This is an adapted excerpt from the June 2 episode of “Morning Joe.”
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa is doubling down on her controversial comments on Medicaid cuts. On Friday, while defending the GOP’s sprawling megabill to carry out Donald Trump’s agenda, Ernst dismissed concerns from her constituents that the proposed cuts could cause people to lose eligibility and possibly die, telling the crowd at a town hall: “Well, we all are going to die.”
Republican senators are now so afraid of Trump that they’re contorting themselves and making jokes about people suffering.
On Saturday, the senator posted a sarcastic apology video to social media. Speaking from what appears to be a cemetery, Ernst referenced her comments from the previous day and said she “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. “But for those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.”
In Iowa, 40% of the people who are enrolled in Medicaid are children and 42% live in a rural area, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The program also covers 50% of nursing home residents in the state. And when Ernst is asked what she’s going to do about the fact that these vulnerable people will be impacted by the Republicans’ proposal, her response is to say, “Well, we all are going to die anyway.” Ernst is mocking the people in her state, talking about the tooth fairy while planning to vote for a bill that’s going to savage health care in Iowa.
The question is not whether we’re all going to die or not. The question is whether you’re going to give tax cuts to billionaires and take health care from the poorest Americans. Talk to anybody in rural health care, they’ll tell you how devastating this bill would be. Talk to pediatricians, and they will all tell you that cutting Medicaid is going to have a substantial impact. During my time in Congress, we would have really tough fights on important issues, but it was unimaginable that a United States senator on either side would behave in this way. Republican senators are now so afraid of Trump that they’re contorting themselves and making jokes about people suffering. If Webster’s Dictionary wants to use the senator’s video in the future, they can put it right next to the word “clueless,” because that’s what Ernst and her fellow Republicans are right now.
Former Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., is co-host of MS NOW's "Morning Joe" alongside Mika Brzezinski — a show that Time magazine calls "revolutionary." In addition to his career in television, Joe is a two-time New York Times best-selling author. His most recent book is "The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics — and Can Again."
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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