Hegseth Nomination In Trouble?

Hegseth Nomination In Trouble?

by John Hinderaker in Pete Hegseth, Senate, Trump administration

The Hill reported, an hour or two ago, that Pete Hegseth’s nomination as Secretary of Defense is “sinking fast in the Senate.”

Senate Republicans say Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s choice to head the Defense Department, faces a very tough path to confirmation in the Senate and his bleak prospects have been communicated directly to the Trump transition team, which is now mulling other options.

Senate sources say there is a block of likely “hard no’s” in the Senate GOP conference and identify Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as lawmakers who view Hegseth’s nomination very skeptically.

I have heard more than enough from Collins and Murkowski. They, and other Republican senators, are responding to anonymous accusations by–who knows who?–about things Hegseth allegedly has done, mostly in his private life, over a period of decades. For some reason, there is no similar interest in Robert Kennedy Jr’s checkered private life, or, more significantly, in that of any Democrat who has been nominated to a cabinet position in recent years.

For reasons I explained here and elsewhere, I think Hegseth is an interesting, and potentially excellent, choice for Sec Def. But that isn’t the real point. The real point is, Hegseth is Donald Trump’s choice to be Secretary of Defense. If I am a Republican senator, absent some truly astonishing revelation–the fact that women like Pete, and Pete likes women, doesn’t qualify–I should vote to confirm.

In 2021, Joe Biden nominated a menagerie of radicals and weirdos to staff his administration. How did Senate Democrats respond? Not a single Senate Democrat voted against a single Biden nominee. Not one.

Republicans like to say: We are better than the Democrats. To which I say, not until you beat them, you aren’t. When the war is over and conservatives have won, Republicans can be persnickety about confirming presidential appointments. But that day is far off. For now, the path for Senate Republicans is clear: Don’t give the Democrats any wins. Rather, vote to confirm Trump’s nominees so that he can staff a solidly conservative administration. If a nominee doesn’t work out, Trump is in a much better position to judge that than insanely hostile Senate Democrats.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/12/hegseth-nomination-in-trouble.php