Backing Hegseth was Ernst’s biggest mistake

Our world would be a better place if Iowa U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst had followed her instincts, steeled her spine and told the MAGA legions to drop dead.

Ernst, you may recall, had misgivings about the appointment of former Fox News personality and tight suit aficionado Pet Hegseth for secretary of defense.

Yes, I know, “secretary of war.” Does it come with an action figure?

Ernst was the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate. Hegseth made no secret of the fact he doesn’t think women belong in combat.

Ernst is a survivor of sexual assault. Accusations of sexual misconduct swirled around Hegseth like ice in a highball. He insisted the allegations are not true.

Hegseth was a decorated Army National Guard veteran but was in no way equipped to manage the entire military. And Ernst knew it.

Ernst’s stature as a veteran and a key member of the Senate Armed Services Committee gave her oversize influence over Hegseth’s fate. Her misgivings could have scuttled Hegseth’s nomination. After all, Vice President JD Vance had to break a 50-50 Senate tie to shove his confirmation through.

When asked if she would support Hegseth, Ernst said she wanted to let the nomination process play out before making a decision. What’s wrong with that? To the MAGA grand order of perpetual outrage, it was blood in the water.

They came after Ernst. She was attacked mercilessly on social media. She was threatened with primary challenges. Ernst had voted to confirm Joe Biden’s defense secretary, Loyd Austin, but isn’t sure about Hegseth? Heat up the tar and pluck the feathers.

To Americans who saw a dangerously unqualified nominee, Ernst’s failure to embrace Hegseth was laudable, maybe even brave.

But in mid-January, Ernst buckled. She agreed to support Hegseth. The rest will live in infamy.

We could have avoided having a defense secretary who used Signal, a secure but not top-secret, military-grade secure messaging app, on a personal device to yack about a planned U.S. airstrike in Yemen. A reporter was accidentally patched into the party. A report released this week concluded Hegseth could have endangered the mission.

If Ernst had stood against his nomination, we wouldn’t have a defense secretary who may have ordered ordering an illegal second airstrike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat to kill survivors of the first airstrike. Hegseth denies giving the order and blamed the “fog of war.”

The Wall Street Journal reported this past week that Hegseth asked a well regarded admiral, U.S. Southern Command head Adm. Alvin Holsey, to resign. Holsey’s concerns about the legality of drug boat strikes was one among several points of “discord.”

Remember when Hegseth ordered top U.S. military leaders stationed around the world to come to Virginia so he could tell them to stop being “woke?” He also told them to get in shape, decrying “fat generals.”

Also, shave your beards.

"No more beardos," declared Secretary Haircut. "The era of unacceptable appearance is over."

It was a historic moment in the annals of military history. Huzzah.

The list goes on and on. And Ernst could have stopped it. But she feared for her political career. And then she decided not to seek re-election anyway.

This notion that holding a Senate or a House seat is worth more than doing what’s right and best for the country is one of our biggest problems. Too many Republicans have raised reckless irresponsibility to a fine art under President Donald Trump.

Members of Congress are elected, theoretically, to serve the American people and advocate for our best interests. But self-interest has trumped all that. Even the Trumpiest voters in states and districts still expect leaders to stand up to dangerous malfeasance.

Instead, they get America First only if it doesn’t mean losing a cushy seat in Washington.

That’s why we have an embarrassing defense secretary. It’s why we have an anti-vaccine health secretary who says Tylenol causes autism, a pro wrestling executive leading what’s left of the Department of Education, an Environmental Protection Agency head who hates the environment, and an FBI director who is “in over his head,” according to a report by retired and active FBI special agents.

"Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country,” Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem told a congressional committee. Um, no. But thanks for playing.

It’s funny, until you consider the consequences this clown car has spawned, and what they could do next. Malignant incompetence is devouring democracy faster than a brain worm.

A lot of folks point to Ernst’s callous gaffe at an Iowa town hall meeting when asked about Medicaid cuts as her downfall. But her decision to support Hegseth is a far more serious mistake. She could have spared the country from his reckless leadership. But she bent the knee at the exact moment she should have stood up.

We’re all going to die, for goodness’ sake. We just didn’t know the cause might be chronic spinelessness.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com