Of all the credibly accused rapists who could be nominated for Cabinet-level positions in Donald Trump’s administration, it does feel like Pete Hegseth is a bridge too far. Hegseth was accused of drugging and raping a married (conservative) woman at a conference in California in 2017. Even his mother called him an abuser of women. Not only that, but Hegseth is a drunk whose alcohol issues have led to huge issues at every job he’s ever had. And he’s a terrible businessman. And he’s a white nationalist and a fascist. Probably not the best pick for Secretary of Defense, right?
Well, Hegseth has been trying to push back on all of the stories of his horrible behavior and his rancid character this week. He’s in the middle of what Politico called an “all-out media blitz,” a blitz which includes his mommy calling senators and promising that he’ll behave as SecDef if confirmed. Hegseth’s allies think all of this is a smear campaign. Tell that to the woman he raped, the same woman who appears to be hellbent on torpedoing his nomination. Meanwhile, Trump is doing nothing to help his guy:
President-elect Trump isn’t working the phones for Pete Hegseth in his hour of need, leaving the embattled Department of Defense nominee to press his own case to skeptical senators, Axios has learned.
“I don’t think it’s going anywhere,” one senator told Axios about Hegseth’s nomination chances.
Why it matters: Trump is on path to lose his third nominee in two weeks, and this time he’s leaving his candidate out to dry.GOP senators took Trump’s handling of the Matt Gaetz nomination as a sign he’s open to changing his mind — and he’s not that serious about fighting the Senate on rules and procedure just yet. Trump waged a phone campaign in November before telling Gaetz to drop out. Before he announced Gaetz, he demanded consideration of recess appointments from Senate GOP leader candidates.
The pipeline of backup names for defense secretary floated to the press — including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — only further signals Trump could be open to switching things up again.
As Axios mentions, the name of “Meatball” Ron DeSantis is being floated as a possible replacement for Hegseth at DOD. Which would honestly be hilarious? It will be a sh-tshow no matter what, but DeSantis is an idiotic culture warrior who bans books and hates women and immigrants. He’s just another version of Pete Hegseth, only without the rape, the alcoholism and the militaristic white nationalism. Still, it’s all happening – Trump did the thing, he’s getting out of his federal charges, and he’s president again – and he still has no idea what to do and he’s about to lose his second major Cabinet nominee.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Hegseth’s IG.
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- Governor Ron DeSantis (Republican of Florida) delivers remarks on “And To The Republic: The Florida Blueprint” at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, New York on April 1, 2023. In his remarks DeSantis commented on the Manhattan Grand Jury’s indictment of former US President Donald J. Trump. Featuring: Governor Ron DeSantis Where: Garden City, New York, United States When: 01 Apr 2023 Credit: CNP/startraksphoto.com
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- Governor Ron DeSantis (Republican of Florida) delivers remarks on “And To The Republic: The Florida Blueprint” at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, New York on April 1, 2023. In his remarks DeSantis commented on the Manhattan Grand Jury’s indictment of former US President Donald J. Trump. Featuring: Governor Ron DeSantis Where: Garden City, New York, United States When: 01 Apr 2023 Credit: CNP/startraksphoto.com
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- United States Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth exits the Russell Senate office building through the basement as a police report revealed new details from an active sexual assault allegation against him Featuring: Pete Hegseth Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 21 Nov 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
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- United States Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth exits the Russell Senate office building through the basement as a police report revealed new details from an active sexual assault allegation against him Featuring: Pete Hegseth Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 21 Nov 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
Is this Trump’s twisted way of placating the crazies? Make it seem like he was helping them out but when they sunk by the power of their own issues then he won’t be even slightly beholden to them anymore?
Or just making it seem like the more professional crazies (DeSantis) aren’t as bad in comparison (Hegseth)
That is my thought, that he is naming all of the lunatics that will get cut right away so that the real nefarious folks who are not as well-known can have an easier path. Also, I think they are hoping that people in the departments will resign rather that work for a crazy person so it will be easier to implement the Project 2025 plan to replace federal workers with Trump loyalists. I read that people in the FBI are threatening to resign rather than work under Kash Patel, the conspiracy theorist/grifter. Dark times are ahead for America.
That was my thought also. Insidious.
Since 1965, Republicans have been working to control all three branches of government and now that they do, they want to appoint a bunch of incompetent baffoons who have no ability to implement Project 2025. I say let them go for it.
No, there’s no ulterior motive, no devious process. This is trump, stupid, ill-suited to the job, flailing in his ineptitude.
This. Trump is devious and capable of destruction, but he isn’t some master chess player either. Truthfully, Trump prefers Hegseth in the role and probably still resents Meatball for being the flash in the pan conservative golden boy from 2021 to 2023, hence stealing his spotlight. But at the same time, reality is sinking in, so he has to have a backup plan. DeSantis is ghoulish and has his own demons — he oversaw torture in Gitmo that led to increased deaths when he was in the Navy. And let’s not forget the awful things he is still doing as Governor of Florida.
