Froma Harrop, syndicated columnist

What do you do about Joni Ernst? The Republican senator from Iowa is being mocked by liberal media and beyond for her snarky response to a question about cuts in Medicaid: “We all are going to die.”

That clumsy remark has been skewered for its insensitivity, but its greater significance lies in the bigger issue. Ernst answers to Donald Trump and no one else.

She is not alone in this. Bowing down to Trump’s demands and caving in to MAGA threats have turned several Republicans against the people who voted for them.

Elon Musk has just called Trump’s tax-and-spending bill a “disgusting abomination,” thus freeing more Republicans to express their doubts. Some House members now express regrets about voting for it. Their excuse is that they didn’t quite read it.

Think about that. They regard not doing their job as less politically damaging than owning up to their vote.

More than one in five Iowans receive Medicaid benefits. Rural hospitals will be especially hard hit by the cuts, but so will other medical centers serving large Medicaid populations. Even before the Republican House voted to chop over $700 billion from the program, 28 Iowa hospitals were at risk of closing, according to Becker’s Hospital Review.

As the Senate considered the nomination of Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary, Ernst was riding high as one of the holdouts. A handful of other Senate Republicans wouldn’t go along, giving Ernst the power to ditch a candidate known for sexual assault, drunkenness and abuse of corporate funds. Worse, Hegseth had little experience relevant to heading the department tasked with defending America from foreign attack. He was just a pretty boy on Fox News.

A combat veteran, Ernst made some impassioned objections to the appointment. But when the MAGA brigade threatened her reelection with a primary challenge, she forgot all about national security.

She explained her decision to cave as follows: “I will be supporting President Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth.” In other words, she was doing it for Trump.

American soldiers risk their lives for the country. Ernst was one. But then she changed shape into a politician who wouldn’t even risk reelection, that is, a job, for the country.

In her service to Trump, she turned out to be not very good at politics either. Ernst’s attempted recovery from her unfortunate “we are all going to die” comment was a not-very-clever video on Instagram, foolishly staged in a cemetery. Screwing her face up in a look of pain, she apologized for any misunderstanding. Then she made a failed stab at humor, saying, “I’m really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the Tooth Fairy as well.”

She further insulted the audience by stating, “I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this Earth.” That also diverted attention from the issue at hand. The voters weren’t demanding immortality, just medical care that would enable them to live longer, healthier lives.

If she really wanted fuller recovery from some awkward moments Ernst could have looked straight at the camera and say, “You know? I’m going to vote against a bill that would deprive so many of my constituents of the most basic health care.” And if she wanted to nail down her conservative bona fides, she should have added, “I’m also not voting for tax cuts that blow up federal deficits by trillions.”

Chances are excellent that she will vote for whatever Trump wants. That’s the real problem with Joni Ernst. It’s not a stray comment. It’s straying from her duty to her constituents and the country.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.