The Importance of Not Being Ernst
The most disorienting thing about our current politics is the failed link between behavior and its consequences. Sauron can say whatever he wants, and he wins his battles and stays in the White House. JFK, Jr. is a moronic extremist with no regard for truth or expertise, and he is permitted to run amok in health care. Linda McMahon is a former wrestling promoter who is busy dismantling American education. Whatever safeguards used to exist lie shattered on the terrazzo floors of Mar-a-Lago.
That’s why Joni Ernst is so important. She’s probably not an evil demon, or even a disfigured troll under the bridge. She served her country in the National Guard and was deployed overseas in Operation Iraqi Freedom. That didn’t end well for either Iraq or Ernst (decades of instability/divorce for the senator), but I give her props for putting herself in danger. Not once in my life have I done the same. On top of that, she has been mostly inoffensive, representing the people of Iowa with no special distinction. In a period of raging partisanship and violent hostility, that may be as good as it gets.
The problem turned out to be a “slip” of the tongue. Asked earlier this year about cuts to Medicaid, she upchucked a response that was truly career-killing. At a town hall meeting back in May, she told her audience that she backed the cuts, and that protesting the measure had little meaning for her: “People are not ― well, we all are going to die. So, for heaven’s sakes, folks.” That probably goes beyond a slip of the tongue, crossing over into graveyard fatalism. It’s a bleak ideology of nothing matters, not the sunny optimism America expects of its leaders.
Still I expected her to weather the consequences. Sauron can indeed say what he wants, but the normal rules still apply to others. Gravity remains a force in politics and not everyone has the same Teflon coating. Miraculously, bad things seem to have happened here. Iowa voters soured on Ernst and stayed sour until last week’s announcement that she would not seek election in 2026. Sure, she’s been in politics for a very long time and may aspire to spend time with what remains of her family. But the remark about Medicaid seems to have been the primary motivator. You can almost hear the voices of trusted advisors: “Sorry, Joni, this one is insurmountable.”
And that may be the best news of all, that the cruelty and carelessness of the Big Brutal Bill will have real consequences in the upcoming midterms and that MAGA-flavored candidates will suffer for their actions. It’s possible that Americans won’t stand for any of them and that we may soon pull out of our political tailspin. Miracles happen every single day.