Both Hegseth and DeSantis would do equally malicious bidding on behalf of Trump as Secretary of Defense, but the 53 GOP senators who will decide the nomination are likely more favorable to DeSantis. It’s as simple as that.
He’s playing us. With every nom, he flips off the country. Whomever he ends up with is fine by him. It’s all going to hell in a handmaiden’s basket regardless.
I read the New Yorker piece about Hegseth and holy hell is he a menace. The failing upward of horrible white men continues apace…but hopefully this guy will eventually go down in flames. He should be nowhere near the halls of power. Then again, neither should a lot of them, including their dear leader. I hate this timeline.
Can’t imagine why anyone would be loyal to Trump. It never goes both ways. Not that Hegseth deserves loyalty, but once Trump nominated him, it would just be human decency not to let him twist in the wind. I do think it’s hilarious that Hegseth has his mommy making calls to senators on his behalf. Very beta move for a supposedly alpha male.
I saw a clip of mom’s FN interview on one of the late night comedy shows. She sounded like someone who was paid to say good things about her son. Disingenuous.
Yeah. It is contrary to Trump’s character to expect him to defend someone, even those supposedly his allies.
All of 45’s nominees are not fit to serve. In any normal world, every single one would have been almost instantly disqualified, but life sucks and here we are.
Trump clearly could deal with the sexual assault, white nationalism, misogyny, etc, but seemingly his alcohol problem seems to be the bridge too far.
We’ve got Patel and Gabbard (who has a suspicious love of Putin) up for (selling) our national security agencies. Our healthcare snd education are in deep trouble. Is there any way to get less horrible people in front of TFG? On TV? This is a nightmare!
I wonder if he is first choosing the worst nominee possible. Then his real pick will sail in with no opposition. That will not lose those three republican votes needed and still follow his agenda.
You are assuming Trump is capable of strategy and we saw no evidence of that being the case during his first administration. He does what he wants, and if it doesn’t work out he pretends he never wanted it because he is NOT a loser (eye.roll.) and that now rejected or ejected pick was just a coffee fetcher he barely knew.
Yep, he knows he’ll be dead soon. He’s effing with us.
As someone who taught in the Florida school system until retirement, I can honestly say that DeDantis should not be considered for any position other than a Walmart greeter. He is destroying our public schools, which Rick Scott started to dismantle when he was governor and he is going after the Florida Schools Retirement system. Besides banning books he also wants to eliminate the current secondary math and history curriculum and put in place one created by Prager U! These guy’s are nothing but racists fascist idiots.
He can play nice enough to greet people at Walmart? That’s a surprise to me.
If the only people entering the Walmart were Tallahassee boosters then sure!
No he can’t be a nice person. But I am not sure about your Walmart stores, but ours here in Lee County FL have greeters who act like they are totally disinterested in their job. But then again I rarely go to Walmart, because like Home Depot and Amazon, I quit making purchases from them.
Sigh… well this is what people voted for (if they bothered to vote). Just a short time ago, people were coming on here to suggest those of us who had cut all ties with friends and family who are MAGA were close minded and there was this aura of moral superiority from those not letting “politics” interfere with their relationships. Pepperidge Farm remembers!
And with bird flu, measles, the next pandemic and possibly polio on the horizon with Brain Worm in charge of health, as well as the elimination of the FDA (they make sure the food supply is safe for consumption) and the EPA (they make sure billionaires can’t dump their toxic crap in our water supply) this is actually not even high on my list of worries. You can’t make this up. I haven’t even gotten to the forced labor camps cause the plan is really to deport no one but force detainees to work for free. Modern day slavery.
DeSantis is very much a White nationalist and a racist. He can finally take his little war on woke and defend the war on Christmas on a massive scale.
This is what people wanted and chose. They chose this chaos. You get the democracy you deserve. It’s not that they didn’t want nice things – it’s more that they didn’t want the people they hate to have those things. So now we’re here.
If you’re at the dinner table with 10 nazis there are 11 nazis at that dinner table…our tolerance for this trash and our refusal to firmly stand up to it is what led to this.
All the hand-holding, babysitting, cleaning up messes, federal employees are going to have to do in the next 4 years…I wonder how many will leave. DOGE won’t need to fire anyone.
Clearly, this guy should be allowed to sink.
I don’t know who’s going to end up as Sec of Def, but the Defense Dept has been a financial catastrophe for years now. They’ve never passed an audit and they’ve been writing off literally trillions of dollars in expenses because they have no idea where the money was spent. The GAO issued a statement last year that, once again, they couldn’t certify the validity of the federal government’s financial statements – mostly because of the DoD’s problems, but also the Dept of Education and also hundreds of billions in transfers between agencies that haven’t been recorded properly.
I don’t imagine for a minute that Trump’s people can handle this – multiple administrations haven’t figured it out, or even tried to figure it out. But it’s not wrong to be concerned.
I swear my sanity is not going to last another four years of this shit.