DES MOINES, Iowa—A popular slogan for T-shirts and bumper stickers here in Iowa’s capital is “Des Moines: Hell Yes.”
The gag, which is now very mainstream, is about Des Moinesians owning the negative views of their city as boring. In fact, another popular T-shirt from the same maker invites you to “Let us exceed your already low expectations.” The message is that we get it, okay, but we’re going to keep on keeping on.
Chris Stirewalt is a contributing writer for The Dispatch, the politics editor for The Hill and NewsNation, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, co-host of the Ink Stained Wretches podcast, and author of Broken News, a book on media and politics.
