Senator Did Not Claim Abolishing Lasagna Was a Liberal Goal
The Claim
Senator Joni Enst claimed that among “liberal fantasies” one is to abolish lasagna.
Emerging story
On April 28th, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst gave a presentation to congress in which she criticized the Biden administration ahead of the president’s inaugural address to congress. She claimed that instead of working for the good of the American people, Biden was only pursuing policies that placated the far left of the Democratic Party.
To support her statement, she presented a chart titled “Liberal Fantasy Island.” A viral version of this chart included unusual policies such as “sex blimps,” “only gay people get to go to restaurants,” and “abolish lasagna.”
Soon, the hashtag #AbolishLasagna started trending.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation has revealed that the image is an item of political satire. It is a doctored version of an original image of Ernst’s presentation, in which the Senator criticized purported liberal policies such as “ABOLISH I.C.E.” and “DEFUND THE POLICE.”
The satire image was first posted by the comedian Keaton Patti, who has produced a wide range of doctored images for the purpose of satire. For instance, when Congressman Matt Gaetz was embroiled in a sex-trafficking scandal, Patti posted an image of the congressman on Tucker Carlson Tonight with an altered caption that stated the following: “Gaetz: “I WASN’T AWARE LAWS EXISTED IN FLORIDA. I THOUGHT THIS STATE WAS LIKE THE PURGE BUT 24/7.” When Texas Senator Ted Cruz raised criticism after visiting Mexico while his state was in crisis, Patti posted a similarly doctored image. This time, he made it appear as if the senator was traveling to discover whether skeletons playing guitars were real, after seeing them in the movie Coco.
Some items in the doctored image of the “Liberal Fantasy Island” presentation were actually in Ernst’s original chart. These included expanding the court, making Washington D.C. a state, and enforcing the Green New Deal.
In the doctored image, the text stating TAX INCREASE was altered to SEX BLIMPS. DEFUND THE POLICE was altered to MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, END THE FILIBUSTER NOW was altered to Only Gay People Get To Go To Restaurants and ABOLISH I.C.E. was altered to ABOLISH LASAGNA.
As some have pointed out, many of the items on the original image have not been part of President Biden’s actions or agenda, such as defunding the police, and abolishing ICE. There are also large differences between Biden’s infrastructure policies and the Green New Deal. Other items included in Ernst’s actual image are misleading. For instance, President Biden is only planning to increase taxes for those who make $400,000 per year or more. By creating the satirical image of Senator Ernst’s Liberal Fantasy Island, Patti has amplified a perceived absurdity of some of the true items that were included.
