January 15, 2025

Hegseth and the Senate Minefield

The nominee for secretary of defense faced hostile questioning from scattered and angry Democrats.

Pete Hegseth will likely be confirmed as the next secretary of defense. As the first of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees to face Senate confirmation hearings, he acquitted himself well yesterday before the Armed Services Committee. Despite what will be almost certain unified Democrat opposition, it seems the Republican majority will give him the necessary votes next week.

Early in his opening statement, he said, “All glory — regardless of the outcome — belongs to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His grace and mercy abound each day. May His will be done.” That stood out because most of the ensuing questions from his Senate interrogators were designed not to evaluate his readiness for the job but to impugn his character. Hegseth says that, regardless of past personal failings, he’s a changed man. Politically, Democrats are invested in disproving that.

As for the job itself, Hegseth is definitely an unconventional nominee, chosen by Donald Trump to think outside the Beltway and to restore the Pentagon to the right cultural priorities. His job will be to focus on readiness by eliminating the woke garbage introduced by Team Biden. “Our standards will be high,” he asserted, “and they will be equal (not equitable, that is a very different word).” He promises to “bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense.” He aims to rebuild military readiness and reestablish deterrence.

Those are all reasons he excites Trump’s base.

That doesn’t mean we don’t have questions about Hegseth’s ability to handle the world’s largest bureaucracy. His experience as a soldier is welcome, and it will connect him to our troops. But is he equipped to subdue and refocus the egos at the Pentagon? That remains to be seen.

Democrats — especially the women — were most interested in haranguing Hegseth over his previous comments regarding women’s role in combat operations. Yet the whole thing played out as a charade in which these women were more interested in getting TikTok soundbites before the app is banned than in weakening or defeating Hegseth. In fact, they sounded less like senators than the obnoxious clowns who interrupted Hegseth’s opening statement three times with angry yelling as they were escorted out by security.

On X, the Democrats’ objective backfired because the compilations of Hegseth patiently enduring wide-eyed, gesticulating, and sometimes literally screaming women were hilarious. My personal favorite is a simultaneous shriek-fest:

“We have hundreds — hundreds — of women who are currently in the infantry, lethal members of our military,” huffed New York Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, referencing Hegseth’s past comments about women in combat roles. “But you degrade them.” She added, “Please explain these types of statements because they’re brutal and they’re mean, and they disrespect men and women who are willing to die for this country.”

Hegseth’s answer was entirely defensible: He would focus on ensuring that “standards have not been eroded” to allow women into such roles and that the same things are expected of all military personnel, “regardless of gender.”

In another context, by the way, he stated clearly, “There are two genders.” Given their line of questioning, it seems that even some of his Democrat inquisitors sometimes know what a woman is.

Hawaii Democrat Senator Mazie Hirono launched a bizarre line of questioning relating to Trump’s expansionist rhetoric regarding Greenland and the Panama Canal. “[The] president-elect has attacked our allies in recent weeks,” Hirono said, “refusing to rule out using military force to take over Greenland and the Panama Canal and threatening to take, to make Canada the 51st state. Would you carry out an order from President Trump to seize Greenland, a territory of our NATO ally Denmark, by force? Or would you comply with an order to take over the Panama Canal?”

Hirono cut off Hegseth every time he began a reply to put such a question into any kind of meaningful context, concluding that it “sounds to me” like Hegseth would “invade Greenland and take over the Panama Canal.”

Time won’t permit exploring Hegseth’s humiliation of Elizabeth Warren or Tim Kaine’s questions about sex and infidelity, but I will conclude by highlighting Markwayne Mullin’s response to his Democrat colleagues.

“What if you showed up drunk to your job? How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? Have any of you guys asked them to step down or resign from their job? And don’t tell me you haven’t seen it because I know you have. And how many senators do you know who have gotten a divorce for cheating on their wives? Did you ask them to step down? No? But it’s for show. You guys make sure you make a big show and point out the hypocrisy because a man has made a mistake.”

Back in December, Republicans called for the release of a list of any members of Congress who were part of the collective $17 million in hush-money payments for various sexual sins, real or alleged, over the last two decades. Hegseth reached such a settlement, which is why this whole thing came up, but he noted in the hearings that he was “falsely accused” of sexual assault, “fully investigated,” and “completely cleared.”

In any case, Hegseth will almost certainly be confirmed by the Senate, especially after Iowa Republican Joni Ernst, herself a veteran and a survivor of sexual assault, signaled her support.

Follow Nate Jackson on X/Twitter.

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