'Wow!' Morning Joe fears MAGA bullying might force outspoken GOP senator to fall in line

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough tapped the brakes on Donald Trump's defense nominee ahead of his confirmation hearing this week.

Pete Hegseth could face a contentious hearing Tuesday if Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) voices her concerns about his views on women in the military, sexual assault prevention and waste and fraud at the Pentagon. The "Morning Joe" host doesn't expect the Iowa Republican to back down in the face of MAGA bullying to get the former Fox News host confirmed as defense secretary.

"It would be extraordinary to see Joni Ernst, a woman who's been a champion of women in combat, a woman who's been a champion of women who have been sexually abused and harassed, it would be extraordinary to see Joni Ernst, of all people, bow down to the pressure because of Twitter or because of X or because of Meta and deciding that, well, she can't stand up for women in combat, she can't stand up for women who have been sexually harassed and abused," he said.

Hegseth's mother made the rounds last month on TV to walk back her intense criticism in a 2018 email in which she called him an "abuser of women," but Scarborough said her scathing assessment could play into Ernst's decision-making during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

"Again, Hegseth's mother, despite what she said later on, his own mother wrote a letter to him accusing him repeatedly of abusing women," Scarborough said, "and so for Joni Ernst to somehow decide that it's okay to support Pete Hegseth's nomination because she had a couple of bad days on Twitter – wow."

"We'll see what happens," he added. "Long way to go."

Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei, however, believes the pressure campaign against Ernst will work because she'll need MAGA support to win re-election in 2026.

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"I know there's a lot of work being done, particularly on Hegseth, by Democrats to try to get somebody involved in the various allegations against him to testify, to go public so that they have new information to tie it to," VandeHei said. "So far, my understanding is there has not been a lot of luck in getting that done, and so unless that happens, Republicans want to unite, want to be able to give Trump the cabinet that he wants, whether people like it or not, he won and they believe that he has a right to have it."

"I think you saw it with Joni Ernst, like, listen, like you got to be one hell of a tough person with the skin of a rhino to take the crap that you have to take on social media advertising back in your state," VandeHei added. "If you're thinking of running again, if you worry about a primary, there's been a lot of money, there's been a lot of agitation, there's been a lot of threats about what happens if you don't support the nominees, and so it just aren't that many people that are like, 'Hell yeah, sign me up for that, I want to be the person to tank to tank one of these nominees.' So it would take something new, I think, to do that."

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