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.
Our congresspeople are equally at fault- the Trump Republicans(all Republicans) because they are equally selfish, morally compromised. My mind is not boggled.
Yes, it's really a reflection of how years of tearing apart the civic environment hast seeped into changing the civic psyche-- how people see themselves in relation to others. And how they understand what others expect of them
How people see themselves in relation to others.. in opposition,or competition. This is not only true about here but on the world stage. As I pay attention to all this warring internally and externally that need not be happening. it tears us all down. It's insane.
It's a recursive process: insitutions and laws decayed, the civic psyche( what we expect from others and what we are responsible for, and stewards of), and changes in people, less trust, permission to act on our worst impulses- basically civilizations collapse. Repair is recursive too: people respond to the environments they live in, so if structural changes and normative changes incentivize more humane behavior among individuals, repair efforts would reinforce each orher.
I agree. It seems we are sliding downwards. It could take an inspiring leader to turn things around. A virtuous leader can start an upward spiral... and has. Mamdani may do that. There are others and have been others in history. People want/need leadership.
"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?"
Exactly.
Let's put the blame where it belongs, and the pressure where it belongs as well.
When you hire bullies who have Dunning-Kruger effect and put them in places of power and authority, you get expensive, endless wars, higher prices, and dead soldiers.
Because, unfortunately, they are an accurate reflection of the MAGA voters who put them there. If you go against Trump, Trump decides you need to be primaried so that you are out of Congress, and the MAGA voters will back up that choice.
At some point, if any of these people had any principles, they would say "enough" and tell Trump to do his worst because they were finished supporting him. Right now, even Tillis and Cornyn are only making talking points that aren't translating to votes.
Do you remember the Twilight Zone episode where Billy Mummy played a six-year-old with supernatural powers who would banish to the cornfield forever the adults who disagreed with him or said no to him?
They need to worry just as much about being voted out by the people when they finally realize that their needs are not being met. Another few dings to the kitchen--table economy ought to take care of that. There even comes a time when "owning the libruls" gets too costly.
Perhaps more states might consider having open primaries in which anyone can vote.
Turnout for primaries often is low, and only the most committed(or batshit crazy party members )vote,resulting in more extreme candidates. Also ranked choice voting might be another idea.
I think the oath problem is fairly easy to understand. They are unscrupulous people hellbent on achieving power for their own purposes and that Oath of Office was merely a hoop to jump through on the way to that power. The Founders were rightly afraid of Cabals coming to power and destroying the Republic. The rest of us need to come together and vote to put them out of office in November and again in 2028 - or we are doomed to this endless cycle or lather, rinse, and repeat.
Agree. The Dems need to unite on an overall strategy that includes focus on not just affordability but incompetence & corruption. Most voters (outside of MAGA die hards) are fed up & looking for real leadership out of this MAGA-induced chaos.
It does boggle the mind; a bunch of sheep (Republicans) following their incompetent leader(s) over the cliff… again and again and again.
All that said, I support our men and women in uniform. I do not support the lack of leadership or a plan by this Administration in charge of our great military. All of whom will not answer oversight questions directly or honestly. I know my two Senators will not be voting for more money and both of them highly respect our military.
I would say that supporting our troops in this case is demanding the war end. Period.
They volunteered to risk their lives to defend America. To fight for our rights and freedoms. And sure, most of them are aware there's a lot of gray area in that. But I am sure not one of them signed up in order to be used as an ego boost for Trump. They did not ask to be used to destabilize the world economy to advance Bibi Netanyahu's desire to stay out of an Israeli prison OR Trump's desire to watch other people die for his small minded gains.
Agreed. It’s exhausting, all this incompetence from an incompetent government elected by primarily incompetent young American male voters who couldn’t handle the thought of a competent woman as our President. One can only hope that they’ve learned their lesson.
