It now appears to be all but certain that Pete Hegseth will be confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense. Republican leaders in the Senate have said as much. And it’s not hard to see why that’s the case. After weeks of telling us that Hegseth is unqualified for the job, Democrats spent several hours trying — and utterly failing — to land a single meaningful blow against his nomination.
Instead, Hegseth came across as a Christian who’s very aware of his own past personal failings, but he was also able to put those failings in context. Under the leadership of former Raytheon board member Lloyd Austin, the Pentagon carried out political purges in the military. It oversaw a catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan. It terminated thousands of soldiers who didn’t want to take the experimental COVID shot. Those are colossal failings that no one in the Pentagon has ever atoned for. Pete Hegseth is not a perfect man. Who is? But he is a saint compared to the people who ran the old regime. And after yesterday’s hearing, no reasonable person can deny that.
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