Editorial: Spooky stuff

State Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, was about the last person we expected to see speaking at the Donald Trump rally last Sunday in Sioux City. Somebody put up a Trump acolyte to take out Evans in a GOP primary, after all. He is a reasonable man, a former school superintendent, on stage citing a story from Newsweek quoting anonymous sources that the FBI is spying on Trump supporters.

It demonstrates how tight Trump’s grip is on the Republican Party at the grassroots.

Evans is old enough to remember FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who spied on just about everybody. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that goons are gooning. In fact, the Justice Department launched investigations on hundreds of Trump supporters who heeded his call to storm the Capitol. It also filed criminal charges against the former president and his associates, many of whom have already pled guilty for their crimes against the Republic. So, yes, the FBI has conducted investigations of merit on some Trump supporters.

Hundreds more people who stormed the capitol have not been investigated or charged despite their support for Trump’s attempt to overthrow the democratic process.

Evans was not among them. We doubt that he will end up in the gulag. He is free to claim that the government is out to get you, and that it is spying on you for your political beliefs. It has happened. It also is true that Trump remains a free man running for president with the open endorsement of most Republicans in Northwest Iowa. He faces 91 criminal counts in federal and state courts. We all heard his phone call with the Georgia Secretary of State demanding that local election officials come up with 11,000 votes to put Trump over the top.

Evans represents a very conservative district with deep fondness for Trump. It must have been a kick to deliver that applause line to 2,000 people feeding on red meat. He will not face a primary challenge for sure now. The citizens of Buena Vista County can only hope he got something for it — better funding for rural schools, or some help on these road projects, or a helping hand fixing our water needs. Because, the FBI spying on you is nothing compared to the fleecing we’re already taking with Republicans running Iowa into the ditch with all this silly talk.