It wasn't just the "incompetent young American male voteers". They are often more open-minded about electing a woman to the highest office. Look more at what would be called "traditional minded Democrats and Independents" who still suffer from the affliction of misogyny.
Yes, you might be right, perhaps I’m over-reacting to the smug young man I saw going into vote just as I was walking out. And the many responses to the election of our current president I noticed on social media & in newspaper sites immediately after. Good not to over-generalize; I apologize, & thank you for your response. Though misogyny is rampant, as demonstrated by the current Secretary of “War”. Women are angry.
The secretary of defence (no caps or re-naming on purpose) has a lot of other bad characteristics too. He appears to be a Christian Nationalist, a bully, a racist, and most of all, an incompetent bampot.
The Pentagon already has a large pool of funding that it hasn't touched, yet Hegseth asks for more. In business, if you don't use all of the funding allocated, not only do you get no more, the excess is frequently clawed back! Congress should demand a full audit and grant no more until it has been completed and inspected.
If Hegseth hadn't thrown that massive party at the end of the last fiscal year, fearing that their budget would be cut if they didn't use what was allotted to them, spending $93 billion on "use it or lose it" items, including steak, lobster, etc. and other items as well, wouldn't the budget be in a better place? That ridiculous spending spree shows Hegseth's character. And now we have a war that he is involved in and he's wanting more money. He's a sorry excuse for a man!
Yes, and as a Navy Brat myself, I am very disturbed at the cavalier, irresponsible way that the incompetent use of force has endangered and led to the loss of lives of those who serve
I think we need to keep in mind that Republican lawmakers support a lot of the Trump administration initiatives, like cuts to programs that make life better for Americans. We’ve seen plenty to caution us to NOT assume they share our values. Supporting a goon like Hegseth is the price they pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and corporations and cuts to programs that benefit Americans. Similarly, soon the utterly corrupt Todd Blanche will be our attorney general despite the reservations of two Republicans Senators who could put a stop to the confirmation process and have nothing to lose in the voting booth. So, my response to your confusion is that Republicans WANT a lot of what’s happening to happen. They’ve been working on this agenda for decades, and if they need criminals and grifters to finally get the job done for them, so be it. It’s craven and cynical. They don’t deserve our incredulity that somehow, underneath it all, they are better than they have demonstrated themselves to be, or our belief that they would be better leaders if only they weren’t messing their pants in fear of Trump. Reading through the comments, I see I’m not alone in this conclusion.
Absolutely-- I agree that they WANT this- and that's what baffles me!! It shows complete civilizational collapse with incentives to degrade institutions, norms, and personal behavior- Their support to what amounts to dysregulated chaos is something I can grasp academically, but it just doesn't square morally, emotionally, or humanly-- so, despite all of the ways of understanding the dynamic, I still find it hard to believe that people would choose dis-reality and dysfunction. Certainly not what I choose!
And why isn't every single one of them indicted for the perjury they committed during their oaths of office, since every one of them was so clearly lying through his/her teeth?!
Problem is, who would indict them? Certainly not Trump‘s DOJ.
Oaths of office that have no penalties attached to them for breaking them are purely on the honor system; currently we have too many people without honor serving in the government. All branches.
The emphasis is for the many insurrectionists and pedophiles to protect each other so they decide not to do anything to protect the Constitution, jump on stupid ideas, stop corruption or represent their constituents. SPINELESS ND GREEDY.
When you consider your main job to be getting reelected you tie yourself to whoever or whatever will help that cause. The problem is that, despite their Ivy League diplomas, these idiots are no more savvy than your typical MAGA supporter. They didn't recognize that Trump might be getting a groundswell of supporters in the beginning and they didn't recognize when Trump's support numbers inevitably began to fall (either time). They didn't understand who Trump was despite millions of voices telling them and now they find themselves chained to the anchor that is MAGA. Strange that Ted Cruz didn't recognize the waning since a similar thing happened to his Tea Party. Greed and intellectual laziness are two core characteristics of the MAGA politician.
