Senate Republicans Will Do Whatever Trump Tells Them To Do

January 24, 2025

1 View 0

SaveSavedRemoved 0

“Pete Hegseth is unqualified to run the Pentagon” is criminal understatement.

Accused of sexual assault, of rampant alcohol abuse, of cruelty towards his ex-wives, of serial infidelity, and dragging with him a paper trail of derisive comments about women serving in combat roles, he seems to have the temperament of a Princeton frat paddle.

On the resume side of things, his claim to fame is mismanaging two veteran advocacy organizations so badly that he was reportedly forced out, in one case requiring a forensic accountant to sift through the financial rubble.

But he was also on Donald Trump’s favorite TV channel — a pro far outweighing the trifles of a seemingly bone-deep disdain for women, functioning alcoholism and financial destruction.

Trump is often attributed with greater strategic foresight than he has, and I doubt that his tapping of Hegseth was crafted as a grand loyalty test for his congressional stooges. For one, Hegseth didn’t tell his transition team about the sexual assault accusation until it came out in the press.

But Trump’s ethos, allergic to apology or admission of a mistake, turned a careless pick into a determined one, with his right-wing media apparatus churning to life to force incredulous Republican senators into line. Trump’s allies spent hundreds of thousands of dollars targeting the wavering Republicans, particularly Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), a former military officer and advocate against sexual assault in the military. Right-wing news outlets published private information about a would-be witness against Hegseth, and allies, including Elon Musk, promised primaries against any who defied.

It was enough. Ernst and the rest of the Republicans, cowed, shuffled back into line. On Thursday, all but Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) voted to advance Hegseth’s nomination to a final vote. Reporting suggested that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) might join them — a laughable prospect to anyone who’s followed the former Senate leader’s career in the Trump era.

While they likely voted knowing they wouldn’t change the outcome, Murkowski and Collins voted their consciences against an onslaught of right-wing furor. The votes may have been symbolic; the threats they will almost certainly receive from the MAGA faithful will not be.

The all-but-assured confirmation of this trainwreck of a man to lead the Department of Defense is the new bar. Meaningful resistance from the upper chamber, once thought to be a bastion of the last lingering dregs of principled, pre-Trump Republicans, has collapsed. Trump can plant his flag.