Pete Hegseth’s Nomination Is A Hill Trump Should Die On

The Federalist ^ | John Daniel Davidson

[RoosterRedux]

The Washington GOP establishment’s opposition to Pete Hegseth serving as President Trump’s secretary of defense has nothing to do with the unsubstantiated allegations against Hegseth and everything to do with resistance to Trump’s plans to reform the Department of Defense and end America’s involvement in endless foreign wars that are so beloved by the establishment.

That’s why Hegseth’s nomination is a hill Trump should die on. If a handful of Senate Republicans can sink Hegseth, they will spend the next four years undermining and obstructing Trump’s entire agenda. Trump needs to send them a message that such obstruction won’t be tolerated in his second term. Now is the time for the president-elect to make them understand that if they oppose his nominees, they’ll be putting their political careers in jeopardy.

Republican senators like Joni Ernst of Iowa and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who purport to be concerned about Hegseth because of alleged wrongdoing in his past, are just being dishonest. Their real objection is not with Hegseth but with Trump’s plans and his policies, especially his foreign policy.

...

All of it amounts to an effort to do to Hegseth what Democrats and the media did to Brett Kavanaugh when Trump nominated him to the Supreme Court in 2018. Like the accusations against Kavanaugh, the accusations against Hegseth aren’t serious or remotely believable. The only reason anyone would take them seriously is if they had other reasons for opposing his nomination, namely, that they seek to undermine Trump’s plans to reform the Defense Department and reorient America’s military posture.

Which is to say, Ernst and Graham’s problem isn’t really with Hegseth, it’s with Trump’s vision for American foreign policy and the U.S. military.

[Truthsearcher]

Phrased very awkwardly, why not say it being a hill he makes his enemies die on.

[bigbob]

Trump needs to have a CTJ meeting with Joni Ernst and explain who got 77 million votes from EVERY STATE and who got 865 thousand from ONE state. He should also point out the effectiveness of Charlie Kirk, Scott Presler, etc and how quickly that 100K vote margin she won on could evaporate.

There is no excuse for this kind of opposition from a red state Senator and he should apply all needed pressure.

[rlmorel]

I agree. This is a hill to fight on. If we fight on it and lose, so be it. But we should not surrender.

I am about halfway though Hegseth’s book (The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free) and he says what I have been saying for years: women should be able to serve in the military, but they should not be serving in combat.

This is not a knock on women, rather, it is a recognition of a biological fact. But he leverages the same set of facts I have long recognized.

[Brian Griffin]

“Pete Hegseth’s Nomination Is A Hill Trump Should Die On”

I think Hegseth is a very capable person, however, persons that know what needs to be done in the DoD are not scarce.

I’m sure Hegseth will impress the Senate.

As for the woman of concern, will she even show up to testify under oath and penalty of perjury?

[Night Hides Not]

IMO, Pete’s CIB trumps all. We need the Pentagon to be planning for the next war, rather than fighting the last war. For example, for the cost of one F35, you can buy thousands of drones.

[rlmorel]

I believe you have to agree to fight on the hill. That is what this is about, choosing to do that...fighting on “that hill”.

Whether you can make your enemies die on it, or you die yourself (figuratively speaking) is unknown.

But we should unequivocally make that choice to fight instead of withdrawing Hegseth or forcing him to quit. We have many people on this forum who don’t understand this.

They think Hegseth should be withdrawn, which is what the Leftists want. They want us to surrender.

I am loathe to do what the Left “wants”. We all should be.

[RoosterRedux]

It’s just a metaphorical expression that means a cause, principle, or issue worth fighting for, even if it involves significant risks or consequences. It implies that someone is willing to stand firm on a particular stance or decision, no matter the personal cost.

[nopardons]

BTTT

[Brian Griffin]

“Trump needs to have a CTJ meeting with Joni Ernst”

Senator Ernst should not be alienated over a person that can be replaced. No one person, not Hegseth, not Trump, is indispensable.

Our military has had many good men and women in it.

Save the scimitars for her next primary, if they would need to be used.

[Justa]

Credibility is the hill Western Journalism died on 50 years ago.

[Political Junkie Too]

Trump needs to send them a message that such obstruction won’t be tolerated in his second term. Now is the time for the president-elect to make them understand that if they oppose his nominees, they’ll be putting their political careers in jeopardy.

This is exactly what I posted last week:

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President-Elect Trump will let it be known via back channels that a vote against Hegseth will be seen as a vote against himself, and that these squishy Senators do not want to make an enemy out of Trump before his term even begins.

---

-PJ

[SaveFerris]

If the Left hates Pete Hegseth

then he’s the right man for the job

[Brian Griffin]

I don’t want MAGA dead and buried sometime in February.

[rlmorel]

I believe five things:

1. Reading Hegseth's book, It is clear that he understands the cancerous nature of what may already be a terminal illness in the DOD if not addressed.
   
   
2. Hegseth is the person to carry this fight. He has skin in the game. He has been wronged by this system, categorized while on duty with the National Guard as an "Extremist" and blackballed.
   
   
3. Hegseth is the person we should fight on that "Hill" to get confirmed and never, ever surrender. Make them beat us, but do not surrender.
   
   
4. If confirmed, Hegseth with face massive resistance, defiance, slow-walking, and outright insubordination from the Deep State denizens who populate the DOD.
   
   
5. There are a huge number of people in the DOD who hate what has been happening in the US Military, and will be willing to fight on Hegseth's side battling the Leftists in the DOD.

[Brian Griffin]

“President-Elect Trump will let it be known via back channels that a vote against Hegseth will be seen as a vote against himself, and that these squishy Senators do not want to make an enemy out of Trump before his term even begins.”

This is the time for sweet talk.

It like a marriage, you’ve got to swallow some things in silence to make it all work.

[Eli Kopter]

That is exactly the message that I gave my two Senators. One of them, Mark Wayne Mullin put Jake Tapper in his place yesterday. Anyone in Iowa should write their Senators, especially Joni Ernst.

[Political Junkie Too]

This is the time for sweet talk.

No, that's like when Reagan traded amnesty for the promise of spending cuts later, and later never came.

Trump needs to buy the muscle car for himself first, and then "sweet talk" the others later by saying "Now that I have my expensive necessity, we can talk about getting you something you want" to even-up the marriage.

-PJ

[Political Junkie Too]

never, ever surrender. Make them beat us, but do not surrender.

Yes, get them on the record with their vote against President Trump's nominee.

Hegseth will face massive resistance, defiance, slow-walking, and outright insubordination

Then President Trump can use Obama's favorite canard and claim that he has "lost confidence" in the Generals who are disobeying his directives and fire them, just like Harry Truman.

-PJ

[Stingray51]

Where did all the talk about recess appointments go? The Swamp thinks it has convinced Trump that he could never pull that off, and Mar Lago has gone silent on that threat. But it could work and should still be on the table.