For the last 10 years MAGA has been attempting a coup and now they are successful. Enjoy the dictatorship because so many americans are racist idiots and other americans failed to stay politically active in their voting to keep the liars in check.
Not quite successfully yet, but really too damn close for my comfort.
The irony is ridiculous to me that that January 6 phrase “ fight like hell, or you won’t have a country anymore” now applies to the urgent need to vote to support democracy. The Onion could not write something like this.
Irony? How about the proven case of voter fraud not being prosecuted is Donnie's 2020 absentee ballot vote as Mar-a-Lago was not a residence and he didn't live in the state at least half a year to qualify to vote! And he has the nerve to now push the save america act and NOBODY has told him to prosecute himself for 2020???
They ride on the backs, and are the culmination of years of strategic degradation- from the Southern Strategy, through the Powell memo, through Reagan, through Gingrich, the last 10 years are the perfect end point of what these folks are all about. And the current decadent administration is the true avatar of their fever dreams.
Thank you for the history lesson. I refer to these kinds of people as the ones who go to church to prey on parishoners, not pray with parishoners! Hope Americans wake up and rise up to protect democracy!
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Hegseth is grossly incompetent. I am in agreement that he should have been removed after Signalgate. Blaming Biden is always their default response to this and anything else.
When I phone my horrible Senator Chuck Grassley about the outrage du jour, the canned reply that I receive in return manages to somehow blame Biden (not mentioning trump at all).
It reads like total BS to me, but I have to assume that blaming Biden for everything “works” with Chuck’s GOP base.
When will they realize that Joe Biden is no longer the president and is no longer the one making policy? Besides, even if he did, the current president could have corrected the problem in question.
When I write to my representatives I get an, almost, instantaneous, message back from them, along with an invitation to call their office at any time with my concerns.
They’ve already done that and…Presto! ICE was unleashed. Thousands have been “disappeared”, several have been murdered, numbers are down trying to get in to this country, even “unpatriotic antifa” U.S. citizens have gotten what they deserved. So the MAGGOTS are satisfied. In their minds Biden still hasn’t been punished which is why they’re going after what he might have said when he was VP to his biographer. Really.
So Hegseth wants an additional $37-plus billion dollars to partially pay for a war that no one except Trump and Netanyahu wanted. Would that money (which adds to the deficit) have paid for full SNAP benefits? Subsidies so families could get insurance under the Affordable Care Act? Medicaid benefits for children and adults? Protection for our national parks and monuments? Aid to Ukraine in their fight against Putin's invasion?
Trump (and Hegseth) are a feature not a bug in today’s Republican Party. They’re the logical endpoint of the past 40-odd years of strategic choices their leadership has made.
The former GOP needs to be stripped down to the proverbial studs and rebuilt by the handful of responsible conservatives left out there.
It's nice to see Hegseth slapped around by the Democrats, but he's still in office and shouldn't be, under other circumstances. We really must impeach the perpetrator and then clean house. C'mon Congress . . . act.
So true! Hegseth is just a religious fanatic who wants the US military as his white nationalist crusade force. It is infuriating that such a grossly unqualified person has such power. If there were any integrity left in this modern R party, they would impeach him. We can see that integrity is nonexistent.
Hegseth is incompetent as are every other Cabinet member. They were chosen specifically for that reason to satisfy Putin IMHO. Pretty sure the frequent calls between Trump and Putin were not made to discuss the Weather.
Hegseth is not only incompetent, he's a nasty piece of work. We used to use the term "rude, crude and socially unacceptable". He is surely all of those.
None of those cabinet selections was accidental. The obvious intent was to dismantle our government and make it ineffective. Guilty Donald surely liked the idea but as you said, someone smarter than him put that plan together.
When the Senate approved any one of these people for their posts it might as well have been a treasonous act since the end result has been to directly weaken our nation in nearly every possible way.
