Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)– a proud mom and new grandma, as she boasts — told Larry Kudlow on FOX that “Senate Republicans, the GOP and President Trump really worked hard to overturn Roe v. Wade.” Asked specifically by Kudlow to address the Arizona Supreme Court ruling creating a near-total abortion ban that “a lot of people are running away from,” Ernst admits “we worked hard to get this result.”
The Biden-Harris campaign shared Ernst’s interview without commenting on it, again betting that the unpopular Republican intransigence on the abortion issue will become a self-inflicted electoral wound.
Q: The Arizona Supreme Court upheld a near-total abortion ban that was first enacted in 1864. What do you make of it?
GOP Sen. Ernst: Senate Republicans, the GOP, and President Trump worked hard to overturn Roe. We worked very hard to get this result pic.twitter.com/d6wrnaMXhI
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) April 9, 2024
Popular social media political commentator AngryStafter contended that Ernst “didn’t get the memo” and that she reveals — rather than conceals — the true GOP goal of a nationwide ban in her statement.
AngryStaffer writes: “The GOP is supposed to be pretending to be upset by this result for campaigning purposes. Whether they admit it or not, this is exactly what they wanted, and they’re going to pay for it at the ballot box.” Kudlow gave Ernst a chance to duck and cover, admitting others were “running away” — but she owned the result. Many commenters pointed out that Ernst wears a broad smile as she contemplates the Arizona ruling.
As usual, Ernst missed the memo.
The GOP is supposed to be pretending to be upset by this result for campaigning purposes.
Whether they admit it or not, this is exactly what they wanted, and they’re going to pay for it at the ballot box. https://t.co/yWBy2WcgHX
— Angry Staffer (@Angry_Staffer) April 10, 2024
The GOP’s national election strategy is push abortion regulations — as the SCOTUS Dobbs decision allowed — to the states, which can then make their own laws, as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said in his video on the issue this week. That’s what happened in Arizona this week and in Florida last week, though Florida’s Supreme Court, while upholding a 6-week ban, also allowed abortion to go on the ballot in November.
Unlike the official campaign position, Ernst’s comments indicate that the post-election strategy may involve more “hard work” to “get this result” as she says, not just in Arizona but elsewhere. That hard push would follow a pre-election pose that looks more moderate and hands-off from the federal standpoint.
Another clue to the larger goal that social media users are bringing up is evident in how Trump’s states-centric position video this week contradicts what he told a town hall in 2023, which is that there “has to be some sort of punishment” for women who have abortions. See below:
NEVER FORGET that time trump said “there has to be some form of punishment” for women getting an abortion.
Don’t let anyone forget.
RT the hell out of this. pic.twitter.com/0hzbgpB5Sb
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) November 8, 2023