Pete Hegseth is officially in charge of the Pentagon. For Republicans, confirming Hegseth became a litmus test the party passed, clearing the way for a two-year sprint to enact Donald Trump’s agenda.
Late Friday, the Senate confirmed Hegseth as Defense Secretary by the tightest of margins, placing him at the head of roughly three million military and civilian employees and a $1.5 trillion budget. Hegseth’s nomination in mid-November shocked Washington, leading to a two-month assault on his clear history of adultery and partying that also featured allegations of rape, abuse, and mismanagement — all of which Hegseth denied.
Hegseth squeaked out his confirmation by a margin of 51-50 (Vice President J.D. Vance was the deciding vote). As one senior Senate aide told me, the vote was “a way to see which GOP Senators are ready to lead, follow, or get out of the way of President Trump’s agenda — and which ones are looking to sabotage it”.
Unlike most cabinet nominations, this fight was a nail-biter that Hegseth’s opponents fought until the bitter end, hoping to keep the gargantuan Pentagon budget out of the hands of a man who, at best, is a troubled war hero with hopes to fix a horribly broken system and, at worst, a hard-drinking and unqualified abuser who will only add to the national security chaos in DC.
As negative stories dripped into the press about Hegseth, a Fox News host, author, and decorated combat veteran who’s pledged to dramatically reform the Pentagon and root out “wokeness”, his allies started to see his nomination as a parallel to Brett Kavanugh’s infamous Supreme Court bid. When Republican senators like Joni Ernst started to publicly waver, Hegseth and his supporters doubled down, casting the media leaks as a partisan smear campaign that sought to torch the reputation of a decent man. “This is Kavanaugh 2.0,” Hegseth’s friend Mark Lucas told me in December.
Hegseth’s confirmation also paves the groundwork for other Trump nominees. As one aide told me: “Hegseth’s confirmation will make it that much easier for Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and others to survive,” before adding, “President Trump’s popular Executive Order momentum in his first week is making this even more likely.”
There’s an obvious risk of overreach that comes with sugar highs. Republicans, though, seem confident Hegseth won’t burn up their goodwill or halt their momentum. In turn, they hope this will spread to the likes of Gabbard and Kennedy, who will be gearing up for a fierce contest on the Hill.
As Trump’s first week ends on a high note with the public, even after dramatic crackdowns on immigration and DEI, it’s easy to see why the GOP feels comfortable plowing ahead. But the party should not get too far ahead of itself. In the 1950s, the famous anti-communist convert Whittaker Chambers told William F. Buckley that Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s ruthless campaign to root out Soviet sympathisers was “clumsy, stupid, [and] self-defeating”. Chambers’ argument was that overreach on behalf of just causes can backfire by eroding the cause’s credibility.
This is an interesting lesson for Republicans and Democrats alike in the frenzied culture wars of 2025. Does overreach on #MeToo make it easier for real abusers to skate? Will supporting unconventional leaders make unconventional causes with legitimate aims less serious? If so, can you actually accomplish anything without going to these extremes? I won’t pretend to know, but Republicans have spent years asking themselves that last question, and the party’s answer is now clear.
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SubscribeThank you E. Jashinsky for the well rounded perspective. And loved the hard core conservative shout out to Whitaker Chambers! Personally, I feel tremendous delight with recent developments. Quite dazzling imho, and captured perfectly by Melania Trump’s Inaugural hat.
It astounds me what insanity brings “tremendous delight” these days. Are you being paid by Musk the Tusk?
For many years Mendel Rivers (D) chaired the House Armed Services Committee while he was a world class drinker. He also chaired its intelligence subcommittee and was sometimes its only member. The Committee was the filter through which the Pentagon’s budget had to pass. The subcommittee was the only organ of democratic supervision over the CIA during its years of giddy expansion.
James Jesus Angleton spent years of his career in the CIA trying to find the Soviet mole he knew existed there .He failed. Given the CIA’s record (NOT) on preventing anti US disasters (9/11, JFK and RFK assassinations etc), given the long list of wars the US has lost despite the trillions spent on weaponry and the bravery of its soldiers perhaps a patriotic partygoer such as Hegseth is a better choice than the status quo.
