A Democratic state representative has announced his bid to unseat U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, following her widely criticized “we are all going to die” remarks and a sarcastic apology video filmed in a cemetery that drew broad condemnation of the Iowa Republican.

“I just felt, you know, I have to do this,” J.D. Scholten told POLITICO on Monday. “Now’s the time, and rather than being perfect with everything, I just feel like you got to do it.”

In 2020, Rep. Scholten attempted to win the seat held by the now-former U.S. Rep. Steve King, a once-powerful Republican, whose white nationalist remarks and associations ultimately led to bipartisan condemnation and his loss to a primary challenger.

READ MORE: Trump Targets Biden, Not Antisemitism, After Boulder Terror Attack

“I firmly believe that when you get out there to the people, prove you’re trustworthy, you’re gonna earn votes no matter who the folks are,” Scholten, who is also a professional baseball player, said. “I know how to talk to folks who don’t always vote Democrat.”

“After her comments over the weekend, I’ve been thinking about it for a while but that’s when I just said: This is unacceptable and you’ve gotta jump in,” Scholten also said, according to the Sioux City Journal. “At the end of the day though it’s not about her, it’s not about me, it’s about the people of Iowa deserving better. I don’t think there’s anything worse that you could do than cut Medicaid, cut SNAP benefits for everyday Iowans just so you can give billionaires bigger tax breaks. That is not Iowa in my mind.”

Senator Ernst at a Friday morning town hall responded to constituents angered over legislation that would gut Medicaid, SNAP, and Medicaid, kicking nearly 14 million people off health coverage, including Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

READ MORE: ‘Makes My Blood Boil’: Top Trump Official’s ‘Lies’ Blasted

“Well, we’re all going to die,” Ernst declared, after one attendee had shouted out that “people will die” as a result of the House bill’s cuts to Medicaid and other programs. “For heaven’s sake,” she added moments later.

Ernst on Saturday released a video (below) in which she mocked her constituents and then encouraged them to embrace my lord and savior Jesus Christ. The video appeared to be recorded in a cemetery.

“I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize for a statement that 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. 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,” she said.

Watch Ernst’s “apology” video below or at this link.

Against all odds, Joni Ernst has made it worse pic.twitter.com/aElIudNmZG

— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) May 31, 2025

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President Donald Trump is using Sunday’s terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, to target President Joe Biden, blaming his predecessor for the suspect’s entry into the U.S., despite the individual having lawfully entered on a visa, which had later expired. While Trump condemned the attack and emphasized immigration policy, he did not explicitly describe the incident as antisemitic—a characterization used by several political leaders and his own administration officials.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called the suspect, now charged with a federal hate crime, an “illegal alien perpetrator.”

“Our prayers are with the victims and our Jewish community across the world,” Bondi’s statement reads, according to CNN. “This vile anti-Semitic violence comes just weeks after the horrific murder of two young Jewish Americans in Washington DC. We will never tolerate this kind of hatred. We refuse to accept a world in which Jewish Americans are targeted for who they are and what they believe.”

READ MORE: ‘Makes My Blood Boil’: Top Trump Official’s ‘Lies’ Blasted

The suspect has been charged with a “hate crime involving actual or perceived race, religion, or national origin.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt focused on the visas of potential terrorists.

“It is a privilege, not a right, to enter the United States of America, and we are not going to allow people who are pushing anti-American values and especially engaging in acts of violence to remain in our country. Your visa will be revoked, and you will be deported,” she said.

But President Trump appeared angered at President Biden, while not mentioning that the attack was, according to his own Department of Justice, antisemitic.

READ MORE: ‘Economic Ruination’: Trump Admits Tariffs Could Backfire, Fears Foreign Retaliation

“Yesterday’s horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America, Trump wrote on social media. “He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under ‘TRUMP’ Policy. Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland. My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the Great People of Boulder, Colorado!”

