Regardless of his qualifications, Pete Hegseth will be the next Secretary of Defense of the United States. The Senate narrowly approved his nomination late Friday, thanks to Vice President J.D. Vance's tie-breaking vote, but not thanks to three Republicans with surprisingly poor voting records.
The final vote was 51-50. This is the smallest margin of approval for a secretary of defense since the position was created in 1947, according to Senate records. Despite efforts to bring some members to Hegseth's side, all Democrats voted against Hegseth's confirmation.
Mr. Hegseth is a former Army National Guard soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he earned two Bronze Stars. He is a graduate of Princeton University and a political commentator for Fox News. His promise to the American people is to kill the Woke in the military and make America's national defense once again the deadliest in the world. Nevertheless, his aim is not war, but peace through force.
Former officers have criticized women serving in combat roles. He criticizes NATO members as “self-righteous and powerless states that ask us to respect outdated and unilateral defense agreements that we no longer abide by.”
republican opposition
The three Republicans who voted against Hegseth's confirmation were Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Mr. McConnell, who has refused to retire despite his apparent failing health, argues that Mr. Hegseth does not demonstrate a sufficient understanding of national security challenges to serve as secretary of defense. said. Murkowski cited concerns about Hegseth's lack of relevant experience with Pentagon policy, as well as accusations of sexual assault and excessive drinking, which Hegseth denies. Collins also voted against Hegseth, citing her lack of experience.
All three have the worst voting records of any Republican. As the TNA Freedom Index shows, McConnell has voted constitutionally only 56 percent of the time in his 40 years in the Senate. Murkowski, who has served in the Senate since 2002, has a Freedom Score of 45%, ahead of McConnell. She voted to donate American funds to other countries and reauthorize permission for American spy agencies to spy on Americans without a warrant. And she's never met an expense bill she didn't like. Since the Bill Clinton era, Mr. Collins has been deceiving the people of Maine into thinking he is a conservative, even though only 38 percent of the vote adhered to the U.S. Constitution. It has been successful.
Interestingly, both women cited lack of qualifications as a reason to oppose Hegseth, but had no problem confirming a cross-dressing mentally ill man as Joe Biden's assistant secretary of health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. . service.
Battle of Hegses
Mr Hegseth's confirmation was announced after a long and difficult battle against a coordinated media smear campaign. Democrats tried to kill Hegseth's nomination by circulating an affidavit from his estranged former sister-in-law accusing him of abusing his ex-wife, Samantha Deering. However, Dearing denied any abuse occurred during their marriage and said the allegations were not accurate.
At one point, his nomination seemed hopeless, and even Republican lawmakers expressed doubts. But the veteran has launched his own campaign. He spent several weeks meeting with Republican senators at the Capitol to discuss their concerns.