How exactly were we prepared for a major war when we apparently dangerously depleted our munitions in a minor war? So our military was a paper tiger all along? So then where did the money go? I think I know the answer, and so do you. Scandalous. Major reforms are needed before we give the Department of War one drop more of money that is needed for the American people.
And kill the legislation to link our military industrial complex with Israel.
I am reminded of the Iraq War when our troops were being killed by roadside bombs and it took at least two years, as I recall, to provide them with newly fortified transport vehicles. We would have lost WWII at that rate! Meanwhile our soldiers were putting plywood panels scavenged from shipping crates on the bottom of their vehicles, and I guess Americans were going shopping -- at least, that's what Shrub told them to do.
I believe it was before the hearing, although the announcement of the signing by the secretary of energy? was this week. And, in true Trumpian fashion, he changed the terms of the deal after both sides had signed it.
I’m not sure the American people are paying attention to this. I guess we will see in the mid-terms. In Texas we are thrilled that Talarico is in a dead heat with that idiot Paxton. My question is why isn’t Talarico kicking Paxton’s butt? As a country we’ve become weak mentally, physically, and now economically and militarily. Our enemies are paying attention even if the we are not.
Our congresspeople are at fault- the Trump Republicans(all Republicans), the majority- equally selfish, morally compromised. The signs were loud and clear all along waiting for the effects to hit.. as they do and will. A faster boil is happening as it gets to the American people.. maybe will rouse them above their sleepy partisanship.
Hegseth never should have been confirmed in the first place, nevermind getting to the Signal thing.
Hegseth came off like a sweaty schoolboy caught with pictures he ought not have. What an embarrassment that such a sad excuse for a secretary of defense is in charge of this debacle.
Democrats. Still "playing nice" with these thugs. In what other administration have so many high-ranking officials treated Congress with such contempt...and gotten away with it?
Dear Republicans in Congress, please, please, I beg of you…..reconsider what will really happen to you if …dump’s threat (that keeps you kneeling) should become known publicly. “We the people” already know that he has threatened you in some way…..
We the people will take that into consideration if he goes public.
What is more important? Your fate or that of the United States of America?????????????
In order to shame them, the people first have to feel guilt that their actions were wrong and they know they were wrong. So many of the MAGA do not feel that their actions were wrong, so they do not feel any guilt and they cannot be shamed by pointing out their actions.
The Trump administration’s incompetence is a MAGA-wide example of the Dunning-Kruger effect enhanced by a bottomless pit of official and personal corruption. Let’s hope Karma is swift and devastating.
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.
Our congresspeople are equally at fault- the Trump Republicans(all Republicans) because they are equally selfish, morally compromised. My mind is not boggled.
Yes, it's really a reflection of how years of tearing apart the civic environment hast seeped into changing the civic psyche-- how people see themselves in relation to others. And how they understand what others expect of them
How people see themselves in relation to others.. in opposition,or competition. This is not only true about here but on the world stage. As I pay attention to all this warring internally and externally that need not be happening. it tears us all down. It's insane.
It's a recursive process: insitutions and laws decayed, the civic psyche( what we expect from others and what we are responsible for, and stewards of), and changes in people, less trust, permission to act on our worst impulses- basically civilizations collapse. Repair is recursive too: people respond to the environments they live in, so if structural changes and normative changes incentivize more humane behavior among individuals, repair efforts would reinforce each orher.
I agree. It seems we are sliding downwards. It could take an inspiring leader to turn things around. A virtuous leader can start an upward spiral... and has. Mamdani may do that. There are others and have been others in history. People want/need leadership.
"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?"
Exactly.
Let's put the blame where it belongs, and the pressure where it belongs as well.
When you hire bullies who have Dunning-Kruger effect and put them in places of power and authority, you get expensive, endless wars, higher prices, and dead soldiers.
Time for a change in November.
Like very young children, they are trying to hide their incompetence and lies by making a lot of noise.
