Will Pete Hegseth Be Confirmed?

With Matt Gaetz out of the picture–Donald Trump’s motive for nominating him may forever remain a mystery–the Democrats have trained their guns on Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense. Will Hegseth be confirmed? I think so, for several reasons.

First, Senate Republicans are not in the mood to give Democrats another scalp. They remember that in 2021, not a single Democrat voted against any of Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees, no matter how radical they may have been. Republicans have had about enough of the double standard.

Second, Trump’s rationale in nominating Hegseth enjoys broad–probably unanimous–support in the GOP caucus. All Republicans want to expunge wokism from our armed forces, and return our military to its former status as a lethal fighting machine. And they are also concerned about the dramatic falloff in recruiting under Joe Biden. Hegseth literally wrote the book on the disastrous consequences of military wokism, and his confirmation will be a signal to young people that our fighting Army, Navy and Marines are back.

Third, the Democrats’ attacks on Hegseth are mostly pathetic. The only one with any legs at all is the sexual assault claim from seven years ago. That won’t derail the nomination because 1) it is irrelevant to his duties as Secretary of Defense; 2) there is no actual woman asserting a claim, just an anonymous, second-hand accusation; and 3) if you read the police report, which is based on the unknown woman’s after-the-fact belief that she had been abused, it is evident that her claim was unfounded. It is easy to see why the local authorities did not bring any charges. The incident, while nothing to be proud of, won’t derail Hegseth’s nomination.

So I expect Pete to be confirmed, likely with no dissenting Republican votes.

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