Most of the Republican party at this point has either reoriented themselves to the new party and the new base or is trying their damnedest not to be labelled an establishment stooge or a RINO. The confirmation of Trump’s more controversial nominees is a litmus test. Any Republican who fails to get behind these nominations is likely to get the Liz Cheney treatment. It probably seems needlessly vicious to non-Americans, particularly Europeans who tend to form new parties for new political platforms and causes rather than attempt hostile takeovers of the old ones, but these realignments have been happening fairly regularly basically since the revolution and many have been just as harsh. The capability of the two major parties to shift and realign themselves is part of what allows the American system to function, and this is rather an expected part of the process. Getting Trump’s cabinet members confirmed is a minimal test of loyalty because getting nominees for cabinet positions confirmed is usually automatic if the President’s party controls the Senate. If it’s not automatic, that’s a problem and I expect Trump and most of the party to come down very hard and very fast on whoever holds up the process. It’s about establishing who’s in charge of the party now and making sure whoever has managed to retain their office through the realignment is fully loyal to the new leadership. I expect after this election result, no Republican who has any care for his own political future would dare to risk the wrath of Trump and the MAGA base. If anyone stands up, it will be a lame duck like Mitch McConnell who is known to be retiring, and has very little to lose.
Agree with all that Steve. I would just note that the “controversial picks” like Gabbard, RFK and Hegseth are not radicals unless we’re defining radical as someone that rejects the past two decades of Washington consensus. These are people with common sense and thousands of hours of commentary on record. If you listen to what they want to do, one can disagree but it’s hard to claim the so-called controversial picks are irrational ideologues.
Hegseth – a drunken rapist.
Kennedy – a racist conspiracy theorist.
Gabbard – a Russian agent and a complete loon.
T Bone – a very gullible person who believes anything that a world-class liar like Trump tells him.
Sad.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Luxury Peasant! Nobody does upscale poverty comedy like you!
And you Sir are an unadulterated loon.
Champagne, please let everyone know when you spot a cannibal. Thanks!
Yes, what people like Tulsi Gabbard, Bobby Kennedy, and Pete Hegseth say they want to do, it sounds good. But if you look at their resumes to see what they have actually accomplished over their careers, their resumes are thin to the point of embarrassment.
The trio are not qualified for a top executive job like this. None of them has a single thing they have accomplished in any executive position. Not a single thing. All hat, no cattle. Talkers, not doers. You may as well put Joe Rogan or Tucker Carlson in the cabinet.
Who are you comparing them to. I’m curious. All I see generally in US government is career politicians reporting to a career politician. There is some hope here at least.
Marco Rubio, Pam Bondi, John Ratcliff, Scott Bessent, Doug Burgum, Chris Wright.
No hope only delusion
Agree with Lesley. Its a question of comparison. I’m open to your opinion, it’s just not that clear who you’re comparing them to specifically?
Your definition of common sense is very warped
There’s nothing common sense about Socialism. Its a failed ideology.
At least the RINOS have been outed.
“As Trump’s first week ends on a high note with the public, even after dramatic crackdowns on immigration and DEI, …” Odd wording, as voters (“the public”) elected Trump in part because they wanted these crackdowns. Public approval of what was promised is consonant, not dissonant.
I expect she’s referring to relative lack of dissent on the streets and Davos, not that she disagrees with the MAGA agenda.
Hard to know what’s true anymore. At this point I assume any accusations against anti-woke Republicans of a sexual nature are just made up by the left and have no merit. So many such claims collapsed over the past 20 years, it’s clear they’re usually BS. He’s probably a good man.
Yes indeed. It has become standard operating procedure to accuse any candidate who ventures away from the approved narrative with “…allegations of rape, abuse, and mismanagement…”. The only ones who suffer are the actual victims of rape and abuse. None of which have been proffered with this candidate.
apart from the lady to whom he paid $50,000 to keep quiet
Such is the power of the #metoo movement.
Such is the power of raging denial
This is now par for the course. People who use this against every person they dislike should be directed to the story of the boy who cried Wolf.
It’s par for the course because Trump keeps nominating rapists and sexual abusers. As a convicted rapist himself, Trump probably enjoys swapping stories with like minded individuals.
