Days after telling attendees at a town hall that everyone will die, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) doubled down in a video that turned into a plug for following Jesus. Some people called her message callous and cruel, while others said it symbolizes what has happened to Christianity under President Trump.
In Butler County on May 30, Ernst took questions from constituents, including those upset about Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act. The legislation, which has already passed the House, calls for significant cuts in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
After an attendee shouted, “People will die” because of the bill, Ernst, 54, responded, “Well, we’re all going to die.” Although the senator later talked about protecting vulnerable people, her death comment went viral. The next day, the senator doubled down in a video she filmed at a cemetery.
“I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize for a statement I made yesterday at my town hall,” Ernst began. “I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this earth.” She added that she was glad she didn’t have to discuss the Tooth Fairy.
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“But for those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life,” concluded Ernst, a Lutheran, “I’d encourage you to embrace my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Sen. Joni Ernst Criticized for ‘Visible Disdain’
Sen. Joni Ernst’s follow-up video struck a nerve. Faith leaders, journalists, and social media users lamented her “contempt” and “visible disdain for her constituents.” Some people called the senator foul names; others warned she’d have some explaining to do on Judgment Day.
“What is broken in your soul?” someone asked Ernst. Another person wrote, “I hope you’re happy that you’ve gotten to have your own ‘let them eat cake’ moment.”
The Rev. William Barber II, president of Repairers of the Breach, was unhappy with Ernst’s evangelism tactic. “The Jesus I know never charged a leper a co-pay,” he said Monday, while protesting the OBBB in Washington, D.C.
After Ernst released her video, State Rep. J.D. Scholten, a Democrat, decided to run for her seat in the red state. The senator’s comments “disrespected” Iowans, Scholten said.
Columnists also joined the discussion, with some saying Ernst’s comments are representative of MAGA evangelicalism. On Salon, Amanda Marcotte wrote that the senator’s words feel “jarring” to people who associate Christianity with love and compassion.
But many MAGA adherents, especially “the increasingly Christian nationalist bent,” connect Christianity to cruelty, Marcotte argued. “These are the rationalizations of people who want to hate while denying they are hateful.”
Marcotte compared Ernst’s “suck-it-up-and-die message” to the attitudes of church leaders who opposed COVID-related restrictions during the pandemic. “None of these folks live by their own pro-death rules,” she wrote. “It’s only when they’re asked to help others, whether through vaccination or paying slightly more in taxes, that they find this duty in others to welcome death with a smile.”
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