Because, unfortunately, they are an accurate reflection of the MAGA voters who put them there. If you go against Trump, Trump decides you need to be primaried so that you are out of Congress, and the MAGA voters will back up that choice.
At some point, if any of these people had any principles, they would say "enough" and tell Trump to do his worst because they were finished supporting him. Right now, even Tillis and Cornyn are only making talking points that aren't translating to votes.
When the people who are NOT RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION are just as cowardly as the ones who are... you know the rot is all the way to their core.
It's just who Republicans are now. The like authoritarianism and they want a ruler instead of a leader.
Exactly.
Do you remember the Twilight Zone episode where Billy Mummy played a six-year-old with supernatural powers who would banish to the cornfield forever the adults who disagreed with him or said no to him?
Yes! I frequently compare DJT to that 6-year-old child-monster as well.
I would love to have that power. I'd send Trump, his entire cabinet, and every unrepentant MAGA moron to the cornfield in a heartbeat.
except he's more like a 17 month old with a disordered attachment and no holding environment to contain him.
“It’s A Good Life”. NOT.
We are suffering the consequences of the politics by nihilism. edit: changed 'toe' to 'the'... damnable spellcheck!
They need to worry just as much about being voted out by the people when they finally realize that their needs are not being met. Another few dings to the kitchen--table economy ought to take care of that. There even comes a time when "owning the libruls" gets too costly.
Perhaps more states might consider having open primaries in which anyone can vote.
Turnout for primaries often is low, and only the most committed(or batshit crazy party members )vote,resulting in more extreme candidates. Also ranked choice voting might be another idea.
JMHO
I think the oath problem is fairly easy to understand. They are unscrupulous people hellbent on achieving power for their own purposes and that Oath of Office was merely a hoop to jump through on the way to that power. The Founders were rightly afraid of Cabals coming to power and destroying the Republic. The rest of us need to come together and vote to put them out of office in November and again in 2028 - or we are doomed to this endless cycle or lather, rinse, and repeat.
Agree. The Dems need to unite on an overall strategy that includes focus on not just affordability but incompetence & corruption. Most voters (outside of MAGA die hards) are fed up & looking for real leadership out of this MAGA-induced chaos.
It does boggle the mind; a bunch of sheep (Republicans) following their incompetent leader(s) over the cliff… again and again and again.
All that said, I support our men and women in uniform. I do not support the lack of leadership or a plan by this Administration in charge of our great military. All of whom will not answer oversight questions directly or honestly. I know my two Senators will not be voting for more money and both of them highly respect our military.
I would say that supporting our troops in this case is demanding the war end. Period.
They volunteered to risk their lives to defend America. To fight for our rights and freedoms. And sure, most of them are aware there's a lot of gray area in that. But I am sure not one of them signed up in order to be used as an ego boost for Trump. They did not ask to be used to destabilize the world economy to advance Bibi Netanyahu's desire to stay out of an Israeli prison OR Trump's desire to watch other people die for his small minded gains.
Agreed. It’s exhausting, all this incompetence from an incompetent government elected by primarily incompetent young American male voters who couldn’t handle the thought of a competent woman as our President. One can only hope that they’ve learned their lesson.
It wasn't just the "incompetent young American male voteers". They are often more open-minded about electing a woman to the highest office. Look more at what would be called "traditional minded Democrats and Independents" who still suffer from the affliction of misogyny.
Yes, you might be right, perhaps I’m over-reacting to the smug young man I saw going into vote just as I was walking out. And the many responses to the election of our current president I noticed on social media & in newspaper sites immediately after. Good not to over-generalize; I apologize, & thank you for your response. Though misogyny is rampant, as demonstrated by the current Secretary of “War”. Women are angry.
The secretary of defence (no caps or re-naming on purpose) has a lot of other bad characteristics too. He appears to be a Christian Nationalist, a bully, a racist, and most of all, an incompetent bampot.
