Ex-Obama Adviser Knocks Joni Ernst's Town Hall Fumble In 1 Blunt Takedown
David Axelrod, ex-senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, on Monday bluntly criticized Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) for sarcastically saying 'we are all going to die' at a town hall in response to constituents' fears over GOP-backed Medicaid cuts.
'People will be affected, when you take seven, eight, nine million people off of Medicaid, there will be people who will die,' Axelrod told CNN's Jake Tapper.
Ernst doubled down on her heavily criticized comments by posting a non-apology video, seemingly filmed in a cemetery, on social media.
Axelrod wasn't having any of it.
'It was really insensitive of her to put that video up and politically stupid,' he said.
Ernst's dismissive remarks — which sparked a sea of jeers from the town hall crowd in Parkersburg, Iowa, on Friday — were in response to concerns over proposed cuts outlined in President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' that looks to slash $1 trillion from federal health and food programs.
The response to Ernst has led Iowa state Rep. J.D. Scholten (D) — who once nearly unseated white supremacist and ex-U.S. Rep. Steve King in 2018 — to announce that he plans to challenge her in next year's primary, telling Politico on Monday that she 'disrespected' Iowans with her remarks.
'We're taking them off [Medicaid], so billionaires can have a second yacht, so they can have a bigger tax break,' Scholten said.
'We have a system that's geared towards and favors billionaires and huge multinational corporations, and that's not working for most of Iowa.'
Ernst told CBS News on Monday that she's 'very compassionate' and claimed that people 'need to listen to the entire conversation' from the event.
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Newsweek
31 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Parts of Trump Coalition 'Disillusioned' as Musk Rips 'Big, Beautiful Bill'
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Musk has also faced fierce backlash amid his drastic cuts to the budget, including thousands of federal jobs, and the dismantling of entire agencies. Amid the uproar, Tesla cars and property have been targeted and torched across the United States as protesters demonstrated against Musk's appointment as an unelected official. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty What To Know The reconciliation bill, or the "big, beautiful bill" as Trump calls it, is a key avenue for Republicans to push forward the White House agenda following widespread GOP election victories in November. Key GOP holdouts in the House and Senate have voiced opposition to the bill over fears of raising the national debt, among other concerns. In a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, Musk ripped the piece of legislation, saying, "I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it." The White House reacted to Musk's condemnation on Tuesday, as press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in part, "Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn't change the president's opinion." In a new post to X on Wednesday, Musk doubled down: "A new spending bill should be drafted that doesn't massively grow the deficit and increase the debt ceiling by 5 TRILLION DOLLARS." The Republican infighting is a distinct turn from Musk's MAGA loyalty and near constant presence alongside the president during his second term. "Musk's attacking Trump's bill that the House passed highlights the conflict among Republicans, especially now in the Senate, over passage of this reconciliation bill purposefully designed to avoid needing 60 votes and a Democratic filibuster. If it does not pass the Senate or otherwise not make it to Trump's desk by the summer, it will at minimum greatly embarrass the Trump administration," Columbia political science professor Robert Y. Shapiro told Newsweek via email Tuesday. "This embarrassment also puts Republicans in the Senate and the House in a tough spot, since this could affect Republican control of the House and also even put control of the Senate in jeopardy. This is all currently the Senate responsibility. And Trump needs this control of Congress to pass legislation and to prevent a Democratic controlled House especially from starting investigations of his unconstitutional acts as president and also blatant corruption in using the presidency to enhance his family's and his wealth," Shapiro added. He also said that Musk's jab at the bill "may make this only marginally more difficult" for Trump, while noting that he still has his MAGA base backing him. On the other hand, D. Stephen Voss, political science professor at the University of Kentucky, told Newsweek via email, in part, on Wednesday: "Parts of the Trump coalition are becoming disillusioned with the way he's governing. Elon Musk's defection from the White House is just one high-profile example of the disillusionment with Trump being seen among right-leaning libertarian types, who are bothered by Trump's willingness to grow government and increase executive power." "But that's not the only slippage," Voss added. "Consider, for example, disillusionment with Trump being expressed by the Hispanic voters who put him over the top in 2024. As Trump's public support slips, that's going to turn into less Republican party unity in D.C. The increasingly noisy opposition to Trump might not stop him from getting some version of his omnibus budget bill, but either way, it will make it harder for him to govern in the months ahead." Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump field a question from reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by) Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump field a question from reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by) What People Are Saying Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted to X on Tuesday: "Do I like the price tag of the One Big Beautiful Bill? No. But we're still stuck with Biden's CR that funds tons of foreign aid and woke garbage at home and abroad. Passing the OBBB is a critical step toward delivering the America First MAGA mandate voters gave us in November." Greene added, "I'm focused on passing the @DOGE cuts that Elon and his team helped craft and I'm grateful he launched this effort." Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, responding to Musk on X Tuesday: "Federal spending has become excessive The resulting inflation harms Americans And weaponizes government The Senate can make this bill better It must now do so" Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, also on X Tuesday in response to Musk: "I agree with Elon. We have both seen the massive waste in government spending and we know another $5 trillion in debt is a huge mistake. We can and must do better." Trump, on Truth Social Tuesday: "Rand Paul has very little understanding of the BBB, especially the tremendous GROWTH that is coming. He loves voting "NO" on everything, he thinks it's good politics, but it's not. The BBB is a big WINNER!!!" What Happens Next Trump has handed down a deadline for Senate Republicans to get the bill passed and on his desk before July 4th. It is unclear if Republican senators will garner enough votes to get it done in roughly one month.
