![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogforiowa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/joni-and-trump.jpg?w=300\")
<\/p>\nphoto\/Bloomberg<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
After every mass shooting, a reporter interviews friends, family and neighbors of the perpetrator who invariably say, \u201cwe didn\u2019t see the signs.\u201d\u00a0 Then upon further examination, it turns out that there were all kinds of signs, but no one put 2 and 2 together. That\u2019s what we have going on in this political moment.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump has us on a slippery slope to fascism with the help of the MAGA Republican party. We didn\u2019t get here overnight. There were dozens of stand-out moments I can think of off hand and I bet you can too.\u00a0 In this week\u2019s spotlight we turn to the recent example of Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, about whom Iowa didn\u2019t see the signs.<\/p>\n
Here are a couple of signs about what was to come with Joni.\u00a0 At the time I found these two ads to be laden with violent themes and just plain gross. People made fun of them but perhaps they were too weird for our brains to absorb properly making us unable to assign meaning.\u00a0 These two campaign ads were dubbed \u201cShot\u201d<\/a> and \u201cSqueal.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 Both were from the 2014 campaign during Barack Obama\u2019s second term. Just two examples but it is obvious that we were in trouble if you look at the imagery in these ads.<\/p>\n I haven\u2019t written anything yet about Ernst\u2019s \u201cWell, we\u2019re all going to die\u201d remark or her follow up video which was another even more shocking display of contempt for Iowans who, probably regretfully now, sent her to DC.\u00a0 My impression of the coverage and the internet convo about her comments is that even the best writers have been having a real hard time coming up with words to convey just how terribly egregious her remarks were.<\/p>\n It was a display of contempt toward her fellow Iowans from one of our elected officials, the likes of which we\u2019ve never seen. In my opinion, we should be calling for her to resign. And even though the \u201cWell, we all are going to die\u201d video<\/a> and the \u201ctooth fairy\u201d video<\/a> have gone viral and everyone with a media outlet or podcast or social media account has been hammering on them, everything I\u2019ve seen so far still has been an understatement of just how telling these remarks are.<\/p>\n That is of course, until Steve Schmidt weighed in.<\/p>\n For those who haven\u2019t seen the Pro Publica article here is the link.
propublica.org\/article\/joni-ernst-congress-military-relationships<\/a><\/p>\n