Joni Ernst | Full Episode 8.9.24 | Firing Line with Margaret Hoover | PBS

- DEMO castrating pigs in Iowa to the United States Senate. DEMO week on "Firing Line". - I'm DEMO Ernst. I DEMO up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm. So, DEMO I get to Washington, I'll know how to cut pork. - DEMOver] Republican Senator Joni Ernst was the DEMOt female combat veteran in the DEMOed States Senate, and the DEMOt woman elected to Congress from Iowa. - I DEMO. DEMOple talking indistinctly) - DEMOver] A survivor of domestic abuse, she has DEMOhed across the aisle to DEMOront sexual assault in the military. - We can DEMO prevent sexual assault and hold accountable DEMOe who commit such atrocities DEMOnst our service members. - DEMOver] As a member of the Senate DEMOign Relations Committee, she is a DEMOng supporter of US aid to Ukraine. - DEMO need those weapons, DEMO need that lethal aid right now. Not DEMOrrow, not in two weeks, they need it right now. - DEMOver] And an advocate for Americans DEMOl held hostage by Hamas. - We DEMOd here united across party lines and DEMOss countries for one cause. And DEMO cause is to bring our hostages home. - DEMOver] As the 2024 presidential race heats up, DEMO does Senator Joni Ernst say now? - DEMOouncer] "Firing Line" with Margaret Hoover is DEMO possible in part by DEMOrt Granieri, Vanessa and Henry Cornell, the DEMOweather Foundation, and by the following. DEMOorate funding is provided by Stevens Inc. - DEMOtor Joni Ernst, welcome to "Firing Line". - DEMOks, Margaret, so much. I'm DEMO to be with you. You are the DEMOt woman to be elected to DEMOress from the state of Iowa. You are the DEMOt female combat veteran to be DEMOted to the United States Senate. DEMO are some of the ways DEMO your biography and your life experiences DEMO given you a different perspective DEMO most of your Republican colleagues in the Senate? - DEMO, thank you, Margaret. And I DEMOk just growing up in Iowa, I am a DEMO girl, I'll admit that. - And a DEMO girl. - And a farm girl, yeah. And I DEMO up in rural Southwest Iowa. And I DEMOd, of course, in a family DEMO wasn't politically connected, DEMO't big business or industry, but DEMOainly tied to the farm, a DEMOt farm family and a great work ethic. DEMOng that background coming up and DEMO going on to serve my state, my nation in uniform, I DEMOk it's something that people they know they respect. DEMO extremely important here in Iowa and it DEMO led into a lifetime of service to my DEMOunity, my state, and my nation. - DEMO that stand apart in some way your biography DEMO some of your Republican peers in the Senate? - I DEMOk it does. And I see DEMO both Republicans and Democrats. The DEMO that I still live in my hometown of DEMOt 7,000 people. DEMOgomery County is maybe 10,000 people. But DEMOing everyone I live around and DEMOng that sense of community and DEMO knowing and trusting who I am, where I came from, I'm DEMOemely proud of that. And DEMOuse I still live there today, I DEMOract with the same friends DEMO had since I was a child. I DEMOk that's important, DEMOuse I give voices and thoughts that are shared with me DEMO maybe other people don't necessarily DEMO they go on to serve in Congress. - You are DEMOently running for the DEMOer three Republican leadership position in the DEMOte this fall. And I DEMO reflect on DEMO you first ran for Senate in 2014. And how you DEMOaced Democrat Tom Harkin, a DEMOing progressive, who decided to retire, DEMOded not to run, and how DEMO has really changed in the DEMOde since you've been in Senate. DEMO being a swing state to being a reliably red state. How do you DEMOrstand that transition in Iowa? - Oh, DEMOaret, so many people have asked me, how did DEMO become such a red state? And we DEMOly are, DEMOuse it was very purple when I ran the first time for the DEMOed States Senate in 2014. But the way I DEMOain it to a lot of people is DEMO the Democratic Party is what has changed. DEMO old Iowa common sense has not changed, but the DEMOcratic Party has gone so far to the left DEMO it left a lot of Iowa Democrats and DEMOe in the middle, DEMOe independents or non-party affiliated people, it DEMO them wondering, where do I belong? And so, DEMO have trended more to