Joni Ernst’s “Apology” Video Is Deeply Unsettling

Summary

Bulwark Takes Podcast Summary Episode: "Joni Ernst’s “Apology” Video Is Deeply Unsettling" | Release Date: June 1, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of Bulwark Takes, hosts Tim Miller and Sam Stein delve into the controversy surrounding Iowa Senator Joni Ernst's recent apology video. The discussion centers on Ernst's public statements regarding the Republican-led "big beautiful bill" and her subsequent attempt to mitigate backlash through an unsettling video message. Released on June 1, 2025, the episode provides a critical analysis of Ernst's tactics, the public's reception, and the broader political implications within Iowa.

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Context of Joni Ernst's Apology Video

Tim Miller initiates the conversation by addressing Ernst's contentious remarks about the potential loss of lives due to the proposed Republican bill. He highlights Ernst's unapologetic stance, contrasting it with typical political apologies.

"People are going to die. [Fcking] deal with it."* (00:00)

This blunt admission by Ernst diverges from conventional political rhetoric, where such statements are usually softened to prevent public outrage.

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Analysis of the Apology Video

Sam Stein expresses skepticism about the longevity of the backlash Ernst faces, suggesting that the incident might soon be overshadowed by other political events.

"I was hoping to do a video." (01:27)

The hosts discuss whether Ernst's comments were mere gaffes or indicative of a broader dismissive attitude towards constituent concerns. They compare her approach to past political missteps, noting that in today's fast-paced news environment, such moments fade quickly.

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Public Reaction and Reception

The conversation shifts to the public's response to Ernst's statements and the subsequent apology video. Sam Stein emphasizes the emotional toll on constituents who are directly affected by the policy changes.

"She says...if you're like a poor person who's scraping to get by... saying, well, you know, embrace death, it's like, that's not that's not what you want to hear." (02:51)

This segment underscores the disconnect between Ernst's rhetoric and the real fears of her constituents, particularly those reliant on Medicaid and other essential services.

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Dissection of the Apology Video's Content and Presentation

Miller and Stein scrutinize the aesthetics and delivery of Ernst's apology video, finding it deeply unsettling. They note the unusual setting—a cemetery—and the video's eerie tone, which detracts from the intended message.

"The cemetery is such a weird touch... Does she normally walk in cemeteries? That's weird." (12:26)

The hosts critique the video's technical aspects, including camera angles and the overall unsettling atmosphere, suggesting that these choices may alienate viewers rather than foster understanding or empathy.

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Implications for Joni Ernst's Political Future

The discussion transitions to the potential impact of this controversy on Ernst's political standing in Iowa. Tim Miller references insights from an Iowa political consultant, indicating that Iowa may no longer be a swing state, potentially diminishing the long-term effects of this incident on Ernst's career.

"You think it was... that's kind of gross, right?" (11:05)

Sam Stein adds that upcoming pieces will explore Democratic strategies in states like Iowa, highlighting the challenging environment Democrats face in such regions.

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

As the episode wraps up, the hosts reflect on the broader themes of political authenticity and the fine line between strategic messaging and alienation of voters. They caution listeners about the dangers of political personas that appear out of touch with the realities faced by everyday constituents.

"If you're worried about death, let me tell you, you should just accept her Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, and be welcomed into his arms." (00:00)

This final takeaway emphasizes the importance of genuine communication and the risks politicians face when their messages are perceived as insincere or dismissive.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

1. Tim Miller (00:00):

   "People are going to die. [F*cking] deal with it."

2. Sam Stein (02:51):

   "She says...if you're like a poor person who's scraping to get by... saying, well, you know, embrace death, it's like, that's not that's not what you want to hear."

3. Sam Stein (12:26):

   "The cemetery is such a weird touch... Does she normally walk in cemeteries? That's weird."

4. Tim Miller (00:00):

   "If you're worried about death, let me tell you, you should just accept her Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, and be welcomed into his arms."

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Key Takeaways

• Authenticity in Politics: Ernst's approach exemplifies the delicate balance politicians must maintain between candidness and empathy.
• Public Perception: The unsettling nature of Ernst's apology video may hinder rather than help her political image.
• Political Landscape in Iowa: With Iowa shifting away from being a swing state, traditional political strategies may need reevaluation.
• Emotional Resonance: Effective political communication requires addressing constituents' genuine fears and concerns with sincerity.

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For more insights and detailed analysis, tune into the full episode of Bulwark Takes.