Politico
35 minutes ago
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‘Wake-up call': Ukraine drone strike exposes dangers to US aircraft
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Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas lawmakers hear concerns about bill to require proof of citizenship for voting
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Officials with the Texas Secretary of State's Office told lawmakers on April 24 that they estimate around 500,000 currently registered voters who don't have a driver's license number or Social Security number in their voter registration record would have to provide proof of citizenship. That group could include many people who registered before the early 2000s, when federal voting laws began requiring people obtaining state-issued IDs or driver's licenses to provide proof of citizenship or lawful presence in the U.S. Election officials said many are likely elderly. HB 5337 is identical to Senate Bill 16, which passed the state Senate along party lines and with little debate earlier this month. The House version of the legislation is co-sponsored by 50 Republican lawmakers. The legislation is modeled after an Arizona law that requires proof of citizenship to vote in state and local elections. The Texas legislation would also bar voters who don't provide citizenship proof from voting in presidential elections; a similar restriction in Arizona has so far been blocked by federal courts. The Texas bills would also require local election officials to continually check the citizenship status of voters on their rolls—and subject the officials to potential felony charges if they lapse. In Arizona, a state error tracking proof of citizenship recently left election officials struggling to consistently administer the requirement. Republican lawmakers in Texas have for months been responding to a nationwide GOP campaign to raise alarm about the threat of noncitizen voting, even though available evidence shows it is extremely rare. In December, the Texas Secretary of State told the Legislature that in 2024, election officials cancelled 63 registrations for noncitizenship and 124 for failing to respond to a notice requesting proof of citizenship. Voters who failed to respond to a notice could still be citizens. During the Elections Committee hearing on April 24, state Rep. Carrie Isaac, a Dripping Springs Republican leading the push for the House version of the legislation, said the goal is to prevent all noncitizens from registering to vote. Isaac cited an announcement by Gov. Greg Abbott last fall that 6,500 noncitizens had been removed from Texas voter rolls prior to 2024. An investigation by Votebeat, Texas Tribune and ProPublica found Abbott's numbers were inflated and, in some instances, wrong. In a span of three years, the state actually removed 581 people as noncitizens. The remaining 6,000 or so were people who had failed to respond to a notice asking to confirm their citizenship, which doesn't mean they weren't citizens. The investigation indeed found that some eligible citizens had been flagged as potential noncitizens and removed from the rolls. State Rep. John Bucy, a Democrat from Austin and vice chair of the Elections Committee, described the data Isaac cited as 'misleading' and pointed out that election officials already check the rolls for potential noncitizens. 'The system we have is working,' Bucy told Isaac. 'We're catching people. We're cleaning the rolls, and they're not voting.' Isaac said the number of documented cases of noncitizens voting 'may seem small,' but said there was no reliable way to measure the scope of it 'because the current system doesn't require documentation of citizenship.' The bill would cost state officials nearly $2 million over the next five years to implement, according to the bill's fiscal note. That number doesn't include the costs for local election officials. Research suggests that lack of accessible citizenship documentation could be a more widespread issue than noncitizen voting. In Texas, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to lack documented proof of citizenship, a 2024 study by the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland found. One percent of Republicans do not have it, the researchers found, and 7% cannot easily access their documents, while nearly all Texas Democrats have documented proof, and 4% cannot easily access it. The study also found that younger Texans are three times more likely to have trouble accessing their documented proof of citizenship than older Texans. Under the legislation, voters could fulfill the requirement by providing any of the following: a copy of a U.S. passport; a passport card; a certified copy of a birth certificate issued by a U.S. state or territory; 'United States citizenship papers'; identification issued by the U.S. agency responsible for citizenship and immigration; or for citizens born outside the U.S., a consular report of birth abroad. Anyone who shows up to the polls who has yet to provide proof of citizenship will have six days to provide it in order for their full ballot to count. If a voter does not provide it, only the votes in congressional races will be counted. The list of accepted documents does not include tribal documents, which Arizona does accept. Cecilia Flores, the tribal council chairwoman for the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, which is located in East Texas, asked lawmakers on April 24 to include tribal documents in that list. In Arizona, a Votebeat analysis found voters living on tribal land were more likely to wind up on the federal-only voter list, signaling they may struggle to provide citizenship proof. 'While many of our tribal citizens may possess a proper birth certificate, my mother was born in 1928 and I have never seen her birth certificate,' Flores said. Bucy asked Isaac and other Republicans on the committee to consider amendments to the bill that would expand the type of acceptable IDs and documents. The House bill was left pending on April 24. The House and Senate must both pass the same version of the legislation, which would then go to Abbott for his signature. This story was produced by Votebeat and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