The Pentagon already has a large pool of funding that it hasn't touched, yet Hegseth asks for more. In business, if you don't use all of the funding allocated, not only do you get no more, the excess is frequently clawed back! Congress should demand a full audit and grant no more until it has been completed and inspected.
If Hegseth hadn't thrown that massive party at the end of the last fiscal year, fearing that their budget would be cut if they didn't use what was allotted to them, spending $93 billion on "use it or lose it" items, including steak, lobster, etc. and other items as well, wouldn't the budget be in a better place? That ridiculous spending spree shows Hegseth's character. And now we have a war that he is involved in and he's wanting more money. He's a sorry excuse for a man!
Yes, and as a Navy Brat myself, I am very disturbed at the cavalier, irresponsible way that the incompetent use of force has endangered and led to the loss of lives of those who serve
Time for some major housecleaning. Vote them out. If they don't serve us and their oaths of office, don't vote for 'em.
I think we need to keep in mind that Republican lawmakers support a lot of the Trump administration initiatives, like cuts to programs that make life better for Americans. We’ve seen plenty to caution us to NOT assume they share our values. Supporting a goon like Hegseth is the price they pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and corporations and cuts to programs that benefit Americans. Similarly, soon the utterly corrupt Todd Blanche will be our attorney general despite the reservations of two Republicans Senators who could put a stop to the confirmation process and have nothing to lose in the voting booth. So, my response to your confusion is that Republicans WANT a lot of what’s happening to happen. They’ve been working on this agenda for decades, and if they need criminals and grifters to finally get the job done for them, so be it. It’s craven and cynical. They don’t deserve our incredulity that somehow, underneath it all, they are better than they have demonstrated themselves to be, or our belief that they would be better leaders if only they weren’t messing their pants in fear of Trump. Reading through the comments, I see I’m not alone in this conclusion.
Absolutely-- I agree that they WANT this- and that's what baffles me!! It shows complete civilizational collapse with incentives to degrade institutions, norms, and personal behavior- Their support to what amounts to dysregulated chaos is something I can grasp academically, but it just doesn't square morally, emotionally, or humanly-- so, despite all of the ways of understanding the dynamic, I still find it hard to believe that people would choose dis-reality and dysfunction. Certainly not what I choose!
And why isn't every single one of them indicted for the perjury they committed during their oaths of office, since every one of them was so clearly lying through his/her teeth?!
Problem is, who would indict them? Certainly not Trump‘s DOJ.
Oaths of office that have no penalties attached to them for breaking them are purely on the honor system; currently we have too many people without honor serving in the government. All branches.
The emphasis is for the many insurrectionists and pedophiles to protect each other so they decide not to do anything to protect the Constitution, jump on stupid ideas, stop corruption or represent their constituents. SPINELESS ND GREEDY.
They care more about their fucking jobs and the many percs they get from lobbyist's, than to govern. This system is vastly in need of repair.
We could certainly benefit from a rebuild of the concepts of integrity and stewardship!
When you consider your main job to be getting reelected you tie yourself to whoever or whatever will help that cause. The problem is that, despite their Ivy League diplomas, these idiots are no more savvy than your typical MAGA supporter. They didn't recognize that Trump might be getting a groundswell of supporters in the beginning and they didn't recognize when Trump's support numbers inevitably began to fall (either time). They didn't understand who Trump was despite millions of voices telling them and now they find themselves chained to the anchor that is MAGA. Strange that Ted Cruz didn't recognize the waning since a similar thing happened to his Tea Party. Greed and intellectual laziness are two core characteristics of the MAGA politician.
For the last 10 years MAGA has been attempting a coup and now they are successful. Enjoy the dictatorship because so many americans are racist idiots and other americans failed to stay politically active in their voting to keep the liars in check.
Not quite successfully yet, but really too damn close for my comfort.
