The Greatest DEI Disaster Ever

Democratic Senators--especially the women--shed an even brighter light on a sketchy, uninformed nominee who has no business lording over the Pentagon

Photo by Gage Skidmore

Watching Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth demonstrate his appalling lack of credentials, knowledge, and character for the job for which he was nominated I am compelled to ask: Is the Trump administration running a DEI program for incompetent, unqualified, and/or ethically compromised Whites?

Considering Hegseth, election denier Attorney General Pam Bondi, WWE exec Linda McMahon for secretary of education, and vaccine denier, brain-worm victim Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for Health and Human Services, one must conclude Republicans are not sending us their best. (Or, the more alarming alternative…they are sending their best.)

If it were not so deadly serious and discouraging, the Hegseth hearing would have been a form of high comedy. Consider this exchange with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.):

Or this, with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.):

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s entire line of questioning was devastating:

Moreover, “Senate Democrats on Monday said that an F.B.I. background check on Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, omitted key details on major allegations against him, in part because it did not include interviews with critical witnesses,” the New York Times reported. “One missed opportunity came when the bureau did not interview one of Mr. Hegseth’s ex-wives before its findings were presented to senators last week, according to people familiar with the bureau’s investigation.” Missed? Or intentionally skipped? It’s unfathomable that such a critical witness would have simply been overlooked.

It is no coincidence that these Democratic women on the committee, including Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), and of course Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) showed themselves infinitely more qualified to head the Pentagon. And yet, a man with a history of drinking, a list of financial and sexual scandals (which he denies or claims were merely “anonymous smears”), who possesses absolutely no strategic or diplomatic expertise is president-elect Donald Trump’s choice. While MAGA Republicans (including Hegseth) have genuflected at the altar of “meritocracy”—casting aspersions on women and non-Whites in positions of authority in the military, the Los Angeles fire department, and the Supreme Court—they suspend all critical evaluation of TV hosts, tech bros, and billionaires. The latter they presume qualified.

Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot whom I interviewed yesterday, told me that Republican claims that the military has lowered standards to accommodate women is a “lie.” “I landed an aircraft. On an aircraft carrier. At night,” she said. No one lowered standards for her; yet they are seriously considering someone who has never managed an organization of any size, never done any strategic planning.

Republicans face a choice—not only with Hegseth, but with Tulsi Gabbard, whose confirmation hearing on her nomination for director of national security was delayed. For a party that has railed about America First, demeaned our national security apparatus as too “woke” and accused Democrats of making the United States a laughingstock in the world, are their senators prepared to confirm such manifestly unfit nominees? If so, they will be left responsible for any military, diplomatic or intelligence disasters that ensue.

In a recent op-ed in the Northern Kentucky Tribune, former minority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), advocated passage of the defense appropriations bill, writing,

“Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are engaged in an active campaign to undermine the US-led order that has underpinned Western peace and prosperity for almost a century.…The Senate’s national security bill does much to give this Commander-in-Chief and his successor new tools and options to defend America’s interests. It will help rebuild our degraded defense industrial base, and to replenish the U.S. arsenal with modern and advanced weaponry.”

After all, nothing could be more critical than a strong, effective military.

“Backing down from our duty to preserve American strength, security, and peace will only embolden our enemies and greenlight future acts of force against America and our allies. This is a decision not just for my colleagues in the Senate but for you, the people of Kentucky, as well. We have a duty to protect these enduring values and interests that we, as Americans, all share.”

But what about the obligation to give the military a civilian leader who is capable, experienced, and morally fit? They take an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” No one who takes that seriously would vote to confirm Hegseth. It will be a critical first test as to whether they will do anything—including putting the country’s national security at dire risk—to please Trump.