Joni Ernst "apologizes " for her comments about everyone dying

[senseandsensibility]

I find her apology insincere and offensive. I won't link to it because it is insulting. She says that she thought that everyone understood that we are all going to perish from this earth, and that she is really glad that she doesn't have to explain the tooth fairy as well. Sarcastic tone and she is walking through a graveyard.

[Quiet Em]

1. It was not sincere.

She is just doubling down on it. She's awful.

[senseandsensibility]

8. The comments on bluesky are brutal

Some think she is posting this for the "very online" base, but doesn't she realize that everyone can see it?

[Quiet Em]

12. maybe.

It could also be that the MAGA bubble she lives in made her more comfortable being cruel and mean.

She's going to face a lot of heat for this and she deserves the heat.

[Ars Longa]

48. I think she meant: Just Poor and Middle class People, not

our billionaires--of course!

[Dorian Gray]

54. Trash bag making it easier for her constituents to throw out the trash in the next election.

offensive piece of shit

[Johonny]

2. Until voters in these states make these "safe" politicians pay for treating them like crap

they will continue to treat them like crap

[struggle4progress]

3. "Sorry! What I meant to say is: YOU"RE all going to die"

[GopherGal]

6. ... "YOU'RE all going to die!" and

"I won't twitch even one little pinky finger to help you delay your death or your loved one's death by a single day."

Unspoken: because the Malodorous Mango doesn't want me to.

[calimary]

42. Ooooooh! Malodorous Mango! Now THERE'S a SWEET nickname!

Well done! (AND well DESERVED!).

[CurtEastPoint]

4. That .... even managed to invoke Jeebus. That shit pisses him off.

“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,” Ernst said Saturday.

“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,” she continued.

The Iowa lawmaker then encouraged viewers who want to see “eternal and everlasting life” to “embrace” Jesus Christ.

[hatrack]

7. Sorry about the electrical fire in your head, you lying, skeevy grifter . . .

Now, fuck all the way off.

[hildegaard28]

28. She wants

To lecture people about the tooth fairy while she unironically believes in the sky fairy.

[Clouds Passing]

5. Skank

[TheBlackAdder]

9. This is the one bragged about de-balling animals, right?

[senseandsensibility]

11. No that was Noem

So many nutcases, so little time.

[TheBlackAdder]

16. Castrating pigs on her farm. She used it in her ads.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/03/jon-ernst-campaign-ad-gop-senate-candidate-uses-pig-castration-experience-as-part-of-her-pitch.html

Joni Ernst grew up on a farm castrating pigs, and she was very, very good at it. So good, she says, that she plans to take that hands-on experience to Washington as Iowa’s next senator. “I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm, so when I get to Washington, I’ll know how to cut pork,” says the Republican hopeful in a rather bizarre new campaign ad that features a smiling Ernst juxtaposed with B-roll of pigs. “Washington’s full of big spenders,” she says at the end of the video. “Let’s make ‘em squeal.”

video at the link

[senseandsensibility]

17. Okay, Noem was the one with the puppy

Still hard to keep track of the various nutcases.

[TheBlackAdder]

18. Just a bunch of winners, huh?

[BOSSHOG]

26. Wasn't there a video of Sarah Palin

With something happening to a farm animal behind her? Various nutcases indeed.

[Hekate]

36. Turkey slaughter. Many turkeys.

[calimary]

43. Sure she wasn't IN the B-roll of pigs?

I’m sure they had room.

[Irish_Dem]

10. Still arrogant, hostile, sarcastic, privileged and entitled.

Indicating her voters are so stupid she would need to explain the tooth fairy.

The GOP senators hate Americans and see us as stupid fools and losers.

[bdamomma]

25. The

disrespect they have for us is hateful. I would love to turn the tables on them to make them look like fools.

And I just can't for the life me understand their hate for immigrants and migrants. It's just sick.

[Irish_Dem]

39. They hate all of us. They loathe their own constituents.

The only ones they like are the billionaires and the powerful.

[FirstLight]

13. Midas just posted it on their Instagram

I'm beyond disgusted. Typical right wing christian nationalism, hate disguised as love. It's disgusting and I really hope that she can take a long walk off a short pier...

[spanone]

14. Not accepted. You said it, you meant it.

You'll probably get upgraded in this shit show of an administration.

Fuck off.

[mucifer]

50. she didn't apologize. she gave a big ef you as a reply.

[Kid Berwyn]

15. The welfare millionaire?

And she does it from farming and the US taxpayer footing the bill.

[orleans]

19. well, i'm linking to it from a newspaper

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/31/iowa-sen-joni-ernst-posts-sarcastic-apology-after-viral-medicaid-comments-we-all-are-going-to-die/83967492007/


it's worse than you described
now i have to find that bitch on twitter so i can tell her what a fucking asshole i think she is

she's just as sarcastic and insincere when she tells people "But for those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my lord and savior, Jesus Christ."

way to go dumbass iowa/joni voters, you really picked yourself a piece of shit from the bottom of your outhouse

[hildegaard28]

27. Somebody should

Ask her if she’s under the impression that she’ll actually go to heaven, then quote that verse about the least of these.

[Hekate]

35. Thank you

[calimary]

44. And she doesn't know much about grammar, either.

“But for those that would like to see…”

It’s “for those WHO…”. Didn’t bother with English class, I guess.

Sorry, just feeling a bit snippy today.

