I read your piece and Noah Smith's this morning, along with quite a few others' substack opinions, and it is mind-boggling and frightening to contemplate Pete Hegseth in charge of the DoD at a time so fraught and dangerous. I am in mid-70s, and I have lived through many crises over many different administrations and Congresses. I have always considered myself a rigorously analytic, high-information, well-informed citizen, but never in my life could I have imagined what we are seeing now. Bottom line (and I never thought I would say this in my lifetime), I don't see this country getting back to or getting through this horrifying debacle intact.
Sure, confirm the lot, bozos all, and watch the resultant administration FUBAR...but, it will all be blamed on the Dems, LGBTQ, continued "wokeness", the usual suspects singled out by the far-right media and its social-media auxiliaries .
It's really a question of the GOP/tRump noise machine that it can indeed "fool all of the people all of the time", proven conclusively in the last election.
I awoke, Daniel, and the perfect lede of your piece had me skiplimping, with chuckles, straight to the bathroom! But, for damn sure, a gigantic clown train loaded with everything hellish is speeding calamitously down the rails and America is sitting at an at-grade train crossing, the gate and warning lights are malfunctioning as America approaches and starts across the tracks.
Hegseth needs two and only qualifications: the belief that Democrats are domestic enemies, and the willingness to use force to fight them.
Trump wants to use the armed forces against his domestic enemies and Hegseth believes that those enemies are the Democrats. It's a match. He is also a Christianist who will politicize the armed forces, further increasing the chances that US troops will turn their weapons on their fellow citizens.
"whether Hegseth... without regular three-gin-and-tonic-breakfasts" The source cited is anonymous. It might be true, a casual insult by a hater, or entirely fabricated.
Armed with no more than the NYT reporting on this hearing I could have essentially written every word. Tragicomically Republicans said that the hearing did not derail Hegseth's chances for confirmation because they would not be listening to anyone who was appalled anyway.
Really looking forward to "But XO, Jesus is my Lord and Savior!" next time I have to enforce good order and discipline in my unit.
Dude is really complaining about standards (which were never lowered) when the standards have been lowered literally for him and him alone.
I read your piece and Noah Smith's this morning, along with quite a few others' substack opinions, and it is mind-boggling and frightening to contemplate Pete Hegseth in charge of the DoD at a time so fraught and dangerous. I am in mid-70s, and I have lived through many crises over many different administrations and Congresses. I have always considered myself a rigorously analytic, high-information, well-informed citizen, but never in my life could I have imagined what we are seeing now. Bottom line (and I never thought I would say this in my lifetime), I don't see this country getting back to or getting through this horrifying debacle intact.
Sure, confirm the lot, bozos all, and watch the resultant administration FUBAR...but, it will all be blamed on the Dems, LGBTQ, continued "wokeness", the usual suspects singled out by the far-right media and its social-media auxiliaries .
It's really a question of the GOP/tRump noise machine that it can indeed "fool all of the people all of the time", proven conclusively in the last election.
Professor Daniel W. Drezner:
"Duckworth: How many nations are in ASEAN?
"Hegseth: We have allies in South Korea, Japan, and Australia
"Duckworth: None of those countries are in ASEAN."
OMG!
THIS shall be the SecDef?
THIS specimen?!
I awoke, Daniel, and the perfect lede of your piece had me skiplimping, with chuckles, straight to the bathroom! But, for damn sure, a gigantic clown train loaded with everything hellish is speeding calamitously down the rails and America is sitting at an at-grade train crossing, the gate and warning lights are malfunctioning as America approaches and starts across the tracks.
I knew the fix was in when Ernst refused to personally meet with his ex-wives to discuss his abusive treatment of them.
Hegseth needs two and only qualifications: the belief that Democrats are domestic enemies, and the willingness to use force to fight them.
Trump wants to use the armed forces against his domestic enemies and Hegseth believes that those enemies are the Democrats. It's a match. He is also a Christianist who will politicize the armed forces, further increasing the chances that US troops will turn their weapons on their fellow citizens.
MAGA Republicans know and want this.
"whether Hegseth... without regular three-gin-and-tonic-breakfasts" The source cited is anonymous. It might be true, a casual insult by a hater, or entirely fabricated.
I now see that according to an AP poll only 19% of Americans approve of the nomination
Armed with no more than the NYT reporting on this hearing I could have essentially written every word. Tragicomically Republicans said that the hearing did not derail Hegseth's chances for confirmation because they would not be listening to anyone who was appalled anyway.