Ernst blasts Trump but he has her vote

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst was emphatic last week when she said she can’t defend comments Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made more than a decade ago.But, at the same, she won’t dump Trump.“I am not even going to try to defend those comments,” Ernst said Thursday during a stop in New Hampton, “and I’m very disappointed in them. ... But I think you have to look at the larger picture, and our platform is much, much better for American than Hillary Clinton and the Democrats.”Ernst visited New Hampton as part of her pledge to visit all 99 Iowa counties each year, and she toured TriMark before holding a short press conference at the New Hampton Community Center.And Trump dominated the 10-minute affair.A firestorm broke out when a video of Trump making sexist comments in 2005 was leaked earlier this month, and the Republican has taken a nosedive in the polls.A number of major Republican leaders — including U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan — dropped their endorsements of Trump.Ernst, in fact, was the lone female senator to not drop her endorsement although Nebraska Sen. Deb Fisher re-endorsed the GOP standard bearer earlier on Thursday.“We have a lot of excellent candidates on the ballot,” Ernst said, “and I think it would be a disaster for us to have Hillary Clinton as president and the Democrats take control of Congress.”Ernst, who was elected in 2014 and is not on the ballot this fall, blasted what she called Clinton’s “failed policies” as secretary of state.For the complete story see the 10/18/2016 New Hampton Tribune.