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Couple of months ago, Joni Ernst, who was the poster child for women in the military, made a very calculated vote to confirm Fox part-timer cos-player Pete Hegseth as the worst person ever to be Secretary of Defense. Hegseth may be the worst cabinet secretary of any stripe ever, but certainly by far the worst Secretary of Defense.

I have no doubt that Ernst understood that Hegseth was the worst ever, but made a pact with the devil to stave off a primary from the MAGA maniacs in charge of what used to be the Republican Party in 2026. Ernst was basically the vote that put Hegseth in the Secretary’s seat. 

Ernst better be putting her spinmeisters to work trying to explain why she voted for a person who is so disqualified to be Secretary of Defense that he put and is putting the country’s security in danger everyday he continues on the job. The fact that Hegseth put our country and its soldiers in jeopardy has been proven by Atlantic journalist Jeff Goldberg and his stories with screen shots concerning the attack in Yemen.

When is your next town hall, Joni? Lots of Iowans can hardly wait to hear your stories. You have made your reputation on your support for women, yet you vote for a womanizer. You made your reputation on your knowledge of the military, yet you vote for the worst possible person for Secretary of Defense. In both cases that vote was for Pete Hegseth.

Thus in one fell swoop you trashed any integrity, any reputation of good judgment you ever had. You can no longer be trusted – as if you ever really should have been trusted. Given an opportunity to do the right thing – vote against a person who had multiple warning signs flashing – you decided to cast a vote that was calculated to keep you in office and keep you in Trump’s good graces.

You should have thought of your country first and foremost, and not you party first. You had a chance. The choice was pretty stark. You chose party first, country last. You should resign and make the statement that your lack of good judgment makes you unfit for office.

I am sure Iowans won’t forget this. We will do what we can to remind them before the next election.

In 2022 Iowans had an opportunity to elect a person with demonstrated excellent judgment in Michael Franken. I have no idea if Admiral Franken is exploring another run, but contrasting his good judgment with your party-first judgment would be very striking. 

So thanks for putting your country in danger with your bad judgment, Joni. Let’s hope Iowans remind you throughout your campaign of this and all the ways you have helped Musk and Trump wreck a great country.

Remember Tammy Duckworth? She is the senator from Illinois who lost her legs as aa helicopter pilot in Iraq. People like her are the ones who pay the price for the idiocy of people like Pete Hegseth. Here isTammy Duckworth’s reaction to the Hegseth treason(?):

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