Joni Ernst announced this week she will vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as the nation’s next secretary of defense, it underlined President-elect Donald Trump’s immense sway over Congress and the grassroots in Iowa as he returns to the White House.

“What I want people to recognize in the thought of government efficiency and DOGE is that this is not a passing fancy,” Ernst said. “This is not just the latest shiny bright object. It is something that we care about, and there are a number of us that have worked very hard on these issues for the past decade.”

Lake's homecoming to the state initially came as Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, faced intense backlash from President Donald Trump supporters over her hesitation to back the now recently confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Ernst ended speculation by publicly declaring her vote for Hegseth.

Sen. Joni Ernst, the chair of the DOGE caucus, is rolling out a new bill that targets excess disbursements in the "food stamp" program.

Joni Ernst announced this week she will vote to ... “Trump's got the bullhorn now to say, ‘MAGA nation is watching,’” outgoing Dallas County Republican Party Chair Kelley Koch said.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) hit back at her fellow Armed Services Committee colleague, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), after Ernst backed down from her opposition to Pentagon chief nominee Pete Hegseth, facing mounting pressure from MAGA allies.

Even as handicappers adjudged Pete Hegseth ’s confirmation as secretary of Defense to be all but certain, not one but two Republican senators indicated a hard pass on the poorly qualified bad boy from Fox News.

Leo the Lion, a MAGA America First voter, has started a new group to purge the Republican Party of sellout RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) in office. The RINO Removal Project (RRP), subtitled “RINOs Become the Politically Hunted,” is targeting some of the most detested sellouts in Congress.

In his cabinet picks, Trump is revealing not just an apathy towards sexual assault and harassment, but seemingly a celebration of it.

Readers criticize the vote on the defense secretary nomination. Also: President Trump and tariffs; silencing health officials; firing of inspectors general; longevity.

More Trump nominees with potentially rocky paths to confirmation face hearings in the Senate this week, including Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kash Patel.

Job-seekers hoping to join the new Trump administration are facing a series of intense loyalty tests, with White House screening teams