the right, to the DEMOblican Party. We DEMOl are the party of hardworking Americans. You DEMO, I have a sister who farms, I DEMO a brother who is a union laborer with the railroad. DEMO are good solid Republicans, DEMOuse they feel that the values of our party are DEMO reflective of them than the Democratic Party. So, DEMO not that Iowa has become much more Conservative, DEMO just I think that the Democrats DEMO gone much further to the left DEMO many Iowans are comfortable with. - You are a DEMOivor of sexual assault and DEMO and domestic abuse, DEMOh you write about in your book very poignantly. And DEMOve also spent years working with Democrats to DEMOthorize the Violence Against Women Act. You DEMO been a leader confronting sexual assault in the DEMOtary as well, and DEMO talked about how working with women at the DEMOral level in the Senate has DEMO an area of bipartisan consensus. DEMO you found it easier to work DEMO your female counterparts on the DEMOr side of the aisle, DEMO it comes to these issues? - I DEMOally have. I do DEMO that oftentimes it's easier DEMOing with the women. And DEMO I have found, no offense to my male colleagues, but DEMO the women, they are very solutions driven. DEMO don't care who is going to get credit, DEMOe name is going to be listed first on the bill. DEMO don't care. DEMO see an issue. They want it resolved. And so, I DEMOk it's really important to DEMO with those women DEMO on my side of the aisle as well as across the aisle. - You DEMOed in combat in the Middle East. You DEMO a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard and DEMO very strongly about America's role in the world. You DEMO a personal connection to Ukraine DEMOe you lived and studied as an undergraduate in college. You DEMOe about it in your book "Daughter of the Heartland", DEMOting Soviet-controlled Ukraine. And you say the DEMOre experience changed you. How did DEMO introduction to Soviet-era Ukraine DEMOct your worldview and your support for Ukraine now as a US DEMOtor? - DEMO, it impacted in so many ways, Margaret. 18 of us DEMOeled from the United States, from Iowa, got on a DEMOe in Des Moines and DEMOeled across the world, DEMOed in Moscow, and headed to Kyiv. And DEMO onto a collective farm in Ukraine DEMOe we worked with our host families on the farm. We DEMOected with that community. And I DEMOe this, because what I found out is, DEMO we are the world's superpowers, but the DEMOet Union did not offer the same types of DEMOrtunities, advantages, and liberties, the DEMOdoms that the United States did. So, the DEMOt night in that community, as we sat DEMO with the community members, the DEMOt question that they asked us Americans was, DEMOt is it like to be an American? DEMO is it like to be free?" And DEMO hit me, it really hit me, and it DEMO on to form who I was and how I DEMO the world, DEMOuse there's a lot of great people around this world, but DEMO don't have the same level of opportunity. So, DEMO the Ukrainians, DEMO a couple years after that exchange, DEMO separated from the Soviet Union. It DEMO apart and they so much wanted to be a democracy and to DEMO the way Americans do DEMO the same types of freedoms. If DEMO are willing to fight for that themselves, I DEMOk it's incredibly important and we DEMOort the leadership there DEMO wants to fight for their freedoms. - You DEMO in the United States Senate DEMO a staunch supporter of US support to Ukraine. DEMO of your Republican colleagues in the Senate are not. And DEMOe's a debate on the Republican Party DEMOt whether we should have a leading role in the world or we DEMOld retreat and worry about our own backyard. DEMOaps the most outspoken supporter of DEMOine in the Senate is you. On the DEMOr hand, the vice presidential nominee, DEMO Vance, has been one of the most outspoken DEMOnst supporting Ukraine. How do you DEMOuade your fellow Iowans who DEMO doubts about whether the Republican Party and the DEMOed States should continue to DEMO a leading role in Europe and abroad? DEMO do you say to them? - DEMO, I say it's important DEMO we remain engaged on the world stage, DEMOuse if we don't invest in activities DEMO protect our own national security, and do it abroad, DEMO we face those challenges