Given a chance to stand up for women everywhere as she often claims she does, Iowa’s truly phony Joni Ernst once again folded like a cheap suit as she apparently wilted in the face of a threat from Trump. Does Iowa really want someone with so little courage and integrity speaking (or rather caving) in their name?

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After being one of the most powerful and stubborn holdouts against the immensely unqualified Pete Hegseth of Secretary of Defense for very good reasons, Ernst seemed to publicly wilt after a brief call with Trump. Hardly a backbone of steel. More like a backbone of sawdust. 

According to dailykos, Ernst came out strong for Hegseth, despite his history of sexual assault, misogyny and alcohol abuse.

“This change in tone might come as a shock. After all, Ernst’s reputation suggests she wouldn’t be in favor of a guy like Hegseth. In 2019, the details of Ernst’s abusive marriage were thrust into the spotlight. The senator—whose once-sealed, now public, divorce affidavit elicited a slew of tabloid-style attacks—further revealed that she had been raped in college.  

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Standing on the other side of similar accusations, Hegseth faces resurfaced rape allegations from 2017—in which he allegedly paid the accuser to stay quiet and have the charges dropped. Hegseth was accused of raping an unconscious victim at a hotel after a Republican women’s conference event in Monterey, California. The anonymous victim stated in the report that she suspected she was drugged, and that she couldn’t “remember most of the night’s events.”

Furthermore, the victim recalled that she had approached Hegseth at the event. Per her recollection, she told him she “did not appreciate how he treated women” after she saw Hegseth rubbing women “on their legs.” The victim recalled gruesome details after coming back to consciousness in an unfamiliar hotel room with Hegseth.

Ultimately, Hegseth paid the unnamed woman in exchange for dropping the lawsuit.

Adding insult to injury, even Hegseth’s mother joined the public discourse by calling out her son’s abuse of ex-wife Samantha.

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And if this wasn’t enough cause for concern for Ernst, given her past, others might have also thought she would have said no due to her entire political platform. Ernst ran for the Senate in 2014 on the premise of fighting sexual abuse in military ranks.

Hegseth is an outspoken opponent of women in combat roles, which was supposedly the very opposite of Joni Ernst’s stand. Once again her backbone of sawdust reveals itself.

On another front, Ernst will have an opportunity to stand up for Iowans in a really big way as she chairs a newly formed caucus on government efficiency. From this position Ernst could have a major role in setting policy that makes sense and saves money for Iowans and all US citizens. Therefore I doubt it will happen. 

First she could squelch any talk of doing away or massively cutting back on Social Security, Medicare (or dumping everyone into MA) and Medicaid. The two bonkers billionaires who are. Role playing at government are all in for cutting any program that helps poor and elderly Americans. Iowa has more than its share of those folks.

Ernst could then more than triple the called for cutbacks in spending by endorsing and laying out plans for a single payer health care system. Senator Bernie Sanders has been working for this for decades and proposals go back to the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. And one should note this is now a sensitive area for the public following the assassination of United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson.

According to Thom Hartmann in his daily newsletter we could save some huge money and dramatically increase access and services by doing this:

In 2022, citizens of the United States spent an estimated $12,742 per person on healthcare, the highest among wealthy nations. This is nearly twice the average of $6,850 per person for other wealthy OECD countries.

Over the next decade, it is estimated that America will spend between $55 and $60 trillion on healthcare if nothing changes and we continue to cut giant corporations in for a large slice of our healthcare money.

On the other hand, Senator Bernie Sanders’ single-payer Medicare For All plan would only cost $32 trillion over the next 10 years. And it would cover everybody in America, every man woman and child, in every medical aspect including vision, dental, psychological, and hearing. (Ed. note: That is a savings of $23 to $28 Trillion in 10 years)

Currently 25 million Americans have no health insurance whatsoever.

If we keep our current system, the difference between it and the savings from a single-payer system will end up in the pockets, in large part, of massive insurance giants and their executives and investors. And as campaign contributions for bought off Republicans. This isn’t rocket science.

So, Joni, quit being so phony and look for real world savings that are at your fingertips. You would be a national hero by standing up for real Americans. Back real reform by backing Health Care for All. Or do you not have enough backbone to stand up for what is right and the best deal for all Americans.