Republicans again caved to the Donald Trump cult. The House on Tuesday evening, by a 211 to 204 vote, with only Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) siding with Democrats, voted to refer to committee eight articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Had the full contingent of Democrats shown up, the motion to divert the articles would have failed and the full House would have voted on impeachment. For now, the process is inexcusably paused.
Rarely have articles of impeachment been more warranted. Three articles concerned prosecution of the illegal war in Iran in contravention of the Constitution and the War Powers Act; one related to civilian casualties (as the New York Times explained, “disregarding congressionally mandated safeguards against civilian deaths and casualties, including by gutting funding for the Army database that tracks them, eliminating a majority of the staff overseeing civilian harm mitigation and firing military lawyers across several branches”); one concerned extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean (which have murdered at least 220 people); another was for persecuting Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), one of six members of Congress who urged service personnel to follow only legal orders; one was for the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife; and another for illegally starting a war in Yemen.
Certainly, other grounds were available (e.g. using a non-secure Signal chat for discussing classified battlefield operations, discriminating in promotions against women and nonwhite officers), but credit Massie for the articles he did present and shame on the rest for casting a straight party vote to defend inexcusable conduct.
Vet Voice Foundation, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, put out an insightful analysis singling out two articles for particular notice. On the extrajudicial killings, two men clinging to wreckage after a boat strike were killed in secondary strikes Hegseth ratified; the Defense Department then “did not tell lawmakers about the second strike in its classified briefing days afterward. Its conduct since then also shows it knows survivors in the water are to be rescued, not attacked.” The offense alleged is grave, blatantly illegal, and deeply dangerous:
These rules exist for American troops as much as for anyone. The protections for the wounded and shipwrecked are reciprocal: the United States can demand that an adversary spare a downed American pilot or a sailor in the water only if it honors the same rule itself. Civilian leaders and military officers share the responsibility to keep operations within those limits. When the Secretary of Defense defends a strike on survivors instead of investigating it, he does more than excuse one incident. He tells every commander that the limit no longer holds. That is the kind of damage to the constitutional system the impeachment standard exists to reach.
Vet Voice also emphasized Hegseth’s attack on Kelly, who flew combat missions in the Gulf War and retired from the Navy as captain. Hegseth issued a letter of censure and threatened a potential downgrade of his pension. Kelly went to court and promptly prevailed.
“If the Pentagon can threaten a retiree’s rank, pay, or freedom over protected speech, military retirees will hesitate to take part in public debate at all,” Vet Voice explained. “Retaliating against a member of Congress also weakens the independent oversight that servicemembers and veterans depend on. Using the Secretary’s official powers to punish protected political speech is a grave abuse of public trust with the constitutional meaning of ‘high Crimes and Misdemeanors.’”
I can think of no secretary of defense who has done more damage to the Constitution and to the reputation, morale, and readiness of the armed forces than Hegseth. Impeachment is a fitting punishment, and failure to pass the articles and send them to the Senate promptly for trial adds insult to injury, confirming House Republicans’ responsibility for the Trump regime’s serial offenses. As for Democrats, its caucus organization had better improve lest its members incur the wrath of the voters who sent them to hold the Trump regime accountable for its illegal and immoral conduct.
*******
Veterans Day is a fitting time not only to pay tribute to the men and women who have served the United States in the military but also to recommit to repairing the grievous harms inflicted on them by the Trump regime and MAGA flunkies over the past two years. From huge cuts in the federal workforce (which has disproportionately impacted veterans) to slashed healthcare services at the Veterans Administration to petty insults (a planned fascistic arch that would cast a shadow on Arlington National Cemetery and block historic sightlines), the regime has shrouded itself in the trappings of military glory while treating shabbily those who are serving or have served.
In October, for example, Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) released a report documenting the skyrocketing increase in veteran suicide. (“Since the beginning of the second Trump Administration, VA Secretary Collins has eliminated thousands of mental health care clinical positions instead of bolstering them. From January 2025 to June 2026, VA cut 600 psychologist and 1,600 social worker positions, barring medical centers from being able to recruit for those roles.”) Blumenthal’s previously released report detailed “the harm and impacts of the Trump Administration’s draconian directives and cuts on veterans … [including] a historic loss of staff, dire health care staffing shortages, and spiking VA mental health care wait times.”
Just months earlier in August, House Democrats demanded answers concerning a ProPublica report documenting the ordeal of vets struggling to obtain mental healthcare treatment. Over 60 Democrats pressed Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins for answers about a plummeting VA workforce that left vets without critical care:
The letter was spearheaded by Rep. Judy Chu, who is a psychologist and represents a district in Southern California. “Caring for our nation’s Veterans is a fundamental responsibility,” the letter says. “That includes ensuring access to high-quality mental health care.”
