Senate Democrats do not always shine when interrogating Trump regime flunkies at public hearings. But this week, a full court press at the Senate Armed Services Committee revealed the extent of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s dishonesty and incompetence. One after another, Senate Democrats skewered his disastrous mismanagement of an illegal, catastrophic war.
Democrats pressed their advantage as we learned the Trump team has been lying about its military success. “Iranian attacks on nine U.S. locations across the Middle East in the two weeks since the ceasefire broke down show that the country maintains an ability to inflict damage on precise targets, despite the Trump administration’s repeated claims that Iran’s military capabilities have been diminished or destroyed,” the New York Times reports. Hegseth testified during a week that Donald Trump reprehensibly claimed that dead service personnel supported his catastrophic war and disgusted millions of Americans by noting on social media that the 18 military deaths due to his fruitless war wasn’t nearly as high a count of fallen soldiers as other historic wars (including Vietnam). Meanwhile, the Trump crew maintained a tight lid on casualty statistics, lest Americans learn the extent of our unpreparedness and the accurate toll Trump’s folly has taken.
Ranking member Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) was in top form at the Armed Services hearing:
Reed noted that the Pentagon had spent years planning for a potential military campaign against Iran — and that any such plan would have assumed the strait could be closed.
“Were you unaware of that?” Reed asked.
Hegseth did not dispute it.
Of course, the Strait of Hormuz was front and center in every single aspect of that,” Hegseth replied before defecting by attacking the Biden administration.
“We had U.S. boats that surrendered to Iranian ships under the Biden administration,” the defense secretary argued.
“Listen, we’re talking about the war you started,” Reed said, cutting him off.
“Not a situation in which oil was flowing freely,” he continued. “There was no conflict. We weren’t losing personnel as a result of Iranian actions. So your fallback to the Biden administration is just a very, very obvious excuse for what I think is probably — as you described so often — gross negligence.”
“You did not fully inform the president that you would be in a situation where the Strait of Hormuz could be effectively closed, oil prices could surge, and effectively, the Iranians could maintain their ability to strike back as they are right now. They just killed some of our servicemen last weekend.”
When Hegseth resorted to slobbering praise of Donald Trump, Reed interjected: “Excuse me,” Reed replied. “He should be praised for starting a war without authority, creating a situation in which the world economy is suffering tremendously [?] We have to have extra money for our farmers, and we have no outcome — at least no realistic outcome — in sight yet.”
As we have come to expect, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) was devastating in his takedown of Hegseth. Ossoff repeatedly used Hegseth’s own baseless bravado to reveal he had grossly exaggerated about our military accomplishments (e.g., destroying Iran’s missile program):
That helped set the stage for Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who lambasted Hegseth. “You, sir, are the failure. Not the men and women who are on that front line. Not the men and women who hold up their honor with distinction. But if there’s a lack of a winning strategy, they’re in harm’s way. Their leaders have failed them.” Peters continued, “You don’t have a strategy. You don’t have a long-term plan to actually win this war.”
Democrats also didn’t hesitate when going after Hegseth for making an exorbitant funding request. Underscoring the $37.5B the Pentagon burned through on a senseless war, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) demanded to know: “At what point do you stop asking Americans to foot the bill for a war they don’t support, on top of an inflated budget request and billions in reconciliation funds that you still haven’t spent?”
Hegseth, unsurprisingly, was out of his depth and lacked any cogent answers. When he tried to filibuster with a canned Islamophobic rant, Shaheen was ready: “I don’t want to hear your speech because I have limited time. So, if you can’t answer my question, then I will move on to my next question.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) also pressed Hegseth on the funding issue, pointing to Americans’ fury at spending billions on a war they never wanted rather than on critical items they desperately need. “You are asking for unlimited money for bombs when people can’t feed their families, and I don’t know how this administration intends to defend those decisions to the American people,” she said. She also blasted his conflicting claims:
“We just don’t know which version of the war to believe,” she observed.
Democrats’ persistence seemed to shame at least one Republican into pressing Hegseth for real answers. When Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine danced around questions about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) couldn’t conceal his frustration:
HEGSETH: This is a regime hell-bent on nuclear ambitions. And...
JOHN KENNEDY: Guys...
HEGSETH: President Trump’s...
KENNEDY: We need straight answers.
HEGSETH: ...Been willing to go after this.
KENNEDY: We need straight answers.
Frankly, Democrats should demand straight answers from Kennedy and his Republican colleagues: Was it a mistake to confirm Hegseth, an abjectly unfit nominee? Why didn’t they demand his removal after Signalgate? Why have they allowed Hegseth to repeat obvious lies without consequences? Why are they not demanding his resignation now?
On Wednesday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) appeared on PBS and summed up the situation. “We have provided billions of dollars to this Defense Department. The fact is that Hegseth has not managed it well, and this administration has taken us into a war that has no strategy,” she said. “It has no justification. It has no exit strategy. And now they are asking us, the taxpayers, through Congress to spend literally billions of more of our taxpayer dollars.” She added, “It is hurting our military readiness. It is misusing our defense spending and our troops who are fighting for us, and it is hurting Americans’ pocketbook in many ways.”
She also let Hegseth have it for blaming Joe Biden, who left office more than 18 months ago. “Hegseth’s … in fact, many of the Cabinet members’ go-to responses if they don’t have a good response, blame Biden,” she said.
“Look, Biden did not get us into this war. Trump and Hegseth started this war, and they refuse to take responsibility for it. I find that appalling.”
In sum, undaunted Senate Democrats on the Armed Services Committee demonstrated unwavering and unrelenting grilling of Trump’s grossly unfit flunkies, effectively revealing the extent of their unfitness — and the degree of culpability that Trump’s congressional enablers bear for serial, catastrophic failures. In the case of Iran, they must continue to hold the Trump regime and its Republican collaborators responsible for the rising death toll, soaring costs, and diplomatic/geopolitical disaster unfolding before our eyes.
Excellent summation of the bind these selfish, unprepared goons have put us in. But it brings front and center a confusion I can't resolve: How can so many men and women( i.e.House Representatives and Senators) who have taken an oath to preserve our laws and civic understandings REPEATEDLY abdicate their sworn stewardship and support the policies and actions of people who are, at a minimum, incompetent, and even worse, are observable criminals and grifters?!!! It boggles the mind.
Once again, Jen, excellent journalism: thanks for keeping us informed...
from a very impressed Contrarian subscriber.