Joni Ernst and the Ongoing Devolution of the GOP
One for the pantheon of utterly terrible public non-apology "apologies."
The ways in which politicians are shaped by their environment (i.e., their party, party leadership, specific pressures to win reelection) are often subtle, but sometimes they are stark. I think that Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) has demonstrated that, despite at one point looking like maybe one of the more reasonable members of the Senate’s GOP caucus, she has given in to the Trumpist side. I would note that back in December, she first appeared to be a possible vote to block Pete Hegseth from becoming SecDef, but then a Musk-funded media campaign that threatened a possible primary challenge got her in line real quick.
Clearly, a lot of members of the GOP either have feet of clay or are, are deeply cynical and only care about power, and/or deep in their hearts, are ok with the Trump agenda.
Ernst’s behavior this weekend certainly highlights a weird willingness to behave in a gross, Trumpian manner. It is noteworthy that this is the kind of thing that used to ruin a career.
So here’s the context. Ernst was holding a town hall, and the topic of Medicaid cuts came up, as reported by the AP: Ernst draws groans at Iowa town hall after retort on Medicaid cuts, saying ‘we all are going to die’.
Facing several constituents concerned about cuts to Medicaid, she defended the $700 billion in reduced spending, saying it would keep immigrants in the U.S. illegally and those who have access to insurance through their employers off the rolls.
Then someone in the crowd yelled that people will die without coverage.
“People are not … well, we all are going to die,” Ernst said, drawing groans. “So, for heaven’s sakes. For heaven’s sakes, folks.”
Here’s the video:
Her hometown paper reported it thusly:
In the pre-Trump era, I would have expected her to have tried to at least smooth over the concern and not get all nihilistic about it.
Yes, Senator Ernst, we are all going to die, but that does not justify hastening the death of the poor because you took away their health care.
After all, what’s a few more dead poors if the top 1% gets a tax break?
Also, in normal times, I would have expected at least some fake contrition after the bad press had rolled in.
Instead, we got this yesterday.
I will admit that when I first saw this yesterday that I thought it was AI. The doubling down on it all is truly breathtaking. And she really does appear to be in a cemetery. It is bonkers.
It is also the direct opposite of an apology, and it is nihilistic in ways that I find remarkable coming from a politician.
Granted, she has won election and re-election pretty comfortably, and Iowa trended heavily Trump in 2024, so her calculation is probably to fend off any primary challenger from her right flank and cruise to reelection next year.
That may be a sound strategy, but it is a soulless one.
Since she invoked her religion, two things come to mind.
The first is the time that the masses came to hear Jesus preach and they became hungry and Jesus told his disciples, “Screw ’em! They should have worked harder and planned better! We all get hungry!” (That’s not how the story goes).
The second one is “For what shall it profit a woman, if she shall gain a Senate seat, and lose her own soul?” (Or something like that).
BTW, did you know that Joe Biden was old?
The tooth fairy?????
She just has a small-town crazy vibe. That’s all. She’s the type of person who launches an insane protest campaign against the local school board because no one likes her kids. People like this are everywhere, regardless of ideology. There are plenty of crazy liberals who sound like this when they get in arguments about food co-ops.
The GOP used to filter out local small-time nuts, in the same way that Democrats filtered out local nuts. Both parties drew on stable upper middle class people. The Democrats still do. Having a filter for empathy and getting along is what stability is all about. But the Republicans turned into the party of Babbitt and scams, and they have no filter.
When the Tea Party started, I read this piece about a couple in Georgia who headed a chapter. The story had the usual ups and downs of life. And then it just veered into strange territory. They ended up creating a fake Facebook profile for a teenager which they used to harass a rival of their daughter’s in cheerleading or whatever. It was presented in the same way that one would mention being laid-off. That was Trump’s GOP in 2010 right there waiting for him.
If there’s a heaven and the whole point of living is to get there, then it makes sense to end your life once you’re ahead. When people die, therefore, we should be happy for them. They didn’t die, they won.
Feeling sad at someone’s passing would mean we know them to be an awful person, who’s headed for eternal torture at the hands of a sadistic deity.
@Modulo Myself: While I take your general point, I think you are minimizing, perhaps unintentionally, the significance of the fact a) she is a sitting US Senator and, more importantly, b) she clearly sees this behavior as politically smart vis-a-vis her reelection.