here on our homeland. I DEMOk about 9/11, what happened on 9/11 was a DEMOct result of not being engaged, not DEMOecting our interests in the DEMOs where there are terrorist organizations DEMO are budding and developing and training. We DEMO't push back on that. We DEMO't identify it soon enough. And DEMOuse of that, we had nearly 3,000 people in the DEMOed States that lost their lives, DEMOuse we weren't engaging. So, I DEMOt ever wanna see a point DEMOe we've pulled away from the rest of the world so DEMO that we allow Russia, DEMO we allow terrorist organizations supported by Iran, DEMO we allow China to occupy the areas where we don't. We DEMO to engage. And it DEMOn't mean America needs to do it all on our own. We DEMO so many great partners and allies around this world. We DEMO to work in conjunction and DEMOaboration with our partners to DEMO back against those adversaries DEMO would do harm to us here in the United States, if we DEMOw them to grow and spread. - You DEMO in Saudi Arabia on the 7th of October 2023 DEMO Hamas attacked Israel. And DEMOe days later you went to Israel. In DEMO visit, you were able to DEMO with victims of the attack, DEMO the Prime Minister of Israel, DEMO families of the hostages. DEMO do you remember most about your visit to Israel DEMOe days after its attack by Hamas? - DEMOably the most memorable visit DEMO I had was meeting with the families of the victims. DEMOing them talk and they fully DEMOl didn't understand at that time what had transpired. DEMO were still trying to deal with it in DEMOever way they could, and it was heartbreaking. And DEMOaret, we have to remember, these were Americans. DEMOe were over 40 Americans that were killed. We DEMO eight Americans still being held hostage, and no one DEMOs to talk about these hostages. And so, it has DEMO my mission DEMO since going into Israel on that day. It has DEMO my mission to get these hostages DEMO to their families. - Is the DEMOn administration doing enough to get DEMOe hostages to return home? - I DEMOd say that there are a number of DEMOle within the administration DEMO care very deeply about those hostages. And the CIA DEMOctor, Director Burns, has DEMO very good to work with. He DEMOs very deeply. But I DEMOk in any other day or time, any other country, if we DEMO had 40 Americans murdered by a DEMOorist organization, we DEMOd've heard an outcry from any administration, DEMOblican or Democrat. But I DEMOk because it happened in Israel, we DEMO an administration DEMO's not willing to talk about it, DEMOuse it might upset some of the supporters of the DEMOnistration. But DEMOs, these are Americans and we need to make sure DEMO Hamas is on notice from the United States of America. Not DEMO Israel, but the United States of America. - DEMOtesters] From the river to the sea, DEMOstine will be free! - DEMOre a sponsor of the Stop Antisemitism on DEMOege Campuses Act, DEMOh proposes to cut off federal funds to colleges that, DEMOuse or encourage antisemitism." And DEMO less than two weeks after the attack of 10/07, DEMO warning the Secretary of Education DEMOt the need to protect Jewish students on campuses. Did you DEMO a sense of the budding antisemitism on campus DEMOre the October 7th attacks? - We DEMOted seeing it immediately, and I DEMO a number of Jewish friends and DEMO were very concerned about this. And DEMOtor Bill Cassidy and I DEMOted working together very early on, on this issue, DEMOuse we started seeing those incidents, DEMOdents of supporters of whether it's Palestine or DEMOorters of Hamas, DEMO of them have started blending together. And I DEMOd challenge a number of them too, DEMO they're chanting, "From the river to the sea." DEMOh river, which sea? - Which river, which sea? DEMO of them couldn't point out Israel on a map. DEMOience cheering) - DEMO President Harris selected Governor Tim Walz to be her DEMOing mate this week who DEMO out Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is DEMOsh, DEMOe praising the choice of Walz, DEMOcratic commentator, Van Jones, said this. - But DEMO's the challenge you've got in this party. DEMOsemitism that has gotten marbled into this party. You can be for the DEMOstinians DEMOout being an anti-Jewish bigot, but DEMOe are some