The irony is ridiculous to me that that January 6 phrase “ fight like hell, or you won’t have a country anymore” now applies to the urgent need to vote to support democracy. The Onion could not write something like this.
Irony? How about the proven case of voter fraud not being prosecuted is Donnie's 2020 absentee ballot vote as Mar-a-Lago was not a residence and he didn't live in the state at least half a year to qualify to vote! And he has the nerve to now push the save america act and NOBODY has told him to prosecute himself for 2020???
Oh, he’ll have an excuse somehow to justify his behavior; he always does…
They ride on the backs, and are the culmination of years of strategic degradation- from the Southern Strategy, through the Powell memo, through Reagan, through Gingrich, the last 10 years are the perfect end point of what these folks are all about. And the current decadent administration is the true avatar of their fever dreams.
Thank you for the history lesson. I refer to these kinds of people as the ones who go to church to prey on parishoners, not pray with parishoners! Hope Americans wake up and rise up to protect democracy!
THEY ARE COWARDS AND SYCOPHANTS!!
Once again, Jen, excellent journalism: thanks for keeping us informed...
from a very impressed Contrarian subscriber.
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There are Substack platforms that will support this.
Hegseth is grossly incompetent. I am in agreement that he should have been removed after Signalgate. Blaming Biden is always their default response to this and anything else.
When I phone my horrible Senator Chuck Grassley about the outrage du jour, the canned reply that I receive in return manages to somehow blame Biden (not mentioning trump at all).
It reads like total BS to me, but I have to assume that blaming Biden for everything “works” with Chuck’s GOP base.
When will they realize that Joe Biden is no longer the president and is no longer the one making policy? Besides, even if he did, the current president could have corrected the problem in question.
When I write to my representatives I get an, almost, instantaneous, message back from them, along with an invitation to call their office at any time with my concerns.
Bernie Sanders and Becca Balint.
They vote what they say.
Surprising Republicans haven't yet resorted to also blaming immigrants. That's their other default scapegoat.
They’ve already done that and…Presto! ICE was unleashed. Thousands have been “disappeared”, several have been murdered, numbers are down trying to get in to this country, even “unpatriotic antifa” U.S. citizens have gotten what they deserved. So the MAGGOTS are satisfied. In their minds Biden still hasn’t been punished which is why they’re going after what he might have said when he was VP to his biographer. Really.
So Hegseth wants an additional $37-plus billion dollars to partially pay for a war that no one except Trump and Netanyahu wanted. Would that money (which adds to the deficit) have paid for full SNAP benefits? Subsidies so families could get insurance under the Affordable Care Act? Medicaid benefits for children and adults? Protection for our national parks and monuments? Aid to Ukraine in their fight against Putin's invasion?
Could it have saved 700,000 lives lost (so far!) in Africa due to end of USAID (engineered by that great humanitarian elon musk)?
Yes. USAID's budget was much less than $37 billion.
....And it did way more good in humaintarian aid than this illegal war, which from all evidence, has done no good for anyone and won't.
remember that old poster from the 60's, war is not good for people and other living things ??
Of course.
waiting for the MAGAS to put it together, however, that would require knowing what 2 plus 2 is
Republicans — not just Trump — own our entry into this quagmire.
They own it. They own it. They own it.
Trump (and Hegseth) are a feature not a bug in today’s Republican Party. They’re the logical endpoint of the past 40-odd years of strategic choices their leadership has made.
The former GOP needs to be stripped down to the proverbial studs and rebuilt by the handful of responsible conservatives left out there.
As do the sizable portion of eligible voters who in a pique of unfulfilment refused to vote or voted 3rd party. They own it, too.
It's nice to see Hegseth slapped around by the Democrats, but he's still in office and shouldn't be, under other circumstances. We really must impeach the perpetrator and then clean house. C'mon Congress . . . act.