I searched for “How do members of the United States Congress get health insurance?”
Many of the items that appeared were old so I didn’t look at them.
This information:
is from Indeed Career Guide that looks like a job search site.
If anyone can come up with more accurate information I welcome it.
Apparently United States taxpayers are covering 72% of the cost of Senator Ernst’s health coverage.
If this is information is accurate I suggest that citizens petition Congress to end this subsidy or extend same to all Americans.
(I’m taking today off from reality.)
*United States Senators are members of the United States Congress!
@Mister Bluster: My big idea (and it will never happen) is to require each Senator and Representative to publish the impact of legislation on their personal finances and annual tax return.
Your pro-life party in action.
“Iowans, please welcome your state Death Panel representative, Senator Joni Ernst.”
_____
In a related matter; Iowa’s other senator, Chuck Grassley (and president pro tempore of the United States Senate since 2025) is 91 years old
@Steven L. Taylor:
I, for one, appreciate Ernst’s transparency. The sentiment above (from your OP), isn’t new for the GOP. It’s just that pre-Trump it was smoothed over or communicated through dog whistles.
This post belongs in your In Front of Our Noses series, if you ask me. Trumpism, best understood, is the shameless fronting of an Us vs Them that’s always been there in US politics. Now it is a party wide affliction of the GOP and seeing/hearing this thinking communicated so unequivocally from Republicans gives us the opportunity to recognize that a plurality of our fellow voters is so depraved that they elected (and continue to support) the whole lot of these Republicans into power with open eyes.
@Modulo Myself: Somewhere, an HOA is just a tiny bit saner without her on the board.
Not a great tradeoff.
The video frame capture at the top, with the eyes obscured in shadow, kind of looks like a realistic death mask.
“For that you traded your everlasting soul?”
“Well, I wasn’t usin’ it.”
The issue is that the GOP has achieved power by pointing at a hundred things and yelling “squirrel.”
The reality of the GOP – Trump, Ernst, RW trolls reading this forum – is that they only implement their power to break things and create problems for people actually trying to form an IPT and get stuff done in a company, in a country, between countries.
This is easy because the onus is always on others [Dr. Taylor, the Democrats, etc] to clean up the mess they create.
That’s how Trump runs his businesses.
What they’ve never been able to do is deal with a real problem.
Trump’s response to COVID was bonkers-level incompetence; Trump’s tariff negotiations are exactly this because he expects the other countries to come to the table with everything solved. When the other country says “What? What’s your ask?” they have no counter because Actual Negotiation isn’t something they ever considered doing. Rather than bringing factories to the US, Trump will cause factories to leave the US due to the lack of stability – and competence.
This is also Trump’s “negotiation” strategy in Ukraine and Israel where he has opinions and feelings but no strategy and sends unbriefed inexperienced trolls to do the day-to-day discussions.
I have great faith in the youths being alright — the takedown of JordanPeterson in that recent Jubilee video was both fun and insightful to the current situation. There never was any substance to the moralizing BS which is the entirety of RW “thought”. For any conservative / Republican / Christian, if you have anything other than complete deference to their position, there’s zip they have to convince you on any policy.
Ultimately, the reason for Trump’s 2am TruthSocial manic posting is that the only thing he’s got to inspire someone to agree with him is whining.
Ernst won in 2020 with 51.7% of the vote, that is not a mandate or a comfortable margin in a red state. She could be beat. A White, male, Christian who could actually sell himself as a Christian, and could stick to economic issues, might.
@Michael Reynolds: I would hasten to add that she won in 2020 by 6.4 points, which is a healthy margin. I am not saying that she is unbeatable, but she did comfortably win in 2014 and 202o and Trump did well in 2024 in the state.
Her main fear is the primary, not the general. And it seems highly unlikely she would be challenged by a more moderate R in that contest who could beat her.
I would like to think that an appropriate D could be conjured to take her down in the general, but I am not going to hold my breath.
Hey, Joni. You first.
@Steven L. Taylor:
This …
Earlier this year she pulled a ‘Susan Collins,’ expressed strong concern over the nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense. As expected she did a full ‘Susan Collins,’ caved in, and voted to confirm.
Anyone remember Michelle Bachmann? Similar vibes.
How a woman who claims she was raped voted for a rapist for DOD boggles the mind. Enough said.