Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) on Saturday emphatically proved that she is a terrible human being. But at least those who lose health insurance because of GOP lawmakers like her can take solace in the fact that, like all humans, she will one day perish from this earth.
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It is pretty rare that we write about the same NPC Republican (i.e., a non-entity whose sole purpose in Congress is to consistently vote for the MAGA agenda) twice in 24 hours, but Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) earned the privilege on Saturday with comments that not only show that she is a heartless human being but also exemplifies a trait Donald Trump has instilled in the GOP: Don’t back down; double down!
During a town hall on Friday, Ernst committed a bit of a gaffe when a constituent voiced the concern that the GOP’s plan to kick millions of Americans off Medicaid and to slash their food benefits would kill some of them.
Obviously, it’s understandable that people are worried about losing their health insurance and access to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). While the “savings” being realized that way may just be numbers to Republican lawmakers, being on Medicaid truly can be the difference between life and death for many Americans.
Therefore, Ernst’s callous reply was a bit shocking.
“Well, we are all going to die,” she told her constituent, which is probably not the kind of thing you want to say out loud.
Of course, speaking off the cuff isn’t easy, and, even though we had a bit of fun with Ernst as a result, we also realize that nobody is perfect and even experienced public speakers express themselves in an unartful way from time to time.
Therefore, we would not have been surprised if the senator had come out with a pseudo-apology, perhaps something along the lines of, “I did not mean to make light of a voter’s concern about Medicaid. However, with the changes Republicans propose to the program in the Big Beautiful Bill, we believe that we are going to provide better care for those who need it the most.”
While that’s nonsense, it sounds nice, and that’s what politics is all about.
Ernst decided to take a different route.
Instead of assuring her voters, and the millions of other Americans who will lose their Medicaid coverage, that their concerns are important to Republicans like her, she released a fake apology video in which she essentially told poor people that they don’t need to worry about GOP policies killing them prematurely as long as they believe in Jesus.
“I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize for a statement that I made yesterday at my town hall. See, I was in the process of answering a question that had been asked by an audience member, when a woman who was extremely distraught screamed out from the back corner of the auditorium, ‘People are going to die,” she said. “And I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this earth. So, I apologize, and I’m really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy as well.”
While this may all be a joke to Ernst, it’s not a laughing matter to the millions who are worried about losing their health insurance.
If we were to follow her line of reasoning, then there is no need for the government to provide any kind of insurance to anybody, including US senators. In fact, national defense would also be unnecessary because, who cares if the US gets attacked? After all, we’re all going to die.
To be fair, the senator also offered a solution to the Americans who won’t be able to see a doctor anymore once Trump’s signature legislation passes the Senate (with her vote) and is signed into law.
“For those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my lord and savior, Jesus Christ,” Ernst concluded.
It is unclear whether her lord and savior would be proud of her for dismissing the concerns of the poor, or if he would think that maybe she sounded like something that rhymes with a word from Deuteronomy 28:27.
Joni Ernst, who is up for re-election in 2026, won her previous race by 110,000 votes.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
