MAGA Has Trick To Get Pete Hegseth Confirmed, It Is Threatening One Specific Woman
What an on-brand development for this story and nominee!
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for Defense secretary, has been credibly accused of rape, but he’s never been credibly accused of having the smarts, talent, stamina, or experience necessary to run the Pentagon.
As of last night, it was being reported on MSNBC that, according to Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, Hegseth still doesn’t have the votes to be confirmed. But Joni Ernst, the powerful Republican senator on the Armed Services Committee, who claims to care about the military and about stopping sexual assault in the military, might be caving like a coward. She’s been holding back, but this statement is the closest she’s come to sounding like she might say fuck the troops and do it.
Punchbowl reporter Max Cohen tweeted this:
Oh, the weasel words!
“I appreciate Pete Hegseth’s responsiveness and respect for the process. Following our encouraging conversations, Pete committed to completing a full audit of the Pentagon and selecting a senior official who will uphold the roles and value of our servicemen and women”
He doesn’t think women should be able to serve in combat. He’s going on Hannity and whining and bitching that his comments are being misconstrued, but fuck him, he’s a motherfucking liar, that’s exactly what he said one month ago.
“— based on quality and standards, not quotas — and who will prioritize and strengthen my work to prevent sexual assault within the ranks.”
LOL yeah? Is he the guy who’s going to do that? As a guy who’s been credibly accused of sexual assault? Will he bring a fresh new perspective to it?
Cool story, asshole.
“As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.”
Huh, well, sometimes the truth comes from anonymous sources because people are scared of retribution, especially from known abusers of women (per his mother). Also was his mother anonymous in that email? Because we think we saw her name on it. Also Ernst — who is a sexual assault survivor herself — absolutely knows that there are a number of reasons why sources might be “anonymous.”
Like, in this instance, Pete Hegseth paid his accuser off. Kind of an important detail in this particular case.
So Ernst is clearly still hedging her comments here. Note what she said before the Republican bullshit about “anonymous sources.” She said, “As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing … “
Which is still not “I’m voting for him.” Does she think something is going to happen at the hearing that makes Pete look like less of a loser, less of an abuser of women, less like a totally unqualified drunkass fuckoff? Can’t wait.
Here’s the thing: Joni Ernst knows how unqualified Pete Hegseth is, and we wouldn’t be shocked if she finds the allegations against him totally credible.
But if she does decide to be a full-ass coward and an unserious human being — wait, did we say if?
Yeah, Joni Ernst is not a serious human being or a good human being who loves this country, and that right there picture with Kash Patel is all the evidence you need.
But if she decides to be a full-ass coward and support Hegseth, we can attribute that to the fact that MAGA has been doing a coordinated bullying assault on Ernst to intimidate her into falling in line. Which is one of the many ways MAGA guys always abuse women! In fact, it’s one of the ways Pete Hegseth’s mom accused him of abusing women. (Specifically she said he “belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego.” Plus “dishonesty, sleeping around, betrayal, debasing, belittling.” Etc.)
Politico reports on this “new” strategy from Trumpworld, of intimidating and bullying people. “The swarm of MAGA attacks that Sen. Joni Ernst has experienced is a warning of what’s in store for others who express skepticism of [Trump’s] personnel choices.”
It continues:
Hegseth “became a cause,” said a Trump ally who was granted anonymity to speak freely. “Not even for the official Trump operation, but the movement who is going apeshit for him.”
Another source said:
“[JD Vance] saw the game that was being played where these senators believed themselves to be more powerful than they are,” the person said. “There’s a widely understood belief that [Matt] Gaetz dropped out on his own — he knew there were going to be certain senators that were just not going to budge on him.”
With Hegseth, the person continued, Trump allies knew they had to “draw a red line here” to send a message to senators.
And finally:
“Joni, I’m told,” said a Trump ally with insider knowledge of the transition process, “got the message loud and clear.”
The person said Ernst was “looking for an off ramp” from her public skepticism of Hegseth after receiving an onslaught of criticism from MAGA activists. That campaign took off last week after prominent Trump allies, including his son Donald Trump Jr. and Charlie Kirk, made social media posts critical of Ernst.
They’re threatening primary challenges against any senator who doesn’t fall in line, and with Ernst there has been talk of dragging her in the mud over an alleged extramarital affair. (For more on what Trump’s yappiest chihuahuas have been threatening, against Ernst and others, click here.)
So again, the only two choices here for Joni Ernst are integrity or cowardice.
Meanwhile, videos abound of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski absolutely refusing to say she’ll support Hegseth. In a clip played on MSNBC last night, Murkowski said, “I’ll just tell you that I had an opportunity to talk with him, and I appreciated that chance,” and just, um, that’s it!
So that’s a no.
In other Hegseth news, Donald Trump reportedly had a big angry diarrhea tantrum after Newsmax host Greg Kelly openly criticized the Hegseth nomination and told him to drop out. Now the word has come down from on high that if any guest on the network brings up Hegseth, the hosts are supposed to clarify that all the allegations against Hegseth are just allegations, and pivot away. If they don’t obey, they will be FIRED.
As of Friday night, Kelly was not fully obeying the dictat and still shared some “muted” criticism, per Mediaite.
Guess we’ll see if he get bullied into obedience like Joni Ernst.
[Politico]
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Pete Hegseth does not "value" women in ANY capacity, be it the military, political punditry, the workforce, or elsewhere.
Hegseth uses and abuses women as it suits him.
Aside from the alcoholism and sexual assaults, the guy is a host on a TV morning magazine show. Even if he were completely sober and entirely decent towards women, how is he qualified?