[Skittles]

20. everyone knows we all die

what we don't care for is death being speeded up by our own fucking government

[rickford66]

21. Sorry she said it out loud !

[Sogo]

22. Sarcastic and condescending.

I can hardly wait to vote against her....

[Warpy]

23. Yeah, but she's always been that tone deaf, clueless and cruel

and those stupid fuckers keep voting for her because they think old Joni hates the same people they do and it's going to happen to somebody else, not them.

[orleans]

24. 3 replies to her on twitter and i still didn't get it out of my system. nt

[PJMcK]

29. Earnest is sorry she said the quiet part out loud

Republicans aren't supposed to speak the truth of their plans and hopes.

[RainCaster]

30. She's apologizing for not being the FIRST to die

She needs to work on that.

[OrlandoDem2]

31. That was a WEIRD apology! Iowans you gotta beat her!

[AloeVera]

32. That was not an apology, it was another insult.

Condescending, smirking, pleased at her own "cleverness" - that of a 10-year old. So emotionally stunted.

[orleans]

38. you're exactly right - it was another insult nt

[Blue Owl]

33. Stuff your apology in a bread bag

Then shove it where the sun don’t shine, Joni…..

[Danmel]

37. I guess I'm in big trouble

[allegorical oracle]

40. She's one insensitive being. When she ran for her first election, she bragged about

castrating pigs -- and now her voters know how much she enjoyed it.

[Maeve]

41. She claims to follow Jesus, but acts like Pilate

Washing her hands of the guilt of death

[bdamomma]

49. She's

not so "Christian-like " if she wishes people dead. Disgusting. It's about hate and rudeness.

[GulfofMexico]

45. Joni Ernst is MAGA scum

She served in the military, yet she worships the orange tyrant draft dodger because she's a full-fledged MAGA cultist. Whey aren't Joni and her fellow minions volunteering to give up THEIR government health care and save federal dollars? They're just gonna die anyway. Show us the way, Joni. You go first, you worthless piece of heartless, mindless scum.

BTW: I've already sent a similar but more strongly worded message directly to Joni via her government web page, just so ya know.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

46. Any media using the word "apology" even in quotes rather than "insult" - please stop. Play the whole thing

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

47. Senator Joni Ernst

Senator Joni Ernst

— C-Bo the Eggman (@cbotheeggman.bsky.social) 2025-05-31T03:09:29.015Z

[Straw Man]

51. The original comment was careless and thoughtless.

The "apology" was a deliberate and calculated "fuck you" to the American public -- ALL the American public, including those too dense and deluded to perceive the insult.

[Hassler]

52. Sounds like Phoni Joni realizing she's

Now pro abortion

[no_hypocrisy]

53. Out of the frying pan, and into the fire.

Foot in the mouth up to the knee.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

55. Maddow Blog-In bizarre cemetery video, Joni Ernst leans into 'we are all going to die' message

The Republican senator sparked a controversy with her rhetoric about her party's proposed Medicaid cuts. A follow-up video made matters worse.

Maybe Iowa’s Joni Ernst genuinely doesn’t understand why her “we are all going to die” line was a problem.

Or maybe she’s doing an excellent imitation of someone who’s easily confused. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-06-02T12:01:52.974Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/weird-video-iowas-joni-ernst-leans-are-going-die-message-rcna210315

This did not go unnoticed. Not only did Democrats pounce on the GOP senator’s rather morbid defense of her party’s agenda, but local news outlets treated the senator’s quote as front-page news.

A day later, the Iowan — who, incidentally, will face voters again in next year’s midterm election cycle — decided to double down. The Washington Post reported:

While outrage at Ernst’s glib comment was immediate, on Saturday, the senator doubled down with a sarcastic response shared on Instagram. “I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this earth,” she said in a video filmed in what appeared to be a cemetery. “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[/i].”

The video, which the senator filmed herself in what appeared to be a cemetery, was roughly a minute long.

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3lqipqc2gdk25

Link to tweet

.....The senator sparked a controversy, not by telling a secret about human mortality, but by expressing indifference to the real-world consequences of her own party’s policy agenda. Told that Republican plan would lead to people’s untimely demise, Ernst could’ve pushed back and explained why the criticisms are mistaken, but she instead suggested that if GOP health care plans lead to fatalities, it doesn’t much matter, since “we are all going to die” anyway.

Imagine if, 15 years ago, as Republicans peddled “death panels” nonsense while attacking the Affordable Care Act, Democratic senators responded, “Well, we all are going to die.” If you’re thinking that it’d be a rather major development, you’re right.

The difference, however, is that “death panels” were a ridiculous myth, while GOP officials really are trying to advance brutal health care cuts, including the biggest Medicaid cuts ever.

Asked for his reaction to Ernst’s rhetoric, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told CNN’s Dana Bash, “I think everybody in that audience knows that they’re going to die. They would just rather die in old age at 85 or 90, instead of dying at 40. And the reality is that, when you lose your health care, you are much more at risk of early death. And when rural hospitals close because of this bill, when drug treatment clinics close in Iowa and rural America because of this bill, more people will die at a younger age. “So the reality is, this bill is about life and death. ... I wish Joni and others saw the immorality of what they’re doing.”

Stepping back, let’s not forget that Republicans have had plenty of time to come up with credible defenses for their own proposed Medicaid cuts. Ernst’s on-stage rhetoric and her weird follow-up video suggest the party’s messaging efforts aren’t going especially well.

[Paladin]

56. I hope Ernst's "apologies" continue, until she's nothing more than a bad memory.

She can't disappear fast enough to suit me.