Iowa’s senior U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley did “u kno what.”
In this case, “what” was not scarfing down one of his beloved Dairy Queen Blizzard treats. Instead, he took a walk down the digital memory lane on Tuesday, Nov. 18, to celebrate reaching 1 million followers on the social media platform X.
The New Hartford Republican joined the platform when it was under the Twitter name in 2007, shortly after it launched in late 2006. Over those 18 years, he’s amassed a following for his often unpunctuated posts written in a uniquely Grassley shorthand.
“Representative government’s a two-way street,” Grassley said in a recorded video message. “I’m one half of that and my constituents are the other half, and you gotta know what’s on their minds, and I get a lot of what’s on their minds by reading their reactions to the things that I put on Twitter.”
As the Senate president pro tempore, Grassley is third in line to succeed the president. He said he’s glad to have the attention of 1 million people.
“I guess my next goal would be get to 2 million,” Grassley said.
So what stands out over 18 years of tweets? Here’s Grassley’s top 3.
‘Assume deer dead’
Grassley said people often tell him their favorite post is “assume deer dead.”
He wrote late on Oct. 25, 2012: “Fred and I hit a deer on hiway 136 south of Dyersville. After I pulled fender rubbing on tire we continued to farm. Assume deer dead.”
“That may sound kinda silly, but it comes from I was in an accident but they didn’t have to worry about it because I’m OK, so I typed to my staff and my family, ‘I assume deer dead,'” Grassley said.
Grassley followed up two days later with a second post: “Followers legitimately asked about condition of dear that attacked our Prius I didn’t hv a flashlight to check on critter.”
Getting ‘u kno what’ at Dairy Queen
Grassley wrote a post on Nov. 3, 2014 that has turned into a yearslong running bit about grabbing ice cream.
“Windsor Heights Dairy Queen is good place for u kno what,” he posted.
Get your mind out of the gutter.
“You folks probably know that I’m very loving of Dairy Queens, particularly Blizzards with Snickers in it. I was at the Windsor Heights Dairy Queen, and I just put on Twitter that I’m at the Dairy Queen for ‘u kno what,'” Grassley said, chuckling. “And that got quite a reaction from people.”
Dead ‘pet pidgin’
Grassley’s dead animal problems continued to plague him in 2020.
He wrote on Sept. 19, 2020: “If u lost ur pet pidgin /it’s dead in front yard my Iowa farm JUST DISCOVERED here r identifiers Right leg Blue 2020/3089/AU2020/SHE ///LEFT LEG GREEN BAND NO PRINTED INFO. Sorry for bad news.”
Grassley explained that he found a dead pigeon in the yard on his farm in New Hartford.
“It had a number on its leg, and I put that on Twitter just so somebody that this pigeon belonged to would know that it wouldn’t come home,” Grassley said.
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Des Moines Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: See Sen. Chuck Grassley’s most eyebrow-raising tweets as he celebrates 1M followers on X
Reporting by Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