Convicted rapist, eh? I hope Trump isn’t reading this and you don’t get sued for defamation. He is not a convicted rapist. I assume you are referring to the E Jean Carroll case, where the jury specifically did not vote for rape, but assault, instead. I expect Trump to win on, eventual, appeal, along with the Letitia James fraud case, the Alvin Bragg 34 felonies case and the Fani Willis – honest, my lover wasn’t allocated the case because I was sleeping with him – case in Georgia. It’s not like the Biden administration were doing lawfare on an industrial scale to hobble Trump, no sirree. That’s not counting the two tossed Jack Smith cases.
So you are all good with him being a confirmed sexual assaulter?
His appeal was already tossed out and damages increased because he kept repeating the same lies.
Why do you think a convicted felon should be president?
He was convicted by a Democrat judge and 12 Democrat jurors. No, that doesn’t count, son.
I don’t think the courts work the way you think they work, pops!
Donald Trump is a convicted felon. I know you people like to live in a fantasy world but that ain’t going away!
Next they will be accusing Tulsi Gabbard of the same at which point everybody will know that the democrats are just the party of the insane who should perhaps be confined to a mental institution.
The writer sums up opposition (she, without similar view?) that Hegseth has “hands of a man who is… at worst, a hard-drinking –” without stating the basic defense Pete put forward under oath that now he is: first, reborn-from-above with a profound Christian faith; and second, assuredly beyond stigma of past failure, what with the having a new, loving wife and a child. All enters in, you must know. Her writing more to include this would make the article more balanced, to me.
His “profound Christian faith” is actually, based on his own comments, membership of an extremist white nationalist sect with some rather unconventional views on the world and particularly the relationship between men and women. As a rapist and a multiple cheater and divorcee I’m sure the military will be thrilled to be under this clown’s leadership….
DUI hire Hegseth will be a disaster. His own mother said he’s a terrible person! A long record of drunkenness, infidelity and fiscal incompetence – I suppose that makes him a perfect Trump pick.
Unless of course you people are inclined to believe that he paid a $50,000 settlement for a “consensual” sexual encounter? Are you really that dim?
Perhaps you should get your facts straight. Hesgeth’s mother took away her criticism of her son. No doubt she was upset by the divorce proceedings at the time and people say all sorts of things that they then retract upon reflection.
My god, you people are gullible!
Here’s what she said:
“On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say … get some help and take an honest look at yourself.
She also wrote: “I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”
But then she retracts when her vile offspring gets nominated for a cabinet post that he is clearly completely unqualified for? And you’re buying that?
You people really are stupid, aren’t you?!?!
Pete Hegseth’s mother said that she retracted her email and apologized to her son the very day she sent it, years before his nomination.
She still still sent the email though, and meant it at the time. In my view, that puts Hegseth in about the bottom 1% of the human race.
It is astonishing that the number of readers avidly opposed to this clear cut observation by his mother being exposed.
It’s a pleasure to downvote your comments, CS. They have more content in mudslingin’ than anything resembling an argument
I’m pleased that I can provide what little pleasure you take from your pitiful existence!
As if yours do not
It does seem like Bobby Kennedy will be confirmed. That’s a shame. He really is anti-science, the last thing we need in a leader of our premier science institution.
I suppose you have something resembling a source for your slurious comment?
Everything that Kennedy has said about vaccines for starters.
That they should be rigorously tested before brought to market?
Everyone believes vaccines should be rigorously tested before brought to market. And they are tested, and followed once they are used on the market. If Bobby Kennedy has any good ideas on how to improve the process, he certainly hasn’t presented them. He seems to have no knowledge of or experience in new drug testing.
If you want some evidence of Bobby Kennedy’s anti-science statements just look at these:
— vaccines cause autism
— the polio vaccine “killed many, many, many, many, many more people than polio ever did”
There are more to add.
Are you completely asleep. Do you think Covid vaccines were robustly tested.
Of course the Covid-19 vaccines were robustly tested. And billions of doses have been given and side effects investigated. All vaccines have been rigorously tested and their safety balanced against effectiveness. I think they are overused, but Bobby Kennedy’s position that they cause untold disease and death has no support in the numbers.
Are you completely asleep thinking they are not?