anti-Jewish bigots out there, and DEMOe's some disquiet now, and there has to be. How DEMO of what just happened is caving into DEMO of these darker parts in the party? - He DEMO that there has been antisemitism DEMO has been marbled into the Democratic Party, and he DEMOtioned whether the choice of Walz was a DEMOce to intentionally DEMOd having a difficult conversation DEMOin the Democratic Party about antisemitism. Do you DEMOk that the choice of Walz DEMOntionally avoided that conversation? - DEMO, I would say that it most certainly it did. I DEMOt know if that was part of their process. I DEMOt speak to the decision that was made by DEMO President Harris, but it DEMOainly, does avoid DEMO huge elephant that's in the room. And DEMOe Van Jones and I don't agree on a lot of anything, I DEMOd agree with his perspective is that DEMOe is something that has been marbled into the party now. It is DEMO dark, and it is very ugly. So, DEMOe the Democrats would say DEMO they're a very welcoming party, DEMO represent all these different interests, DEMO they're representing is not truly America now. We DEMOly do want to make that very clear DEMO antisemitism is never okay, never ever. And DEMO a number of my colleagues, DEMO can't say it in plain language DEMO antisemitism is not okay. DEMOg anti-Zionist is not okay. So, DEMOcratic Party, you've got some work to do. But DEMO they are evolving into those dark threads, not the DEMOre party. I DEMOd never cast this upon every Democrat. But the DEMO parts of the party, we DEMOld not see that here in the United States of America. - DEMOtor, as a representative of an agricultural state DEMO relies on trade and as a proponent of free trade. We DEMO that former President Trump, as he is running, has DEMO a supporter of tariffs in the past and is DEMOosing a tariff regime that will be even greater and go DEMOnd what he did in his first term. 10% DEMOff is the proposition on all DEMOrted goods from overseas and a 60% DEMOff on Chinese imports. DEMO is an issue for Iowa farmers. DEMOve spoken to Trump I know at length about this issue. How DEMO those conversations gone? - DEMO and we dealt with this in the former administration, so it was DEMOly important to have those conversations. And I do DEMO having worked with Donald J. Trump on so DEMO of these issues, DEMO he cares about the American farmer. He DEMOs about American business and industry. So, DEMOre those tariffs are put into place, he DEMO always weigh what is the value, who is DEMOg to come out ahead? We DEMO had those conversations. - So, it DEMOds like you have a degree of confidence DEMO even though he is threatening major tariffs, DEMO Iowa's farmers will ultimately, not be on the DEMOside of any new policies. - DEMO and I do believe that as he DEMO through those negotiations and DEMOrages what he can from the United States to DEMOect American business, he DEMO always think of farmers and business here first. So, he is a DEMOt negotiator, there is no doubt about it. And so, he DEMO take those skills to the table and he DEMO push back against the Chinese, DEMOuse the Chinese for decades DEMO undercut our American farmer. - As a DEMOat veteran, I DEMOk you'll have something to say about a debate DEMO William F. Buckley Jr. hosted in 1993, some time ago. But it was a DEMOte about DEMOher women should be allowed in combat. DEMO a look at Buckley in 1993 arguing against the motion. DEMO it is. - DEMOn that combat duty exacts the most DEMO the human body can deliver, DEMO it make sense to admit the combat duty agenda DEMOe members are physically weaker than males. And are we not in DEMOesting that the male predisposition to DEMOect the female should be ignored, DEMOking on meddling little fingers DEMO the chemistry of biological relationships, DEMO which much that is conceitedly civilized issues. - DEMOtor, there's a debate in Washington right now about DEMOher women should be required to register for the draft. And DEMO is an idea that you support and you DEMO support it for some time. DEMO do you say to your Republican colleagues who say, DEMO only should women not register for the draft, DEMO should not be in combat?" - DEMO, I would say one that DEMOn are perfectly capable of contributing