“What’s happened to Chuck Grassley?”

I asked that question last week when I saw my friend K.C. in front of the PEO headquarters at 37th and Grand. He was deep in thought, contemplating the landscaping makeover the group plans for its 150th anniversary in 2019.

When he looked up he said: “Do you mean why has the senator who defends whistleblowers turned on the biggest whistleblower since Deep Throat?”

“That’s part of it,” I said. 

I added that it seemed out of character for Grassley to use his power as head of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to ask the FBI to investigate Christopher Steele, the former British secret service officer who blew the whistle on connections between Donald Trump and the Russians. 

“The FBI already knows more about Steele than the Judiciary Committee,” I said. “Why does Grassley want to stick his nose into that?” 

“I have to admit,” K.C. said, “it’s amusing to watch Grassley defend a president with lower approval ratings than Dick Cheney. 

“The bottom line is that it’s just politics,” he said. “I’d be more surprised if Grassley hadn’t jumped to defend Trump.” 

But, I said, Grassley is the guy who went after Ronald Reagan’s Defense Department in the 1980s. “He took a lot of heat when he accused the Pentagon of buying $435 claw hammers and $600 toilet seats,” I said.

“Don’t forget the Air Force’s $7,622 coffee pot or the $1,496 duckbill pliers,” K.C. replied.

“Grassley stood up to one of our most popular presidents, the head of his own party,” I said. “Now, he’s protecting an unpopular president and going after the guy who tipped off the FBI. 

“Even my cat believes the Russians have something on Trump,” I said. “Why else would Trump bend over backward defending and praising the leader of a country that tried to mess with our election?”

“Probably because he owes the Russians a lot of money for financing his businesses when no one else would,” K.C. said. 

“Trump’s ties with the Russians have little to do with the election,” he said. “That’s why he keeps saying there was no collusion. It’s all about the money, not politics.

“The Russians were the only ones who would loan him money when he got out of bankruptcy after the 2008 recession. And he probably still owes them a ton of money. 

“I’m guessing that whatever the Russians did to affect the election — and it’s starting to look like they did quite a bit — it was done to protect their financial interest in Trump, not to help him win the election,” K.C. said. “Nobody here thought he could win. Why would the Russians be different?”

“But why does Grassley defend Trump and try to block the investigation?” I asked.

“You’re overthinking this,” K.C. said. “Remember, Grassley is the guy who said in 1958 when he first ran for the Iowa House of Representatives that his career goal was to be lieutenant governor. 

“Grassley is the Forrest Gump of Iowa politics,” he continued. “He’s a lot like H.R. Gross, the guy he replaced in the U.S. House in 1975. He’s an outsider. Always has been. He votes against almost everything and manages to make it work for him. 

“If he’s defending Trump now, I’m guessing it’s for a deeper reason, something we don’t see. Maybe Grassley is afraid that Trump will do something that could really hurt Iowa.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Like kill NAFTA or get rid of the government mandate for ethanol,” K.C. said. 

“He’s threatened to do both. And if he does either, it won’t be pretty for the Iowa economy,” K.C. said as he headed west on Grand.