[Above: Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), an Iraq war veteran, says Pete Hegseth is “dangerously unqualified” to be defense secretary. – eds.]
I don’t think Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump’s other controversial appointees will ever go through confirmation hearings. I assume that even if the Senate resists allowing Trump to seat them as recess appointments, simpering toady Mike Johnson in the House will put forth a resolution to recess both houses of Congress, as outlined in Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, and get the votes he needs to pass the resolution because most House Republicans will be too afraid of primary challenges and death threats to resist.
But on the off chance that there are Senate hearings on Hegseth’s nomination, I hope some Democrat asks him about a passage New York magazine’s Sarah Jones found in one of his books:
In American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free, he outlined his case for Trump’s reelection in 2020 and drew parallels between contemporary America and the medieval era. “Our present moment is much like the 11th Century. We don’t want to fight, but, like our fellow Christians one thousand years ago, we must,” he writes. “Arm yourself — metaphorically, intellectually, physically. Our fight is not with guns. Yet.”
