MONDAY: Senator Ernst brings death panels back!

MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2025 

Her lord and savior approves: Death panels started with former governor Sarah Palin in the year 2009.

Last weekend, Senator Ernst brought the death panels back, though in a different form.

Back then, it was Obamacare which was said to be cutting costs down thanks to the fiendish panels. This weekend, Senator Ernst (R-Iowa) accepted the blame on behalf of her own GOP!

This morning, Joe Scarborough said it was political malpractice on the part of Senator Ernst. We aren't entirely sure. 

In this news report, the Washington Post provides the basic background. Believe it or croak, this is the way it started:

Ernst posts snarky reply after telling town hall ‘we all are going to die’

Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican facing reelection in 2026, flippantly dismissed voters’ concerns in recent days that people could die if Republicans cut Medicaid as they’ve promised to do in President Donald Trump’s sprawling immigration and tax package.

Speaking at a town hall in Butler County, Iowa, on Friday, Ernst was explaining how the bill would affect Medicaid eligibility when one audience member yelled out that individuals who lost coverage because of the cuts could die.

“Well, we all are going to die,” Ernst replied as the crowd groaned. “So, for heaven’s sakes. For heaven’s sakes, folks.”

You can pay me now or pay me later, a flippant bromide says. Senator Ernst had offered a modernized version of that bromide to a roomful of Iowa voters:

You're all going to die in the end, so why not do it now?

To watch the tape of that exchange, you can just click here.

Some people thought her remarks that day were strange! And so, on Saturday, the very next day, she turned up in an Iowa cemetery and doubled down on what she had said/

The Post's report continues:

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.”

She then added: “For those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my Lord and savior Jesus Christ.”

Remarkably, that's what she said. To watch that presentation, you can click this. 

Watching the statement, we'd say that Senator Ernst moved past mere sarcasm to an undisguised expression of something approaching contempt. (The mileage of others may differ.)

We aren't religious ourselves, but most of the world's people are. Obviously, there's nothing "wrong" with being a Christian. It's also true that this seems like one of the strangest political performances seen in recent times.

On this morning's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough advanced an obvious thought, one which may well turn out to be accurate. Paraphrasing:

Judged by all traditional norms, this looks like an excellent way to lose a race for re-election.

On its face, that makes perfect sense, but we aren't super-sure that it's right. We're thinking about the desire to return to a sweeping societal religiosity which seems to be playing an increasing role on Red America's side of the aisle, where a whole lot of people live.

As we watched Ernst's remarkably sarcastic performance, we thought back to what happened on Fox & Friends Weekend on the day after then-Candidate Trump was shot during a rally in Butler, Pa.

As we noted at the time, three of the four friends on the set came out of a type of journalistic closet as they discussed the event. Each of the three explicitly thanked "our lord and savior, Jesus Christ" for the way he'd allegedly intervened to spare the candidate's life. 

(As we noted at the time, only Will Cain didn't do that.)

Within the norms of contemporary journalism, that was a highly unusual bit of behavior on the part of the three friends. Within the norms of contemporary American government, so was this May 21 event, as reported in the New York Times and ignored almost everywhere else:

Pete Hegseth Leads Christian Prayer Service in the Pentagon

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth led a Christian prayer service in the Pentagon’s auditorium on Wednesday morning, during working hours, in which President Trump was praised as a divinely appointed leader.

The event, billed as the “Secretary of Defense Christian Prayer & Worship Service,” was standing room only and ran for about 30 minutes, with Brooks Potteiger, the pastor of Mr. Hegseth’s church in Tennessee, as the main speaker.

Mr. Hegseth said he intended that the prayer service become a monthly event.

It is unclear whether the Defense Department has hosted similar religious events outside of the Pentagon’s chapel, which was added after the 9/11 attack, but the service is part of an increasing infusion of overt Christian evangelization in official government events during Mr. Trump’s second term.

[...]

“This is precisely where I need to be, and I think exactly where we need to be as a nation, at this moment,” Mr. Hegseth, standing at a lectern bearing the seal of the Defense Department, said in his opening remarks: “in prayer, on bended knee recognizing the providence of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.” He added, “Knowing that there’s an author in heaven overseeing all of this, who’s underwritten all of it, for us, on the cross, gives me the strength to proceed.”

Within the norms of American culture, there is absolutely nothing "wrong" with Secretary Hegseth's religious beliefs. On the other hand, this event does represent a long step away from long-standing norms of governance.

Now for the rest of the story:

As you may recall, Secretary Hegseth was one of the friends who praised his lord and savior for allegedly saving the candidate's life on Fox & Friends Weekend that day. That was a departure from journalistic norms. The May 21 prayer event was a different type of departure.

Here's more from that Times report about that Pentagon service:

“King Jesus, we come humbly before you, seeking your face, seeking your grace, in humble obedience to your law and to your word,” Mr. Hegseth prayed after asking attendees to bow their heads. “We come as sinners saved only by that grace, seeking your providence in our lives and in our nation. Lord God, we ask for the wisdom to see what is right and in each and every day, in each and every circumstance, the courage to do what is right in obedience to your will. It is in the name of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray. And all God’s people say amen.”

The assembled worshipers, including at least one general, repeated “Amen.”

Tami Radabaugh, a deputy assistant to Mr. Hegseth who attended the service, wrote on X, “Grateful to have a @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @SecDef and administration who love the Lord as I do.”

Mr. Potteiger’s church, the Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship in Goodlettsville, Tenn., is a member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches—the governing documents of which say that church leadership roles are reserved for men, that homosexuality is “unbiblical” and that women should not participate in combat. Mr. Hegseth said in a podcast appearance before his nomination to lead the Pentagon that women have no place in military combat units, but appeared to soften that stance during his confirmation hearing in January.

In his sermon, the pastor said, “We pray for our leaders who you have sovereignly appointed—for President Trump, thank you for the way that you have used him to bring stability and moral clarity to our land. And we pray that you would continue to protect him, bless him, give him great wisdom.”

President Trump was "sovereignly appointed" by God, attendees were told. Millions of people share such beliefs. They vastly dislike the world our own Blue America has built—and in all fairness, again and again, such folks have the germ of a point.

We Blues may not fully understand the way we're viewed by many Reds. This morning, Scarborough said that Senator Ernst will almost surely be shedding votes. Remarkable though we take her conduct to be, we're not super-sure about that.

Ernst has brought the death panels back! This time, it's almost like we're supposed to think the panels are something good!