Thank you @SenJoniErnst — for your service to our country and commitment to this important process. https://t.co/Emosseba3Y

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) December 4, 2024

Following like five paragraphs of congratulatory self-suckery for one of the members of their team on an internal promotion at the outlet, the actual political news part of Thursday morning’s Politico Playbook newsletter leads with the questions of where Republican Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is at with rapey binge-drinker former Fox News host Pete Hegseth’s bid to become the next Secretary of Defense, noting that all the media have are the above tweet with no indication of where she lands.

“We hear Trump himself is eager to get a readout of how Hegseth’s meeting yesterday with Ernst went, knowing full-well that everyone was looking to her – the combat veteran and advocate for survivors of sexual assault in the military – to determine whether Hegseth stands any shot at surviving,” Playbook writes as if the replies to Ernst from MAGAcels such as Joey Mannarino telling her “You are IRRELEVANT. Your job is to confirm him and shut the fuck up,” weren’t enough pressure.

Add to that the fact that Ernst, herself a veteran and a victim of sexual assault, has been mentioned in multiple reports as a possible replacement for Hegseth, and yeah, she’s definitely in a pickle.

It’s not clear yet if Penelope Hegseth reached out to Ernst to say her son is a good boy.

Separately Axios reports the Orange God Emperor “isn’t working the phones for Pete Hegseth in his hour of need, leaving the embattled Department of Defense nominee to press his own case to skeptical senators,” with one telling them “I don’t think [Hegseth’s bid is] going anywhere.”