Transcript

[Tim Miller]

Hey, everybody, it's Tim Miller from the Bulwark here with managing editor Sam Stein. There have been a series of statements from Iowa Senator Joni Ernst about how she doesn't really seem to care that people are going to die if the Republicans pass the big beautiful bill, so called. And usually when you kind of make an aside such as that, as a politician, we're like, well, you know, everybody dies. So if our bill's gonna make people die, whatever, that's the kind of thing that in the past you'd clean up. But for Joni Ernst, no, she doubled down, she leaned in. People are going to die. Fucking deal with it. And if you're worried about death, let me tell you, you should just accept her Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, and be welcomed into his arms. Sam, I want to break down both videos with you, but do you have any big picture thoughts first?

[Sam Stein]

No, let's just get into it.

[Joni Ernst]

So people are not. Well, we all are going to die.

[Tim Miller]

So, Sam, my take on this is like, wasn't. But it was kind of like one of those gaffes from when we were coming up, you know, in 1990s, 2000s gaffe. Like she was trying to make a point. She was trying to be. She was getting attacked. She was being a little dismissive. I think she's just being dismissive. She was getting attacked. She's just like, you know, I think she was under pressure. And I guess my point was that I don't think that. I think it was the kind of thing that in this day and age disappears. I don't know that me and you didn't do a video on it. Right. Like, it happened last week. There's a lot of crazy shit happening.

[Sam Stein]

I was hoping to do a video.

[Tim Miller]

Okay. Right. Well, there's a lot of. But you did it because there's a lot of shit happening in the world. And in 2006, that would have been a gaffe that was like top of the line, you know, Bruce Braley, Todd Aiken level. But right now, maybe not. Okay, give us another view.

[Sam Stein]

Really? What a callback. So it was top of the line in Iowa, but it was not. I mean, it was obviously it went viral very quickly nationally. But I agree with you that it was going to flame out and we were going to move on to like 18 other. Like, I think after that, like, we got the, you know, Elon's taking ketamine and he's being all over the place. So, like, there was other things going on.

[Tim Miller]

But I hear it's actually a Bloody blad. I've had several doctors message me after my comments that Elon's peeing all over the place. And I think actually what's, well, they're bladder doctors and so they know about what kind of issues you get if you take too much ketamine. And it's not that you lose control of your pee and you're peeing your pants, but it's that when you do pee, you pee blood. So again, that's not anotheranother not great sign about your drug intake.

[Sam Stein]

Sounds like an assignment for Will Sommers. Do the Elon Ketamine diet instead of see what happens. I might have to assign them anyways back to Joni Earns. So she says it. And yeah, I mean like again, it just seems so cold to me to be your constituents, like constituents, like, you know, these cuts are going to kill people and your response is, well, we're all going to, it's like so, so cold. But yes, fine, it was going to, it was going to go away.

[Tim Miller]

You know. And I think the other thing, just really quick before you go into the next video, I do think the other thing worth just sitting on for a second is that like the Medicaid cuts in a place like Iowa, like this is really an issue that is going to have some salience. And I think the fact she made the gaffe because at this town hall you're getting bombarded, right? Like you're getting bombarded on this. And I think that this bill is one though in Iowa does have a massive farmer bailout, but for a lot of red states it's going to maybe be a little tougher for these guys politically than they realize.

[Sam Stein]

Also look at it through. I mean, I don't want to be so, you know, well, whatever, I'll play the role of like teary eyed liberal here, but let's do it. If, if you're like a, if you're like a poor person who's scraping to get by and you're nervous about the economy to begin with, and then the Congress is going to pass a bill that could affect your health care coverage and could throw you off the Medicaid rolls and you have a kid, let's say, and you're beginning to start to freak out like you're legitimately forgetting these are not insincere emotions from these town hall attendees. And so when you have an elected official responding to your very valid concerns about your, your future, saying, well, you know what, just, you know, embrace death, it's like, that's not that's not what you want to hear. And so, you know, that's why I thought, like, it was bad for her. And then I was like, well, she's going to clean it up. You know, be like, you know, she'll say something. Be like, you know, of course I want to make sure people healthy and living longer. And then she just, like, went completely.

[Tim Miller]

In the other direction, which takes us to the next video, which I do not use this word likely lightly, which. It is psychotic. It is psychotic.

[Sam Stein]

It's totally crazy. I was like, it's not RFK Bear style crazy, but it's got its own genre of nuttiness. And there's so many elements to this where I was just, like, sort of sitting back, like, no, no.

