Here's Donald Trump's new defense secretary, Fox News' Pete Hegseth, hawking grenade soap so you can join the "well-groomed militia."
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) November 13, 2024
JFC.
Are all these people total grifters? pic.twitter.com/PyKHOn0SCu
Words fail.
Ivy League. Multiple degrees. Bronze Stars. War hero. Take a chill pill.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an odd comment. What do any of these have to do with one's qualifications to serve as SecDef? Matt Yglesias graduated from an Ivy League school. I have multiple degrees. That does not mean that either Matt Yglesias or I would be a good choice of SecDef.
DeleteThe Bronze Star, meanwhile, is awarded for meritorious service in combat. We do not expect the SecDef to serve in combat—meritoriously or otherwise. When was the last time that a SecDef deployed into combat?
The SecDef has to draft budgets, and oversee personnel lists, and generally manage a bureaucracy (the largest bureaucracy in the United States, possibly in the world). What indicia are there to suggest that Pete Hegseth knows how to run a large bureaucracy? What is the largest operation that he has ever run?
When I think about the number of people who complain about "affirmative-action hires" who somehow manage to get behind this nomination...
I can see why Trump is thinking about trying to do an end-run around the Constitutional process for confirmation. The man has never held a public office in his life. As far as I can tell, his principal occupation has been being a far right provocateur. Temperament matters. He's a wingnut and a clown. The GOP has the votes, so he might get confirmed, or Trump may try to do mass recess appointments. But even if he does make it, he will be badly damaged politically and this will reflect on the administration. This was a gift to the Democrats and they are going to eat him for breakfast. All of which said, and politics aside, he is patently unqualified.
ReplyDelete