Grassley on Trump and humility

Only minutes into a town hall in Carroll Saturday morning, U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, interrupted a compliment on his longevity and consistency of service from Dr. Allen “Duke” Anneberg.

“You’re a medical doctor, and I’m supposed to be in a home,” joked Grassley, 81. Later on, Grassley delighted the 40-member audience (Grassley knew many of the attendees by first name) with his talk of working as a younger man in a factory — the Waterloo Register. And that’s not a newspaper, said Grassley, who added his job was to put screw holes in furnace registers for 10 years.

It’s all trademark Grassley, a just-folks Iowan who happens to be chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee (with no law degree, thank you). Grassley travels to town halls with one staff member, and takes his own notes on legal pads, often pausing between questions to jot down constituent comments.

We all know about “Iowa Nice,” but there’s “Iowa Humble,” and the latter, as much as the former, is personified by one Chuck Grassley. Challenging Grassley on style or motivation or service — hitting him anywhere outside a pure policy dispute — is to challenge Iowans’ conception of humility itself. Ask Bruce Braley, one of Colorado’s newest residents.

So it’s interesting, knowing Grassley’s staying power, and what’s behind it, to watch Donald Trump surge in public popularity, to go to No. 1 nationally in some Republican presidential polling and trail only Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in key Iowa Caucuses surveys of likely GOP voters.

So I asked Grassley about this following his town hall at the Carroll County courthouse.

Does Donald Trump have the humility to connect in a long-term, meaningful way with Iowans?

“I’ve had private meetings with Donald Trump, and I think the answer to that is ‘yes,’ ” Grassley said.

So Grassley thinks Donald Trump has humility?

“Yeah, in private discussions that has come out,” Grassley said.

Grassley would not elaborate on the substance of those conversations with Trump.

“Well. I don’t want to tell. A private discussion is a private discussion,” Grassley said.

Fair enough. But not many people, if anyone, has ever used the term humility within shouting distance of Donald Trump, I responded.

“Well, there are degrees of humility, and he might have a lesser degree of it than other people,” Grassley said, chuckling. “But I think he knows he’s had to work hard for what he has. If you know you’ve had to work hard for what you have, me, a little farm, or him, being a nine, 10 billionaire, you still have to work for it.”

Should we be taking Donald Trump seriously as Iowans, and as media members, as a potential commander in chief?

“I can’t speak for journalists,” Grassley said. “But for a guy like me that invites everybody to participate in the caucuses, it would be intellectually dishonest for me to say that he shouldn’t be taken seriously.”

Does Grassley think Trump has a realistic shot of winning the Iowa Caucuses?

“I won’t be able to tell you that until December,” Grassley said. “For anybody. Not just him.”