[Tim Miller]

You look at this and you're like, is this a Ryan Coogler movie? Like, is this a spoof character a From a horror? What is that?

[Sam Stein]

Should we just play and then analyze it? Because there's so many parts of it that I was like, what the.

[Tim Miller]

All right, let's play. Here it is. Joni Ernst in a cemetery.

[Joni Ernst]

Hello, everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize for a statement that I made yesterday at my town hall. 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. 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. But for those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

[Tim Miller]

All right.

[Sam Stein]

Yes. Okay.

[Tim Miller]

Where do you want to begin? Yeah, go for it.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah. I don't know about you, but when I started seeing, I was like, okay. Like, she's. She's gonna be, like, contrite about it. And that's. I'm. I'm glad. But wait a second. Is that a cemetery? My first reaction is like, is that a tombstone? And then there's something a little bit off. I don't know if you picked up on it. The camera, it was, like, oddly steady, but she was kind of moving on it, but, like, the camera stayed put, and there was, like, a we. She was, like, very close to it, and the way she was talking was so creepy to me. When she had that pregnant pause, she's like, yes, we are all going to perish. I was like, oh, my God.

[Tim Miller]

Perish is just. I would like to just sit on the word perish for a second. That's like the darkest way to the word you could possibly choose to describe death. Also, it's like, I don't want to think about perishing. What is the camera? I want to also get into the comment, but now that you mentioned it. So she's just holding the phone. Very.

[Sam Stein]

That's what I want to know. She either. She's either holding it or it's propped up on something, but if you watch, doesn't quite move, it's her that's moving. So she's either got the steadiest selfie. Maybe she was doing a selfie stick thing. I don't know. It was. The whole thing was weird and the zoom on her face was very odd and it felt sort of like, I don't know, she was like the. The what? What's the. The patron of death or whatever it is. Like she was coming to kill you.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. I've never seen her pores before. You know, like, she is.

[Sam Stein]

Maybe she was using camo.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. She is so close. I don't. Yeah, that part is very strange and it's unsettling. I guess my point is it's unsettling. Like, that would be a very. It would be an unusual setup to be that close to the camera if you were talking something fun. But Cory Booker does this. Right. And that is. I also find that kind of unsettling. I've mentioned it to him, I think, during the interview. It's like his AOC in your living.

[Sam Stein]

Room cooking, like Mac and cheese.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah.

[Sam Stein]

Not in a fucking cemetery.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. But I also don't want your face like right there. Okay. Might be a little bit of a boomer selfie situation since Cory Booker also does it. Okay. So there's that. And then, you know, the thing for me also that is just so off putting immediately is just she's like dripping with sarcasm in a way that again, that kind of goes against what I thought her brand was. I'm like, maybe I didn't understand. No. Joni Ernst. That. Well, I thought that again, if you're going to be in Iowa, you know, Iowa, nice farm senator. That's like a tough woman who served in the military.

[Sam Stein]

Castrates pigs.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, castrates pigs. Like doing the like kind of sarcastic 20 something from Bed Stuy, you know, kind of vibe. Like, I look very condescending.

[Sam Stein]

No, you gotta save the. You gotta save the sarcasm to the Jews. I mean, we don't have much power thing. And she. You can't, you can't steal that from us.

[Tim Miller]

You really do. And the condescending non apology apology I was trying to think about, the version of this were if you thought about like a liberal from New York or a Jewish liberal or even like aoc, like talking about the Iowans, you know, talking about like these red state people, like, they just, they're not as, you know, they're not as enlightened as me. And so like they're really upset about this climate change bill. But I'm gonna fake apologize to them because they got their pearls clutched. Cause they believe in their sky God. When I'm over here worried about climate and what's happening here on earth, like it would be. There would just be the chastising that would happen among the chattering class.

[Sam Stein]

I feel like she's so out of touch.

[Tim Miller]

So out of touch.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah. And the whole thing, the other thing, like the tooth fairy, where she's like, oh, I didn't realize, like you guys didn't believe you were gonna die.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah.

[Sam Stein]

What's next? I'm gonna have to educate you on the tooth fairy. It's like, nah, fuck you. Come on. People are scared.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah. Also, the tooth fairy's fake. That doesn't even make any sense. The tooth fairy is fake, they're going to die thing. Like, yeah, it was.

[Sam Stein]

Doesn't make sense.

[Tim Miller]

It doesn't make sense. It's not an apt comparison.

