GOP Sen. Joni Ernst says she hasn’t “gotten to a yes” on Pete Hegseth’s nomination for defense secretary. Which is funny, considering the kind of stuff she does get to a yes on a whole heck of a lot easier.
Ernst made the remarks in an interview with Fox News after meeting with the embattled Hegseth. Ernst, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, will be crucial to getting the former Army National Guard officer, veterans activist and political commentator’s nomination to the floor.
Losing one vote in committee, The Hill notes, means it will complicate the path to an up-or-down vote in the full Senate.
Hegseth and his team have thus targeted Ernst, who seems to be the most important of the swing senators on his nomination, with a lobbying offensive to prove he’s the right guy to lead the Pentagon. Ernst, while she said that she appreciated the conversation, hasn’t yet been convinced.
“Well, I did have a very long, lengthy discussion with Pete yesterday, and I do appreciate his service to the nation,” Ernst told Fox News.
“I also am a combat veteran so we talked about a number of those issues, and we will continue with the vetting process. I think that is incredibly important,” she added.
However, when Fox News’ Bill Hemmer said that it sounded like she hadn’t “gotten to a yes” yet, she said, “I think you are right.”
🚨Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst — who happily voted for LLoyd Austin to run DoD —
— explains that right now, she is not a “yes” vote for Pete Hegseth. pic.twitter.com/zlPsyj7tgc
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) December 5, 2024
Do you want Joni Ernst to vote “yes” to confirm Pete Hegseth?
Now, just to be clear, there are issues with Hegseth’s nomination that go beyond his experience for the job and a farcical 2017 sexual assault allegation that almost (but not quite) makes Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser sound slightly believable.
Hegseth has a reported history of alcohol use that some could describe as problematic, including descriptions of his use made by his own admission. On a podcast in 2021, he talked about how he would begin drinking early in the day following his return from deployment to Iraq in 2006, according to The Washington Post. In the 2017 sexual assault matter, his own attorney said in a statement that Hegseth was so “visibly intoxicated” at the time the two individuals met that the female accuser was actually the sexual “aggressor” in the situation. (Hegseth denies this.)
Similar claims about his alcohol use at Fox News, along with sundry other allegations of misconduct at his veterans nonprofits, were compiled in a New Yorker hit piece — which, consider the source and the fact that others around the nominee contradicted the statements, but they’re not entirely out of the realm of believability, considering what Hegseth and those representing him have admitted regarding his own behavior. Also as important, a source close to President-elect Donald Trump said Hegseth has “not been forthright with the Transition team staff and the president-elect and vice president-elect,” without being specific on what counts.
That being said, Ernst is probably not the person to be talking about what gets her to a yes when you look at what she’s voted for in the past — which had plenty of conservatives seething.
Remember, as many on social media did, that Ernst betrayed conservatism when she voted to confirm Lloyd Austin as head of the Pentagon when Joe Biden put him forth as a nominee; Austin not only presided over the accelerated wokeification of the military but launched an effort to ferret out “extremism” in the Armed Forces despite a total lack of evidence it existed.
Senator Joni Ernst (R) voted to confirm Lloyd Austin for Secretary of Defense who turned our military into a woke laughingstock but is refusing to say if she will confirm Pete Hegseth.
So she supports all this trash but doesn’t support a strong Conservative who will strengthen… pic.twitter.com/F2nKpoIQy6
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 5, 2024
According to the Iowa Standard, she also supports transgender troops in the military and wouldn’t just have females on the front lines in combat but force them to register for the draft, if she had her way.
“They will bleed red just as the rest of us,” she said of transgender troops.
“I’m looking at what’s good for our nation,” she said. “And believe me, when we’re facing a recruiting challenge right now, if people are physically willing and able to serve our country, we want them to do so.”
As for women registering for the draft and serving on the front lines: “Women are perfectly capable of contributing in combat,” Ernst said. “We have women that are more physically capable than some of the men you might find. Isn’t it funny? We want to focus on standards. It’s OK. If women meet the physical standards to engage in combat they should be allowed that opportunity.
“If they are men that don’t meet the physical requirements to engage in combat, they shouldn’t be allowed either. It shouldn’t be a back and forth about male, female. It should be about what is required of the duties that go into successful missions within the military.”
She was also a supporter of the “bipartisan border bill” the Biden administration advanced as a Trojan horse to amnesty while purporting to stem the border crisis. Considering the fact that the military will play a significant role in President-elect Trump’s deportation measures, that’s an issue:
Here’s an unearthed video of Sen. Joni Ernst petulantly reprimanding her constituents for opposing the “bipartisan border bill” that provided amnesty to illegals.
She blames President Trump for the failure of the bill, as well.
Her talking points are completely… pic.twitter.com/5DuYLGcbTX
— Joey Mannarino (@JoeyMannarinoUS) December 5, 2024
And then, as many pointed out, there’s more than a little bit of a betraying, self-serving nature to these remarks, considering Ernst is considered — or at least considers herself — a backstop for the job if Hegseth fails:
🚨 #BREAKING: Joni Ernst is still REFUSING to vote to confirm Pete Hegseth, because she thinks she can sabotage him and get the job
Despicable.
We OVERWHELMINGLY voted for the Trump Agenda, Joni. Get the hell out of the way, or lose your seat in 2026. pic.twitter.com/UQKZaybCUw
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) December 5, 2024
Sen. Joni Ernst, who is reportedly lobbying to replace Hegseth as Trump’s SecDef nominee, supports the transing of the military and requiring women to be eligible for the draft. Not entirely surprising she prefers the status quo to Pete Hegseth. https://t.co/NRsuprY42n
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) December 5, 2024
Indeed, the Washington Examiner reported that “Ernst is emerging as one of several alternatives who could sail through Senate confirmation without the cloud of controversy that has hung over Hegseth’s nomination,” along with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt.
In other words, yes — while there may be legitimate concerns about Hegseth’s nomination, those concerns are probably best voiced by Republicans who have ground to stand on when they voice those concerns. When we look at what Sen. Ernst has signed onto without reservation in the past, this seems far more self-serving than anything else.
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