shock whenwere in donald trump was declared the winner of the 2016 election. ouround democrats and democratic party in pieces. we had a bruising family part -- family fight in this party. our organizers and volunteers were disillusioned. 99iowa alone, half of our county chairs turned over that year. any counties, including our own county party here in polk, were basically bankrupt. all we could do was band together. when trump proposed his muslim ban, we rallied at the airport. when trump had his bizarre inaugural, the women of america marched in response. our meeting swelled. it is still 125 people at least. taught us the hard lesson that elections and voting are just as important as we democrats always said they were. without donald trump, it could have been years before we saw women, people of color, and young people standing up for the leadership positions and the party they deserve. in 2018, in polk county alone, half of our nominees for office were women for the first time ever. without donald trump, we would not have 17 of the brightest democrats in the