So true! Hegseth is just a religious fanatic who wants the US military as his white nationalist crusade force. It is infuriating that such a grossly unqualified person has such power. If there were any integrity left in this modern R party, they would impeach him. We can see that integrity is nonexistent.
Hegseth is incompetent as are every other Cabinet member. They were chosen specifically for that reason to satisfy Putin IMHO. Pretty sure the frequent calls between Trump and Putin were not made to discuss the Weather.
Hegseth is not only incompetent, he's a nasty piece of work. We used to use the term "rude, crude and socially unacceptable". He is surely all of those.
None of those cabinet selections was accidental. The obvious intent was to dismantle our government and make it ineffective. Guilty Donald surely liked the idea but as you said, someone smarter than him put that plan together.
When the Senate approved any one of these people for their posts it might as well have been a treasonous act since the end result has been to directly weaken our nation in nearly every possible way.
How exactly were we prepared for a major war when we apparently dangerously depleted our munitions in a minor war? So our military was a paper tiger all along? So then where did the money go? I think I know the answer, and so do you. Scandalous. Major reforms are needed before we give the Department of War one drop more of money that is needed for the American people.
And kill the legislation to link our military industrial complex with Israel.
I am reminded of the Iraq War when our troops were being killed by roadside bombs and it took at least two years, as I recall, to provide them with newly fortified transport vehicles. We would have lost WWII at that rate! Meanwhile our soldiers were putting plywood panels scavenged from shipping crates on the bottom of their vehicles, and I guess Americans were going shopping -- at least, that's what Shrub told them to do.
Did the deal to satisfy Saudi Arabia’s nuclear ambitions come before or after this hearing???
I believe it was before the hearing, although the announcement of the signing by the secretary of energy? was this week. And, in true Trumpian fashion, he changed the terms of the deal after both sides had signed it.
Bibi says "jump" and Trump says "how high"?
I’m not sure the American people are paying attention to this. I guess we will see in the mid-terms. In Texas we are thrilled that Talarico is in a dead heat with that idiot Paxton. My question is why isn’t Talarico kicking Paxton’s butt? As a country we’ve become weak mentally, physically, and now economically and militarily. Our enemies are paying attention even if the we are not.
Our congresspeople are at fault- the Trump Republicans(all Republicans), the majority- equally selfish, morally compromised. The signs were loud and clear all along waiting for the effects to hit.. as they do and will. A faster boil is happening as it gets to the American people.. maybe will rouse them above their sleepy partisanship.
Hegseth never should have been confirmed in the first place, nevermind getting to the Signal thing.
You write so cogently, integrating aspects of discussion to make them available to the reader. I truly enjoy your columns. Thank you for your voice.
Hegseth came off like a sweaty schoolboy caught with pictures he ought not have. What an embarrassment that such a sad excuse for a secretary of defense is in charge of this debacle.
Democrats. Still "playing nice" with these thugs. In what other administration have so many high-ranking officials treated Congress with such contempt...and gotten away with it?
Dear Republicans in Congress, please, please, I beg of you…..reconsider what will really happen to you if …dump’s threat (that keeps you kneeling) should become known publicly. “We the people” already know that he has threatened you in some way…..
We the people will take that into consideration if he goes public.
What is more important? Your fate or that of the United States of America?????????????
To MAGA Republicans? Their own fates look how so few of them seem to do anything contrary to the administration until they have nothing left to lose.
Correct! But do you change people's minds by shaming them? https://leavingmaga.org/
In order to shame them, the people first have to feel guilt that their actions were wrong and they know they were wrong. So many of the MAGA do not feel that their actions were wrong, so they do not feel any guilt and they cannot be shamed by pointing out their actions.
That, sir, appears to be a lot of the problem. Without integrity, ethics, or character, leveling shame just does not work.
The Trump administration’s incompetence is a MAGA-wide example of the Dunning-Kruger effect enhanced by a bottomless pit of official and personal corruption. Let’s hope Karma is swift and devastating.
The karma needs to be voter induced.