Trump now has 29 more felony convictions than Al Capone, but Joni Ernst would be honored to be considered for a spot on his team
Don’t count on Iowa U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) to do anything to help heal America as the MAGA crowd continues its headlong dash toward anti-democracy fascism. Heck, she thinks it would be an honor to even be considered for a spot on Trump’s team if the 34 times convicted felon should win a second term as president this November.
Thirty-four felony convictions? Hush money payoffs to a porn star to keep her mouth shut about their sex romps while he was married? (With some of the checks signed in the Oval Office!) Leader of an attempted coup? Two impeachments? Dozens more indictments – even more serious ones – are in the queue for trials yet to come.
Apparently, there is nothing unusual about any of that for Ernst. No need to even mention any of it.
Golly. It would be an honor to be asked to join his administration.
Douglas Burns, who writes the “Iowa Mercury” column – which, like this column, is part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative (IWC) snagged an interview. with Ernst last week that was published on May 30, just a day before the jury convicted Trump on all 34 felony charges.
In that interview, Ernst made clear that she finds the unacceptable to be perfectly acceptable—normal, in fact—these days.
If you were hoping Ernst might be different than the rest of the MAGA crowd, guess again. The answer is no.
The conventional news from the “Iowa Mercury’s” interview with Ernst was significant: the senator’s first public acknowledgment that she plans to run for re-election in 2026.
But her answer to another question Burns asked her revealed, at least to me, a separate and even more important story: We can forget about looking to Ernst for any help in healing the Republican Party or America from Trump’s scourge.
There was a time when I admitted that I harbored such hope, faint though it might have been. When she joined the effort to talk fellow Republican US Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) into dropping his one-man blockade of hundreds of military promotions urgently needed to maintain a functioning chain of command, I applauded and thought it might be a harbinger of things to come.
It was not.
In the “Iowa Mercury” interview, Burns asked Ernst if she thought it was possible for her to be considered as Trump’s vice presidential running mate in 2024. This is a reasonable question, given that she had been reportedly vetted for that slot once before.
“I don’t think that’s possible,” Ernst told Burns. “But I would be honored if I were considered for a position in administration. Of course, I’d be honored. Anyone would be honored to be thought of.”
“Who knows what the future brings,” she added.
That final add-on comment proved to be ironic. The very next day after the “Iowa Mercury” story was published, we saw “what the future brings.”
Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felonies of election cheating by hiding hush money payoffs to a porn star to keep quiet before the election about their sexual liaisons while he was married.
That this development was a strong possibility – even a probability – should have surprised no one. It is a perfect example of the crater Republicans are digging for themselves with their continued support and shilling for Trump. There will likely be more days – several of them – when Republicans loudly sing out of the Trump songbook, and then another anvil falls on them from Trump’s legal woes.
How could they not see this coming?
After reading Ernst’s assertion that it would be an honor to even be considered to join Trump’s administration, I have a question: “How about Al Capone, Senator? Would it have been an honor to be asked to join his team, too, back in the day?
Al Capone was convicted of five felony counts of tax evasion. Trump already has Capone beat by 29 felony convictions – with three more felony trials and dozens more indictments yet pending.
Republicans need to stop normalizing Trump’s daily outrages and his one-man crime wave.
What exactly is so honorable about serving with a freshly convicted felon who promises to ignore the Constitution and be a dictator from Day #1?
Why is it even acceptable to nominate a convicted felon – with 34 convictions, all related to cheating in an election?
Do Iowans really want paying off porn stars to hide scandals from voters to be an acceptable, routine part of winning elections?
Is all that really something Ernst believes is so normal that it doesn’t even merit mentioning when asked if you would join the ticket with someone who does all that? Is this really the new Iowa?
And if she thinks it is, what does that say about what she thinks of everyday Iowans? That they lack good character as much as Trump? I disagree with her if that’s her view.
Republicans need to stand up for the Iowa values they claim to believe in, but in reality, the party abandoned long ago.
I’m reminded of an interview I conducted years ago during a visit to the Iowa State University campus by then-Governor Bob Ray, a Republican. I think he had a better understanding of who Iowans really are.
I asked him what his reaction was to just breaking news reports that Vice President Spiro Agnew, also a Republican, accepted cash bribes as a county executive, Governor of Maryland, and Vice President of the United States.
Ray’s answer was quick and to the point: “If true, he ought to get scalded.”
That’s what we needed to hear from Ernst. We didn’t.
Here’s the hard fact: the sooner some people understand it, the better. Those who delude themselves about Trump today are enablers of fascism coming to America, proponents of bad, corrupt government, promoters of authoritarianism, and the destruction of democracy in America. Don’t just take my word for it. Listen to what he says. Look at what he did. Read what he promises to do.
It’s shocking to see Senator Ernst – a military veteran who once put herself in harm’s way to protect America and defend its democracy – now involved in this sordid, stinking mess by pretending all is well with the Republican Party and the dangerous, destructive road it is on.
The fact that she is, makes clear we can’t count on her to help fix this mess.
Donald Trump is defiling everything America stands for and that Ernst once fought to defend. Yet she says she’d be honored to be considered to join his team.
A final thought.
Other Iowa Republicans were quick to issue statements after Trump’s conviction. Governor Reynolds and Attorney General Bird were among the worst. They lied to defend Trump.
They claimed the trial was a sham, but never said why or provided any evidence to back up their smear.
They blamed it all on President Biden, when the federal government had zero to do with this trial. It was prosecuted by the state of New York. And the trial never would have happened if Trump hadn’t broken the law 34 times.
They wailed that it was all political. Yet the votes to convict Trump were cast by 12 non-volunteer, individual citizens who spent weeks listening to the facts from both sides, and each of whom were vetted for neutrality by attorneys for the prosecution and defense, and accepted by both sides.
That’s a far cry from the false description – the lies and smears – provided Reynolds, Bird and other Republicans.
The Governor, the Attorney General, and the other Trump partisan shills are attacking the very justice system itself. A trial by an impartial jury of one’s peers. It now seems Republicans have a problem with that too.
Democracy and impartial justice apparently are no longer Republican cups of tea. Even in Iowa.