After Sen. Joni Ernst worked with Sen. Dianne Feinstein to draft a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that would pass in the Senate, Chuck Schumer chose to scuttle their compromise bill and instead force Feinstein to reintroduce a House version of the act that would deprive men of due process in connection with their Second Amendment rights.  That was bad.  Worse is the fact that Democrat women, including former Rep. Katie Hill, have started to "victim-shame" Ernst.

Joni Ernst is a Republican, a combat veteran who retired from the Iowa National Guard as a lieutenant colonel, and a survivor of both rape and spousal abuse.  Katie Hill, who's leading the victim-shaming, was a first-term Democrat representative from California who resigned in disgrace after her sleazy sexual escapades became public.

The VAWA first passed in 1994 to fund various programs and services for women on the receiving end of spousal violence.  It was reauthorized in 2000, 2005, and 2013 but is currently expired.

In April 2019, the House passed a bill reauthorizing the act.  Among other things, it includes a provision that would automatically and permanently ban men from being armed if they have ever been convicted of misdemeanor stalking.

Misdemeanor stalking does not require a showing of violence, threats, or even a relationship between victim and offender. In some states, it can include nasty tweets or Facebook posts. Moreover, there's no time limit, meaning a 50-year-old man could find himself summarily disarmed because of a single episode 30 years before.

Joni Ernst badly wants to see the VAWA act reauthorized.  However, she knows that the Senate will not reauthorize a bill that permanently strips men of their Second Amendment rights without due process.  Ernst, therefore, worked with Dianne Feinstein to create a bill that would pass in the Senate.

The two women crafted a bill that would bring more money to abused women, address female genital mutilation, and enhance abuser penalties.  Chuck Schumer, however, politicized the bill and got Feinstein to reintroduce the House version:

"They're standing in the way of $1 billion of funding for resources for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault," Ernst told a group of reporters on the Hill last week. "We really do need to proceed."

[snip]

"I do not want to throw Dianne under the bus," Ernst explained. "Because honest to goodness, she has been very good to work with. I love working with Dianne."

[snip]

"She genuinely wants to find a way forward," Ernst said. "But she told me many months ago that Chuck Schumer had told her she would be the one introducing the House bill. She waited as long as she could, but I think the pressure was just too much."

In other words, there's a good VAWA bill out there that can actually be passed, but Chuck Schumer instead wants to trash Ernst, who's up for re-election this year, more than he wants to help women.

Sister Toldjah then caught sleazy Katie Hill entering the fray by victim-shaming Ernst:

Here’s what Hill wrote:

.@SenJoniErnst has cast a dark cloud over today’s Valentine’s Day. By refusing to renew VAWA she’s putting guns into the hands of abusive boyfriends, husbands, and stalkers — and putting countless lives at risk. #WhyJoni https://t.co/Lp1TTC1sit

— Katie Hill (@KatieHill4CA) February 14, 2020

When I first read it, I gasped. Ernst herself is a survivor of sexual assault and domestic abuse. Anyone who knows this about her, which should include every House and Senate member and former members like Hill as well, would understand that Ernst's refusal to sign on to the House's reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act — which includes new provisions — doesn't have anything to do with not wanting to protect women, right?

It turns out, though, that the supposed Valentine's card linked in the tweet explicitly states that Ernst is a rape and abuse survivor.  Some digging revealed even more Democrat tweets:

I came across more "Why Joni" tweets and videos, all with the same message: Survivor Joni Ernst is putting the NRA before fellow victims. Shame on her!

[snip]

Everyone involved in this campaign to vilify Ernst knows she's a survivor. And yet they're using it against her and, in effect, re-victimizing her.

Democrats are never pro-woman.  They are always and only pro-power.