The MAGA Attack on Joni Ernst

Susan Estrich on Dec 12, 2024

The first woman combat veteran to serve in the Senate, and a sexual assault survivor, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst understandably had serious questions about the nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense.

Initially, she said he would "have his work cut out for him" to be confirmed and told Fox News that she was not yet a "yes" on his bid, notwithstanding a lengthy meeting with him. This was after two other Republican women senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, indicated that they had questions for Hegseth, an unqualified nominee with serious black marks about his past drinking, treatment of women and financial mismanagement.

"At 4 p.m. on Thursday, Pete's nomination hung by a thread," Trump confidante Steve Bannon said in an interview. "That's when the grass roots kicked in hard. MAGA wants a combat vet who will take on the woke and take on the war profiteers."

It wasn't just the grass roots. It was money and power. Ads began running in Ernst's home state urging viewers to call Ernst and demand that she vote to confirm Hegseth. There was talk of recruiting Kari Lake, the failed Arizona Senate candidate who was born in Iowa, to run against Ernst in a Republican primary. Donald Trump Jr., the President-elect's son, took to social media to attack Ernst, saying senators like Ernst who had voted to confirm Biden's Defense Secretary and were raising questions about Hegseth didn't belong in the Republican Party. Kash Patel, the controversial FBI director nominee, who has vowed vengeance against Trump critics, was reportedly dispatched to Ernst's office on Monday to "help her back to the fold," according to The New York Times.

And she has changed her tune on the controversial nominee. Hardball works. This is how the other side plays. This is how it's going to be for the next two years.

Get in there and play, or get beaten. Stand up to pressure, or soften your stance. Trump, who last week was saying that Hegseth was on his own, unleashed his forces, and Republicans have been falling in line. Hegseth's nomination is one to watch not only because it raises so many questions, but because the way it's being man-handled by Republicans answers the question about how they plan to play for the next two years.

Hardball.

And that requires two teams.

My Democratic friends complain that they are "politicked out." Some of them tell me they have stopped reading the news. I understand. There is a feeling of powerlessness that comes over me every morning as I read the latest outrage from Mar-a-Lago. It's tempting to assume that everything is now in the hands of Republicans, and that there is no need, or no point, to being involved.

But as the Ernst experience makes clear, that will not do. Democrats need to step up at these confirmation hearings and ask the hard questions that Republicans are afraid to. And Democrats, at the grass roots level, and at the level of money and power, need to step up and counter the pressure that is going to be put on Republicans to fall in line over everything and everyone that Trump asks for.

Ernst had, over the course of two terms in the Senate, developed a strong reputation as a principled voice on defense issues. In 2019, she broke with Republicans and was the only Republican to oppose the confirmation of Gen. John Hyten, who was accused of sexual assault by a subordinate, to serve as vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 2021, she was a key player on legislation to move sexual assault cases out of the chain of command, and was credited with bringing other Republicans on board with the legislation.

But she has also been burned by the right. Last month, she lost a bid to maintain her Senate leadership post to a more conservative senator. While she has yet to endorse Hegseth, she has noticeably softened her tone since the pressure of the right was brought to bear. Now she's talking about how much she appreciates "Pete Hegseth's responsiveness and respect for the process," and claiming that she had "encouraging conversations" with him. "As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources," she added. The campaign has worked on her. But it's not over yet.

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