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Justina Rucinski, Iowa baker, under fire for Halloween tombstone cookies with Trump's name; MAGA decries 'death cult'
Justina Rucinski, an Iowa baker, has come under fire from several MAGA accounts for selling Halloween tombstone cookies bearing President Donald Trump's name.
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Justina Rucinski, an Iowa baker, has come under fire from several MAGA accounts for selling Halloween tombstone cookies bearing President Donald Trump's name. The cookies show grey tombstones, with FDT written on top. On the tombstone itself, ‘DJT’ is written, and below it “Any day now” is inscribed.
Keeping with the spooky vibes of Halloween, Rucinski even added a frosting designed like a cobweb on the cookies. She runs the Sweetems Co. By Justina bakery in Grimes, Iowa, and recently responded amid the backlash from the establishment's official page.
“So much support,” Rucinski wrote.
This is not the first time Rucinski has used her baking to take shots at President Trump. She's used her cookies to convey political messages on the Iran war and 'No Kings' protests, not to mention taking out a line of cookies resembling Trump, and captioning them “Orange Lies Matter.”
Here is all you need to know about Justina Rucinski.
Who is Justina Rucinski?
Rucinski's Instagram bio notes she was seen on Lifetime & Food Network. She's from Burlington, Iowa, but now lives in Des Moines, as per her Facebook profile. She's a self-professed Taylor Swift fan or Swiftie.
Rucinski is also a rape survivor, and a 2019 report by Des Moines Register detailed her ordeal. Steven Andrew Mauck was arrested for allegedly raping the baker, even as she described how he'd held a gun and ordered her to shower after he finished.
He reportedly lied to get access to her home through her custom cake business. She reportedly had a childhood which was marked by poverty and bullying. In early adulthood she reportedly worked mindless retail jobs and also had a short period of homelessness. After the rape, Ruckinski reportedly had to take pills for anxiety, depression, insomnia and pain. Describing her trauma, the 2019 article noted “She can’t sleep on her back because she said that’s how he raped her, and she can’t sleep on her stomach because she said that’s how she was lying when he pressed a gun’s barrel to her temple. She can’t drive because he made her take him to an ATM; even thinking about her car in the garage makes her heart pound.”
She's reportedly a single mother with a six-year-old daughter and four-year-old son. Growing up, she was reportedly the second oldest of seven kids and childhood was ‘rough’ for Rucinski.
The family reportedly lived off food stamps and their home had pest problems. Her father reportedly was bipolar and prone to abusive mood swings, usually directed at her mother. While Rucinski got into a relationship with her kids' father, things didn't work out as he was not nice to her in a ‘never-thinking-before-speaking way’, the report noted.
MAGA accounts decry Justina Rucinski's work
Several MAGA accounts took umbrage to Rucinski's latest offering for Halloween. Libs of TikTok, a popular account among such circles wrote, “It’s a death cult.” Another profile added, “Better find a new career. IOWA LOVES TRUMP SO FIND A NEW JOB.”
Yet another account going by ‘America First Annie MAGA’ said, “This psycho has a bakery that threatens President Trump…She needs to go out of business!”. One person also noted, “She has a lot of anti trump stuff. This one is crossing the line.”