The lawmakers demanded that the VA disclose details about its shortage of mental health providers and the impact on veterans. It also pushed the agency to lay out how long veterans have to wait for care.
As ProPublica has detailed, though the VA has long had a shortfall of mental health providers, the situation has gotten far worse under the current Trump administration. Hundreds of mental health staffers have left the VA and not been replaced.
In addition, House and Senate Democrats have expressed outrage that while veterans’ care is getting slashed, an electronic health record modernization contract with Oracle Health has ballooned by $17 billion to $27 billion. In an Oct. 6 letter to Collins, Blumenthal and Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), ranking member on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, blasted the VA for “lack of transparency and cooperation,” Nextgov/FCW reported. “In addition to requesting that delayed information, the lawmakers also asked VA to provide written responses to 13 questions about the contract extension process, including how the agency arrived at the new $27 billion total contract ceiling and whether officials will commit to obtaining a third-party total lifecycle cost estimate for the project.”
Meanwhile, the consequences of the Trump regime’s broader assault on the federal government continue to ripple throughout the veteran community. In February, the Center for Budget and Public Policy Priorities reported:
The federal government has been a large employer of veterans for many decades, with veterans accounting for roughly 30 percent of all federal employees in recent years. Between September 2024 and December 2025, the number of veterans working in the federal government fell by nearly 10 percent. This loss of roughly 62,000 veterans from federal service — including 13,000 fewer veterans serving at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) — has resulted in the lowest number of federal employees who are veterans in over 15 years, according to historical Office of Personnel Management data no longer available online. …
But it’s at the VA — the federal agency dedicated to running programs and services that benefit veterans and their families, including providing care through nearly 1,400 health care facilities — where the harm to veterans may be most acute. The Trump Administration cut nearly 28,000 VA employees (about 6 percent of agency staff) between January and December of 2025. Included in these losses were over 2,700 nurses, over 1,000 medical officers, and more than 1,000 psychologists and social workers, as well as over 1,800 people tasked with evaluating veterans’ claims for benefits. As a result, VA health centers and offices in every state have seen staffing declines.
Each assault on the social safety net takes its toll on vets. A Government Accountability Office report advised that the Trump regime was still suggesting vets were exempt from SNAP time limits, “even though Republicans took away that protection, putting veterans at risk of losing food assistance” (emphasis added).
Takano decried the incompetence: “The agency that is supposed to lead on veteran hunger hasn’t held a meeting with VA since April 2025, and it didn’t respond when GAO asked why the agreement hasn’t been reviewed.” Takano continued: “Veterans earned better than this. Congress should restore their exemption, require USDA and VA to work together and report on their progress, and use our oversight to hold USDA to its promise to fix what it tells veterans.”
Likewise, draconian cuts to Medicaid that are devastating rural healthcare disproportionately impact vets. KFF in October reported, “Rural health centers served an outsized share of veterans, agricultural workers, and patients at school-based clinics relative to their share of the total health center patient population in 2025. While rural health centers served 31% of all health center patients, they served 53% of health center patients who were veterans.” It is that population that will feel the full brunt of Medicaid cuts slated to go into effect next year.
After the election, House Democrats put out a statement putting the Trump regime on notice that it would pursue an aggressive agenda on behalf of vets:
Corruption and Contracts. Investigate VA Secretary Doug Collins and political appointee decisions at VA, hold VA contractors accountable, and follow the money, including Electronic Health Record Modernization and Community Care.
Protect Earned Benefits. Defend the VA home loan program, go after claims sharks who prey on veterans, and strengthen the benefits veterans have earned.
Healthcare. Expose delays, denials, and network failures in Community Care, and strengthen VA’s direct care system while protecting it from privatization.
Workforce and Capacity. Scrutinize DOGE actions, staffing cuts, and vacancies that weaken VA’s ability to serve veterans or push care outside the department.
Honor the Promise. Improve benefits, strengthen the PACT Act, hold VA accountable for the administration’s homelessness commitments, and ensure minority veterans receive equitable care and benefits.
That is a promising start. Keeping faith with the men and women who have served in uniform should be a top priority for Democrats in the new Congress and in state governments where they will control governorships and state legislatures. It is time to honor our veterans, not by empty rhetoric but by keeping the promises we have made to those who have given so much to secure our freedom and security.
I am beyond angry at the 11 Democrats who didn't show up to impeach Hegseth. One of them was Nancy Pelosi. Shame on her and the others. I wonder honestly if we have anyone in Congress up to the task of fighting this regime. The feckless Dems fail AGAIN.
We ALL deserve better than this dumpster fire (well, except for the MAGA cult who voted for this).