Costa: Joni Ernst Will Be ‘an Example of the Nationalization of the Republican Politics in the Trump Era’

‘She feels she needs the Trump voters in Iowa to come out’

EXCERPT:

COSTA: "Joe, I was in Iowa with Senator Ernst a few months ago, she was there with Vice President Pence, and it was clear that she has embraced the Trump White House as an ally. And she has continued to be an ally for President Trump and Vice President Pence, but she feels like she’s in a corner politically. Doesn’t want to break from him necessarily. When you talk to her allies, they say they’re trying to find a way, I wrote about this in 'The Post' last week, trying to find a way to navigate the choppy waters. One way they're doing it is having her target the Environmental Protection Agency, talking about the regulations there. She wishes the Trump Administration would do more. So picking a bit of a spot politically, picking that shot at the EPA but never really taking a shot ever at President Trump, his conduct, his ethics, his political positioning, because she feels she needs those Trump voters in Iowa to come out. But if she goes, this is her first re-election, she was elected in 2014, she will be, as you say, an example of the nationalization of Republican politics in the Trump era."

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