Jason Benell lives in Des Moines with his wife and two children. He is a combat veteran, former city council candidate, and president of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers.

The results of the 2024 elections are in and the dust is settling—quite a bit faster than we expected it to—and we as citizens have a lot to consider about what it means to be in the United States of America.

This must be a reckoning of what we are dealing with as a purported democratic people that enjoy equal protections under the law and unprecedented personal liberties. This must be a reckoning of what and who we are as a people.

I have been often critical of Republican voters in the past, specifically when I laid many of our issues in the state of Iowa at the feet of rural voters who seem indifferent or even malicious in their treatment of the environment and disdain for urban areas. I have received quite a bit of push back and solemn head-shaking when comparing modern Republican policy and rhetoric to fascist overtones of the last century. I’ve written about the creeping Christian Nationalism in both Iowa and the federal level and had disinterested yawns in response to what is to others an imagined threat that secular groups are irrationally worried about.

So often the message is that if only we pumped the brakes and just were a smidge bit nicer, a smidge bit more conciliatory, we’d reach these voters.

Let us reflect on what this large victory for Trump and Republicans across Iowa means for us as a people, both as Iowans and as Americans. 

They saw a candidate who stood by as rioters called for hanging his vice president, who threatened the seat of U.S. power, and incited a violent attempt to overturn an election. They determined all of those things were acceptable if Trump could reclaim power against a peaceful democratic election process.

Iowans voted for this, and found his alleged crimes unworthy of prosecution or even investigation.

They saw a candidate who said he would turn the military against his political opponents, a hallmark of fascist and authoritarian behavior.

Iowans heard this and voted in even larger numbers for it.

They saw a candidate who wanted to use federal troops to go into states and “round up” undocumented immigrants—many of whom are the very reason these voters have such comfortable lifestyles today.

Iowans heard this and seemingly can’t wait for federal troops to go door to door and split up families, so long as it’s the “right ones.”

They saw a candidate who promised faith-based law that sees women as property and a rollback of civil rights protections as far back as 1965.

Iowans applauded this and wrote more checks than ever to ensure women are not equal to men and that the pesky First Amendment can finally be laid to rest if it means the state funds their churches and keeps women from having autonomy.

At every turn the prevailing culture in our media ecosystem, particularly in the Midwest, declares that rural, white, and Christian folks are well meaning, salt of the earth people, who would give you the shirt off their backs. According to this narrative, they are unfortunately bamboozled by a flashy showman. If they just stopped for a moment, they would realize their error and renounce regressive (and unpopular!) Republican policies, and would push us towards a saner and more reasoned path. 

If only an alternative message could reach their ears, if we just recite the right words, they will step back from the sexist, racist, xenophobic, patriarchal, fearful, inconsistent, zealous and jingoistic party with an unstable criminal as its figure head and return us to the more palatable conservatism of yesteryear.

We must recognize that this narrative is false, and has probably always been false for a significant portion of the electorate. We may not like it, and we may think it’s a terrible thing to say, but the evidence very much supports my position—with the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections as massive outliers. No longer can Iowans hang our hats on two elections that went slightly away from regressive policies over a decade ago.

These voters are not bamboozled or swept up in the frenzy of a media blitz. They are not ignorant of the differences between the candidates and the parties up and down the ballot. They see things that will hurt the “right people” and want them done, even if that means setting aside equal protections under the law.

This is not just about a cult of personality. The majority of these voters would rather poison their own water, close their own schools, hollow out small towns, and enshrine their narrow biblical views into the law if their vote hurts people they don’t like and secures economic benefits for themselves.

A big portion of the American electorate are motivated by a deep rot of fear, selfishness, racism, sexism, and xenophobia. They care more about perceived grievance and fear and distrust of minorities than they do about building something great or living up to any ideals. For many, even a simple hand shake with their neighbors to see whether they really are coming to eat their cats or if they “hate America” is a bridge too far for them.

We must be honest about what has happened in 2024, both in Iowa and nationally. 

Not nail biting about this strategy or that poll or some new form of messaging. The overwhelming loser of this election is not the Kamala Harris campaign or Democrats—it is primarily women. Half of U.S. citizens will continue to see their rights rolled back, their status always questioned, and a serial abuser at the top of the ticket—with his followers representing them in Congress and state legislatures.

Iowa has legislators who voted to abolish public schools and to force rape victims to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, and then campaigned on nothing more than attacking the LGTBQ community and immigrants. And Iowans didn’t care to research or understand the issues. They cared more about distrust of trans people and immigrants.

And Republicans won.

These assaults on civil and legal rights are not amorphous, inevitable things that happen because someone was asleep at the wheel. They were drawn up, planned out, and the electorate voted for them. On purpose.

Maybe we should start speaking of them like they did, and not shy away from what the electorate has revealed itself to be. We can’t keep lying to ourselves about it. At times like this, we often repeat, “This isn’t who we are,” or “Iowa isn’t like that.” But if you are still reading, you know the results are in over the last decade and a half: Yes. We. Are.

What are we going to do about it?

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Top image: Rioters including someone carrying an Iowa flag outside the U.S. Capitol on January 6. From a screenshot of CNN’s coverage of the events.