[Sam Stein]

She's trying to say that people who. No, she's saying eternal life is the same as believing in the tooth fairy. Embrace death.

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, embrace death. Unless you go through Jesus Christ or I guess it's a childlike view to not accept that you're going to die. But I don't know. I know a lot of kids that think they're bad. The whole thing.

[Sam Stein]

The whole thing. But do you think that because there was an edit cut obviously in the middle. Do you think that they had planned to do the Jesus Christ part? Or they're at the end be like, you know what? You know what this video needs is like us to, you know, convert some people or something like that.

[Tim Miller]

I think that it's obviously strategic, which is why it's kind of gross, right? Which is like, oh, wait, hold on.

[Sam Stein]

You think it was. But that's the thing. It's like the strategy that went into it. It's like, let's do a video, but let's make fun of these people for getting all reactive to our original video. And let's Shoot it in a cemetery.

[Tim Miller]

Let's shoot it a cemetery. But then we're going to bait people at the end. So it's like, okay, so we know that that Jew Sam Stein and that homosexual Tim Miller are going to make fun of us about this, all right? And so we're going to have the trump card. We're going to be able to say to the Iowans, like, they're just upset that we like Jesus and they don't, but liking Jesus. Liking Jesus and wanting to tend to the poor and sick, actually, those things work in concert together, okay? Those things are not at odds, like believing in heaven and being a Christian and also, you know, wanting to make sure that poor people get health care. Those, those things combine together. Right? It's, it's not like my understanding, having gone to Catholic school, having an everyday Catholic church attending mother, is that Christians don't just say, okay, well, because we have heaven, then we can do whatever the fuck we want on earth. And who cares if people suffer because was who, because they're going to get, you know, they're going to be in the arms of God, they'll be in the bosom of God at the end in heaven, so they can suffer here on earth and I don't have to deal with it. That's not exactly.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah, I think you missed the, the canon of Jesus's selfie videos. Walking through Nazareth, he made fun of people for thinking that they could get eternal life like he could.

[Tim Miller]

The cemetery. What? Why do we think?

[Sam Stein]

I don't know, guys. The cemetery is such a weird touch. Like, what the fuck? That's. Does she normally walk in cemeteries? That's weird.

[Tim Miller]

I don't know. I mean, we're a very cemetery oriented people. Who's we here in Louisiana? You know, cemeteries, people do go to cemeteries and hang out, you know.

[Sam Stein]

Really?

[Tim Miller]

Yeah, a little bit. There's cemetery tours here.

[Sam Stein]

Historical cemetery, sure. But I wouldn't hang out at a.

[Tim Miller]

Cemetery just like a random one. No doing selfie videos.

[Sam Stein]

Not on my Saturday and Sunday to do list. To be honest with you, we really.

[Tim Miller]

Did need the angel of Death character from Family Guy to be kind of like walking behind her. We need cartoon version of this.

[Sam Stein]

I'm sure someone.

[Tim Miller]

Grim reaper. All right, any other final takeaways? I guess. Here's my final one. Just really quick, pure politics. Joanie only won by 6% last time. I mean, Iowa used to be a swing state. It is not now. I, I, I called one of my buddies who's an Iowa consultant. They're Like, I don't. This is not. It's over. Like, I don't think this is really on the board anymore. Do you think?

[Sam Stein]

Yeah, well, I don't know. Like, no, probably not. But we have a piece coming up tonight just to tease it from Lauren Egan about sort of what the strategy is for states like Iowa for Democrats. And I mean, it's, it's like a triple bank shot, right? Like, they gotta, you know, get a national climate that works in their favor. They got to find a candidate that's really dynamic and authentic. And it may not be a Democrat because the brand is so tarnished, like, even. And even then it might not work. And so it's like these, this is, to your point. This map is pretty brutal for Democrats. That's her piece tonight.

[Tim Miller]

Go check that out. The book.com rob sandering for governor of Iowa. I think governor's race is a little different than Senate races. Senator race.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah.

[Tim Miller]

So nationalized. I think Rob has a legit, legit shot and we're going to be talking to him in the coming months, introducing you guys to him. Okay, Sam Stein, that's it. Stay out of any cemeteries on this Sunday. On this, the Lord's day.

[Sam Stein]

It's my next activity.

[Tim Miller]

Oh, what's the Lord's day for us? Actually, the Sabbath for you. I'm going to, you know, status cemetery myself. And we'll be seeing you guys later. Subscribe to the feed Peace.