Pete Hegseth Smarms His Way Closer to Running the Pentagon

Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst was elected in 2014 on the promise that her past as a farm woman who castrated pigs meant she was qualified to butcher pork in Washington. She promised to “make them scream.”

During Tuesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Pete Hegseth’s totally unqualified nomination for Secretary of Defense, the 23-year veteran appeared to have lost his… ovaries. (Unfortunately, there is no female equivalent.) The threat to Mr. Ernst, who was initially skeptical about Mr. Hegseth’s nomination, clearly worked. Setting aside her longstanding concerns about women’s rights in the military and efforts to combat sexual abuse and harassment against women (Hegseth is believed to be accused of both), she hosted Fox’s warmly welcomed everyone.

Ernst asked Hegseth softball questions and cited Iowa leaders who worked with Hegseth attesting to her integrity, but overall she was a strong advocate of women in the military to date. He looked nothing like a defender.

That was the only minor surprise at Tuesday’s hearing. The other Republican senators all admire Hegseth, praising his commitment to fighting “wokeness” in the military, fighting (non-existent) “quotas” for women and people of color, He ignored numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and alcohol use. The job is important to Democrats and has troubled at least some Republicans in the past. Including Ernst.

Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullins put it colorfully. After Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine slammed Hegseth for his well-documented history of extramarital affairs, he asked, “How can you so casually cheat on your second wife and the mother of your child born two months ago?” “Senator Kaine, or maybe you should use the senator from Virginia, started bringing up the fact, ‘What if you show up to work drunk?'” Mullins retorted. “How many senators have shown up drunk at night to vote?…How many senators have gotten divorced for cheating?”

Essentially, Mr. Mullins’ defense of Hegseth is that the United States Senate is full of drunk, cheating assholes. And it might work.

The most notable aspect of Hegseth’s hearing work was not that he retracted his previous positions, particularly his often-voiced opposition to female combatants. It was his consistency with his other terrible past positions, particularly his opposition to “wokeness” in the military. And Republicans on the committee supported it.

Hegseth repeatedly denounced what he called the Pentagon’s “woke” policy and promised that President Trump would issue “new lawful orders” based on “preparedness, accountability, standards, and lethality.” He added that “the military would be happy” if the wake policy was abolished.

Mr Hegseth, a torture advocate, was asked about his past condemnation of the Geneva Conventions’ Protocol on the Treatment of Enemy Combatants, declaring them a “burden”.

“What an America-first national security policy cannot do is hand over that prerogative to an international organization that makes decisions about how our men and women make decisions on the battlefield,” Hegseth told the committee. ” he said.

when Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono asked Hegseth. If he follows President Trump’s “illegal” orderswhich called for soldiers to shoot protesters “in the legs” during Black Lives Matter actions in June 2020, Hegseth basically said yes.

“I saw it. 50 Secret Service A member of staff was injured by a mob attempting to jump the fence,” Hegseth said. “Churches were set on fire, statues were destroyed. Chaos.” And when Sen. Elissa Slotkin asked, “Are there any orders from the commander-in-chief that could violate the U.S. Constitution?” The answer was no.