- I'm Joni Ernst. I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm.
- [Narrator] That's Joni Ernst. Giant Koch beneficiary,
staunch anti-choice U.S. senator from Iowa,
and an advocate of castrating hogs.
Ernst was born Joni Kay Culver
in Red Oak, Iowa, where she checked off just about
every box conservative voters in the Hawk-Eye state
are seemingly looking for.
"I grew up walking beans and feeding hogs.
My mom made all of my clothes.
We went to church every week." Ernst said.
After graduating as valedictorian of her 1988 class
at Stanton High School, Ernst attended Iowa State University
where she joined the ROTC.
"We didn't have much money, so I was fortunate to be able
to attend college with the help of academic
and leadership scholarships." She said.
But really, Ernst's family reportedly relied on
federal aid and raked in $463,000 in federal farm subsidies
between 1995 and 2009.
The Los Angeles Times notes:
"The database of farm subsidies dates back only to 1995,
when Ernst was already 25; but if that period
is any indication, her family
was probably doing quite nicely
even before then, thanks to her fellow taxpayers."
- My parents taught us to live within our means.
It's time to force Washington to do the same.
- [Narrator] While attending classes at Iowa State,
Ernst went on agricultural exchange
to the then Soviet Union, where her path
to serve the country was conceived.
"...I saw with my own eyes what a nation
without freedom looks like.
When I came home, I decided that it
wasn't enough for me to simply enjoy freedom and liberty.
I had to do my part to protect and preserve it."
- When I returned to the United States, I decided
the way I can give back is to serve my country.
- [Narrator] She stayed true to her word,
and served more than 20 years in the US Army Reserves,
and the Iowa National Guard.
She was assigned to units
in South Carolina, Georgia, Kansas, and Alabama.
- I'm someone that has served in the military
for over 22 years. I am a combat veteran.
- [Narrator] In 2011, Ernst decided
to serve her country again, this time in the State Senate,
where Ernst sponsored an amendment to outlaw abortion,
even in cases of rape and incest.
She even believed doctors should face criminal charges
for providing services.
- I think the provider should be punished
if there were a personhood amendment.
- [Narrator] In 2014, Ernst was elected to the U.S. Senate.
It wasn't easy at first, as Politico reports.
Ernst was hardly raising any money at all,
and she was just barely registering in the polls,
until she was given the infamous Koch treatment,
an all expenses paid trip straight to the Senate.
She was invited to a Koch summit in Albuquerque,
where she wooed over donors.
Months later, an operative named Carl Crowe,
someone who had worked for the Koch's before,
launched a nonprofit called Trees of Liberty,
which spent over $250,000 in television ads,
blasting Ernst's Republican opponent, Mark Jacobs,
not to be confused with American fashion designer,
Marc Jacobs.
Politico notes, "The ads swiped at Jacobs for supporting
a proposal to limit carbon emissions years earlier.
The measure was bitterly opposed by
the Koch public policy network,
as well as the brothers' multinational
industrial conglomerate, Koch Industries,
which would have been adversely affected
by the proposal."
Around the same time, the attack ads
against Jacobs launched, another Koch-adjacent nonprofit
went after Ernst's Democratic opponent Bruce Braley.
Politico again notes,
"She cruised to a lopsided primary victory
in the June 2014 primary and headed
into the general election in strong position
against Braley."
- I'm not sure that's what Senator Ernst
told the Koch brothers when she went
to their secret meetings.
- [Narrator] Ernst was in the spotlight for the first time.
And she owned it.
Her campaign ads received widespread attention
for obvious reasons.
- [Commercial Announcer] And once she sets her sights
on Obamacare, Joni's gonna unload.
(gunshots fire)
- [Narrator] While she did have stellar campaign ads,
about shooting Obamacare,
the bump she got from Team Koch was perhaps most vital.
Ernst paid another visit to the private Koch summit
where a secret recording revealed a message she
gave donors for their crucial role in
essentially putting her on the path to the Senate.
- This group...really started my trajectory.
- [Narrator] Ernst defeated Bruce Braley
by 8.5 percentage points to become Iowa's
first female Senator in 2014.
In the Senate, Ernst has been lock-stepped with Trump,
although it's unclear exactly where Ernst,
a proud owner of a Harley Davidson,
stood when Trump backed a boycott on the bike.
It is clear just how much she's backed his agenda.
Ernst has voted with the former steak salesman
nearly 92 percent of the time over her career.
She has supported both his judicial and executive
branch nominees, including Brett Kavanaugh.
Support that perplexed some when months
after his confirmation hearings, she told Bloomberg News
that she was raped in college.
"I didn't want to share it with anybody,
and in the era of hashtag-MeToo survivors,
I always believed that every person is different
and they will confront their demons
when they're ready." She said.
As a survivor of sexual assault fair enough,
it could lead many to wonder why Ernst would lobby
her fellow senators to confirm someone
who faced credible allegations of sexual assault.
- I urge my colleagues to put aside partisan
gimmicks and games, and support the confirmation
of Brett Kavanaugh.
- [Narrator] In addition to backing Kavanaugh,
Ernst also backed Trump's massive tax cut
for the richest families and largest corporations.
She's a staunch opponent of the Affordable Care Act,
and wants to shoot it with a gun.
(country music plays)
- [Commercial Announcer] Oh, and one more thing,
Joni doesn't miss much.
- [Narrator] Ernst also backed Trump's declaration
of the national emergency at the border,
which even twelve Republicans thought was wild.
- As we have had so many accomplishments
in the Trump administration.
- [Narrator] Ernst is up for reelection in 2020,
and her conservative-leaning battleground state of Iowa,
which Trump easily won in 2016.
With the help of a little Koch money
and Trump changing his tune about Harley Davidson,
Ernst might just hop back on it and cruise
to another six year term in the United States Senate.
(crowd cheering)
(Ernst laughs)
(crowd cheering)
- That's right.