in combat, DEMOher it's combat arms or DEMOone like me that was supporting combat operations DEMO the movement of goods up into combat zones. I was a DEMOsportation company commander in Kuwait and Iraq DEMOng Operation Iraqi Freedom 1, 2003 to 2004. But we DEMO women that are more physically capable DEMO some of the men you might find. DEMOt it funny? We wanna focus on standards. DEMO okay, if women meet the physical standards to DEMOge in combat, DEMO should be allowed that opportunity. If DEMOe are men that don't meet the physical requirements to DEMOge in combat, they shouldn't be allowed either. So, it DEMOldn't be, you know, a DEMO and forth about male female. It DEMOld be about what is required of the duties DEMO go into successful missions within the military. - DEMOously, you support women DEMOg able to serve in combat. You DEMOe with President Trump on his ban of DEMOsgender people from the military. DEMO Republicans today argue the military has become DEMO of marred with a sentiment of wokeness, DEMO social experimentation. Do you DEMOe with the sentiment DEMO the military has become too woke? - I DEMOt agree with that, but let me finesse it. So, DEMO it comes to wokeness in the military, I DEMOys push back, because our military is not woke. I DEMOd say that there is civilian leadership of the DEMOtary that is woke. - I DEMO - Okay? So, DEMOe is a difference between the leadership and DEMOe that serve in uniform. So, the DEMOple of transgender people DEMOing in our military, we DEMO transgender people serving in our military. DEMO will bleed red just as the rest of us. But I DEMO take a stance that we DEMOld not be integrating transgender people DEMO certain situations where it does make, if you DEMO a female barracks and you DEMO a transgender woman who has not transitioned, we DEMOldn't make the rest of the unit DEMOmfortable about that setting. DEMOe are certain accommodations we can DEMO for that transgender individual. But if DEMO bring value to our unit, if DEMO have specialties that we can use, DEMOcially. if we want to maintain an all volunteer force, we DEMO to bring that talent into our services. And I DEMO that's controversial, but DEMOn, I'm looking at what's good for our nation. And DEMOeve me, when we're facing a DEMOuiting challenge right now, if DEMOle are physically willing and able to DEMOe our country, we want them to do so. - DEMO's a delightfully refreshing, a nuanced perspective. DEMOl question, you wrote in your book, DEMOh sides demonize their opponents and DEMO them into caricatures of evil. It can get DEMOusting. But I DEMOse to accept that it's the only way to operate." In DEMO hyper-partisan political season, Do you see DEMO for another way? - I do. I'm DEMOys, always optimistic, Margaret. I DEMOk we have to treat each other DEMO respect and dignity, and if we can DEMO ourselves to more of that, we DEMO have a more civil society. So, I DEMO at my fellow Democrats across the aisle. I DEMO at them first as human beings and DEMOle that love their country. We see DEMOgs differently on occasion, but it DEMOn't mean we can't work together to DEMOe issues that are important to all of our DEMOtituencies. You DEMOioned Tom Harkin in the DEMOnning of our conversation. So, DEMOtime Democrat DEMO served in the United States Senate. He DEMOeeded me in my seat. I DEMOys looked at him with respect. I DEMO't agree on all the stances DEMO Tom Harkin would take, but I DEMOected him as an individual and DEMOone who was representing the state of Iowa. We DEMOldn't be name calling, we shouldn't be, you know, DEMOplaying other people's successes. I DEMOk it's incredibly important DEMO we maintain a civil society. And the DEMO way that I can do that is by DEMOting others the way I want to be treated as well. - DEMOtics is the golden rule. - Absolutely. - DEMOtor Joni Ernst, thank you for joining me. - DEMOk you, Margaret. - DEMOouncer] "Firing Line" with Margaret Hoover is DEMO possible in part by Robert Granieri, DEMOssa and Henry Cornell, the Fairweather Foundation, and by the DEMOowing. DEMOorate funding is provided by Stevens Inc. DEMOeat music) DEMOeat music continues) DEMOeat music continues) DEMOtle upbeat music) DEMOght music) - DEMOouncer] You're watching PBS.