Chuck Grassley’s Odd Twitter

Iowa.

Home to many things such as the world’s largest truck stop, cornfields, (or bean fields, depending on the season), and the first caucus every election cycle.

Another thing that Iowa is home to is Senator Chuck Grassley.

Being a legislator for Iowa over the last 50 years in one capacity or another, it’s apparent that Sen. Grassley has a history with not only Iowa but with politics as well. He’s served in the Iowa House of Representatives, The United States House of Representatives, and the United States Senate.

Since Sen. Grassley was first elected to the Iowa House, American politics were much different than they are today. Sen. Grassley has been a part of every major event that has shaped modern America since he was first elected in 1959 from the immersion of televised presidential debates in 1960 to the use of political ads to the more modern-day example of social media and its ties to politics.

Twitter is a prominent example of how politics and social media have blended and made politics more engaging for people just by having access to the internet. When this direct link to representatives in our democracy was established, it provided a more community-based approach to how elected officials are able to campaign and engage with their supporters.

Shortly after Twitter was first released in July 2006, Sen. Grassley joined in November 2007. Twitter looks much different today than it did back then, but Sen. Grassley still uses Twitter as any other 87-year-old-man would. He shares every part of his life, no matter how big or small, that emulates the early days of the internet.

Taylor Foy is the communications director for Sen. Grassley and sees his social media habits up close.

“Sen. Grassley was an early adopter of Twitter, and while many lawmakers’ accounts are managed by their communications team, Sen. Grassley has always maintained his own Twitter account,” Foy said.

Politics and Twitter have intertwined like a fine wine and 8 oz. cut of filet mignon and Sen. Grassley is no stranger to this pairing. Since he first joined Twitter, he has tweeted a total of 9,692 times to date. The subjects of his tweets range from updates on his 99 country meetings, alerting his followers about a dead “pidgin” in his yard, and discrediting the History Channel for their false advertisement since they only show Pawn Stars and Counting Cars.

However, the trope that spans across a majority of his tweets is his profound use of shorthands. These shorthands reflect an image of a time when the internet was still young and the threat of a global pandemic was not on everyone’s mind.

“His unique Twitter shorthand has become a bit of a trademark, with many followers and media finding it more charming or entertaining than anything else,” Foy said.

Dr. Robert Leonard is the special news editor for KNIA/KRLS Radio in Marion County and has written pieces for The New York Times, TIME, and USA Today among other publications across the country. Sen. Grassley and Leonard have met over 200 times during his time in Iowa and he understands the simplicity

Leonard sees the simplicity of Sen. Grassley’s personal Twitter page and recognizes the effectiveness of his simple messaging.

Twitter is full of politicians using the platform to send jabs back and forth and can be seen as widely unprofessional. This is where Grassley stands out in politics because he “tweets like early Twitter and he is not using it as political weaponry, ” Leonard said.

Many politicians such as Ted Cruz and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez have used their Twitter accounts to spout off about certain issues to elicit an exaggerated response from the public rather than actually participating in the congressional sessions to work towards change one way or the other. While some of the exchanges that happen on Twitter have transcended into the physical world, a lot of the back and forth on Twitter stays there and never addresses where those opinions can make a difference in the lives of their constituents.

Twitter is being used by politicians and public figures alike so that they are more able to have a strong sense of community with their bases. The simplicity of Grassley’s tweets and his genuine small-town Iowa vibes is what makes him so successful in current-day elections and amass a following of over 600,000 people on Twitter. Without his personal Twitter account, he would not have the support that is needed for higher-up elected officials in today’s political world.

Without his adaptation to Twitter, who’s to say where Grassley may have ended up in the political sphere. Maybe, he would still be the longest-serving Iowa senator, or maybe, he would have lost his seat in the 15 years since Twitter was founded. Nevertheless, Grassley’s success in politics is a true testament to his down-to-earth, Iowan character that has given him the edge over his opponents over the last 50 years.