Let me start with one example. Bobby Kennedy said this during an interview in June 2023:
My father spent his 40-year career in bioelectromagnetics investigating the effects or radio-frequency radiation on the human body and the science is clear. Many other scientists and engineers did too. They found that there is no causal link between that non-ionizing radiation and human health. Bobby Kennedy says there are thousands of studies showing a link between radio frequency radiation and disease, but there are no such studies. Not even one.
Bobby Kennedy knows that, but he lies about it anyway, in a very persuasive, almost pathological way. And it’s not just 5G cellphone radio waves that he lies about. He has falsely claimed the following as well:
— vaccines cause autism and other diseases
— genetically modified foods are harmful
— Wifi radiation breaks down the blood-brain barrier and causes cancer and other diseases
— Roundup causes cancer
— ultra-processed foods cause chronic diseases
— HIV is not the cause of AIDS
— high-fructose corn syrup is more harmful than table sugar
— etc., etc.
Bobby Kennedy has no training or experience in science, medicine or public health. He’s never held an executive office in any corporation or in government. As far as I can tell, the only real job he has ever held was as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan over 40 years ago, and he quit that job when he didn’t pass the bar. (And he was arrested shortly after that for being high on heroin on an airplane, an addiction he battled for 14 years.)
The rest of Bobby Kennedy’s long career consisted mainly of playing off the Kennedy name in lawsuits and in writing books and speaking. Bobby Kennedy does seem like a likeable guy, and he has lots of friends among the elite. He’s also been a womanizer his whole life, with great success. He has a magnetic personality and a silver tongue. Those people skills make him a good trial lawyer (though I think all trial lawyers are scum) and a good campaigner.
But in my opinion, they make him a terrible choice for a position like the secretary of health. I’m not a fan of Tony Fauci, but at least he and Francis Collins were top-notch scientists and top-notch executives. Very knowledgeable and very experienced. Though they made some blunders, overall they did a good job.
I don’t think Bobby Kennedy would come even close to them. Bobby Kennedy is like Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, Tulsi Gabbard, Naomi Wolf, Vivek Ramaswamy, and others like them. Interesting to listen to, with some fresh ideas that are welcome in a stale political environment, but not a person qualified to be in government, or particularly, to lead an evidence-based government agency.
Do I think Bobby Kennedy would be a disaster as health secretary? Not really. People in that position like Xavier Becerra have set a very low bar that is easy to clear. I just think he would be ineffective and embarrassing. He would do no good in an important job where we need someone doing a whole lot of good.
I spent an hour and a half writing in support of my “slurious” comment that Bobby Kennedy is anti-science. It was up for 10 minutes before UnHerd deleted it. Let’s hope it returns — I’d like to see your rebuttal.
Democrats excel at smear jobs, crude and tasteless jabs, innuendo, and falsehoods, all in the cause of a “greater good”, I’m sure. Seemingly every Republican nominee somehow causes numerous accusers to pop out of the woodworks, sometimes from decades ago, with accusations galore, and evidence in sparsity. It’s as old a tactic as 1952, when Nixon gave his famous “Checkers speech”, which I wholeheartedly recommend.
Let me correct that for you – Donald Trump ‘excel(s) at smear jobs, crude and tasteless jabs, innuendo, and falsehoods’. I can’t think that anyone would deny that statement.
Well, better not bring a knife to a gunfight.
If you want to illustrate what the word “smug” means, just point to that photo at the top of the article.
Or perhaps Hogshead is way out of his league and will do little more than jumble the jumble a bit more while stirring up the rightist hatred brewing in our armed forces. The odds that the procurement quagmire will be touched in even the slightest way is extremely doubtful as the world’s wealthiest man has huge contracts with the military.
And end the end will he stand with Trump for the Second Coup and take over America pretending to be Putin II. There is no way this is a good thing.
I am starting to wonder just how many people on this site are at least quasi in the loop and are actually rooting for Trumps Second Coup Attempt. There is no doubt in my mind there will be a coup attempt at the end of this term, if he does not croak first or totally loose his shit.
What is the brew they serve that allows you alt-right folks to totally disassociate yourselves from the FACT that Trump committed sedition and attempted a coup. And what do they add to that cocktail to make you oblivious to the very high probability that there is going to be a second coup???? He only gets one more term.