Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst has offered what she calls a “sincere apology” for comments she made to an agitated audience of constituents at a town hall meeting on Friday.
Amidst a chorus of heckles from voters questioning the effects Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” will have on Medicaid and food assistance cuts, one attendee could be heard shouting their fears that people would die as a result.
Ernst dismissed the concern with an exasperated grin: “Well, we’re all going to die, so—for heaven’s sakes, folks.”
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The bizarre refutation rapidly went viral, drawing criticism from Democrats including Ken Martin, who accused Ernst of “saying the quiet part out loud” and Republicans in general of not caring if “their own constituents live or die as long as the richest few get richer.”
“I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize for a statement I made yesterday at my town hall,” Ernst said in a follow-up video posted to her Instagram Stories on Saturday, where she is walking through a graveyard.
The “sincere” apology was followed by the description of her questioning constituent as an “extremely distraught,” screaming woman who Ernst presumed was living under the delusion that, regardless of the health and welfare policies they are subjected to, humans do not perish.
“I’m really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the Tooth Fairy as well,” Ernst jabbed, purposely missing the point.
Fortunately, she has a solution for such mortal angst, which she offered to her viewers: “Those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my lord and savior, Jesus Christ”.
Jesus Christ indeed.
A spokesperson for Ernst told The Daily Beast: “While Democrats fearmonger against strengthening the integrity of Medicaid, Senator Ernst is focused on improving the lives of all Iowans. There’s only two certainties in life: death and taxes, and she’s working to ease the burden of both by fighting to keep more of Iowans’ hard-earned tax dollars in their own pockets and ensuring their benefits are protected from waste, fraud, and abuse.”