The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, “threw two homemade Molotov cocktails at members of an organization called Run For Their Lives — many of them elderly — who were holding a group walk to call attention to the plight of hostages held by Hamas following the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack,” reported The New York Post, citing a federal complaint. “Investigators say Soliman yelled “Free Palestine!” as he threw the homemade incendiary devices — 14 more of which were found in a black plastic container near the site of the attack.”

Image via Shutterstock

A claim by President Donald Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget is being met with strong criticism, including allegations of telling “lies.”

OMB Director Russell Vought, a self-described Christian nationalist and an architect of The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, claimed that the Trump budget bill—his so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill,” that critics charge is anything but—won’t lead to anyone losing health care coverage.

Critics and multiple analyses of the bill make clear that claim is false.

Asked about charges that “people will die” if the bill is enacted into law, with hundreds of billions in cuts to critical safety net programs including Medicaid and SNAP, Vought called the allegations “totally ridiculous,” and “astroturf.”

READ MORE: ‘Economic Ruination’: Trump Admits Tariffs Could Backfire, Fears Foreign Retaliation

“This bill will preserve and protect the programs, the social safety net, but it will make it much more common sense,” Vought claimed.

But the Congressional Budget Office’s report stated that the budget, or reconciliation bill would lead to an “increase in the federal deficit of $3.8 trillion,” “$698 billion less in federal subsidies from changes to the Medicaid program,” and “$267 billion less in federal spending for SNAP.”

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), citing the CBO’s report, states: “Roughly 15 million people by 2034 would lose health coverage and become uninsured.”

The CBO estimated that, for example, 7.6 million people would lose Medicaid, 1.8 million would lose Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) coverage, and another 4.2 million would lose coverage for subsidy non-renewal.

The Washington Post adds that “Similar conclusions have been reached from right- and left-leaning organizations, including the Tax Foundation, the Penn-Wharton Budget Model, the Manhattan Institute and the Center for American Progress.”

Vought also claimed that “one out of every five or six dollars in Medicaid is improper. We have illegal immigrants on the program. We don’t have able-bodied, working adults that don’t have a work requirement that they would have in TANF or even SNAP. And those are something that’s very important to institute. That’s what this bill does.”

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“No one will lose coverage as a result of this bill,” he insisted.

Retired U.S. Air Fore Colonel Moe Davis, a former Guantanamo Chief Prosecutor, pointed to a New York Times report titled, “Trump and Allies Sell Domestic Policy Bill With Falsehoods.”

Davis wrote that “Trump and his comrades…are using their favorite strategy that I’ve labeled MSU (Making S— Up) to deceive Americans about their Big Beautiful Wealth Transfer to the Rich Bill.”

Critics, meanwhile, are blasting Vought.

“This has become a routine talking point from the White House and Republicans — and its unambiguously a lie,” wrote MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS).

“The CBO says that approximately 7,600,000 people will lose coverage as a result of the bill’s Medicaid cuts,” wrote Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias. “An additional 1,800,000 will lose ACA exchange coverage due to cuts there. Failure to extend subsidy enhancements costs another 4,200,000 their insurance coverage.”

“Outrageous lies. In Ohio alone the state has said 770,000 people will lose coverage,” observed U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH).

“GOP response to credible estimates that ~8m people will lose insurance due to Medicaid cuts: 1) no one will lose coverage 2) only the freeloaders and bums will lose coverage (not deserving people like you!) 3) look we’re all going to die anyway,” noted MSNBC anchor Catherine Rampell, referring to Senator Joni Ernst’s remarks, among others.

“The White House is lying to you. At least 13.7 million Americans will lose their health care, according to the official non-partisan scorekeepers,” said U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), the Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee.

“This makes my blood boil,” commented former Biden OMB official Topher Spiro.

Watch the video below or at this link.

Vought blatantly lies about Medicaid cuts on CNN, claiming “no one will lose coverage as a result of this bill” pic.twitter.com/2OUR0EfQPf

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 1, 2025

READ MORE: ‘Afraid, Corrupt, or Don’t Care?’: Ernst Slammed for Trump Support at Fiery Town Hall

Image via Shutterstock