calling the wall “idiotic” was not the only “extreme” thing he has said. Franken has said he wants to make Iowa more progressive than California, and said Biden is doing a “fabulous job” during a debate.
Given all of the radical stances Franken has put forth, Grassley said, “If he would take my place in the United States Senate, he’d be a rubber stamp for Biden, and the people don’t want more Biden.”
Grassley added that Franken “would have” voted for the “Inflation Reduction” Act and would have violated the “two very good rules of economics,” which are not raising taxes in a recession and “don’t spend more money to feed the fires of inflation.”
However, touting his long time in the Senate, Grassley told Breitbart News Saturday, “I hope that I’ve demonstrated over the years I’ve been in the Senate that I work hard for the American people. I want to help get back the majority.”
“If we get back the majority, I’ll be Chairman of the Judiciary Committee,” he explained. “I’ll be president pro tem of the United States Senate. I’ll have seniority that will work to benefit the people of Iowa. And I’m going to help solve the problems that people brought up at my 99 County meetings that are held every year, [such as] inflation, the highest it’s been in 40 years, cost of gasoline and the open borders, and even the increase in crime in this country.”
Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.