IMMEDIATE RELEASE 18 January 2025
WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND
Today’s Events in Historical Perspective
America’s Longest-Running Column Founded 1932
McCain’s courage
By Douglas Cohn and Eleanor Clift
WASHINGTON –Where is Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., when we need him? Where are the giants of the Senate, the proven heroes, the men and women who live to selflessly serve the nation? His thumbs down on repealing Obamacare in 2018 took the kind of courage now sadly absent among Republican senators today. Kneeling on bended knee before Pres. Trump, these weak-kneed sycophants are so fearful of Trumpian retribution that they hypocritically and spinelessly are ignoring their oaths to uphold the Constitution and their duty to the nation.
Faced with a nominee for Secretary of Defense, former Fox News weekend host, Pete Hegseth, who is by any standard unqualified for the job, the GOP is ready to wave him through anyway.
They will have placed at the head of America’s vast military a leader who cannot lead, a commander who cannot command, a man whose word is unbonded.
Newly elected Utah Senator John Curtis had expressed his reservations, but after Hegseth’s hearing, Curtis issued a statement calling Hegseth “a change agent who will challenge the status quo.” Curtis will vote for him.
Another senator, Joni Ernst of Iowa, a veteran herself, had raised questions about Hegseth, triggering a backlash threatening a primary from the right when she next faces the voters in 2026. Ernst, earnestly touting her military credentials, ignominiously retreated and is now a Yes vote for Hegseth.
At West Point, there’s a saying about the unquestionable: “It is intuitively obvious to the casual observer.”
In Hegseth’s case, it’s his lack of credentials for the enormous job he is likely to land. His resume did not rise to the top after a search. Nobody lobbied for his selection. Trump just liked him, figured he was good on television based on regularly watching him on Fox News. But the military is an apolitical organization calling for an apolitical leader, not a political pawn.
Trump liked that Hegseth had been in combat, has “dust on his shoes,” as Hegseth put it in the Senate hearing. He fashions himself a Rambo-style action hero, implying his field experience makes him a rarity for the job.
But his words cannot make him what he is not. He is far removed from the league of his predecessor, General Lloyd Austin, who commanded a division, corps and field army in combat.
His unqualifications are stunning. In civilian life, Hegseth has never been in charge of more than a hundred people. The two non-profits he led did not fare well when he was there. He dismissed all criticism as part of an anonymous smear campaign, yet there was plenty on the record reporting his failed leadership.
He dealt with questions about his character relating to women, and his history of alcohol abuse, declaring on the one hand the negative portrait isn’t true, then saying he is a changed man, that the Pete Hegseth of today is not the same Pete Hegseth of yesterday. As one senator asked, “Would you make these same statements under oath?” In other words, Hegseth lied. He lied when seeking a job that is dependent upon honor.
Whichever version of himself is confirmed, he will be sorely challenged to lead the country’s mammoth defense complex, a challenge President-elect Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, strained to dismiss, saying, “That’s what staff are for.”
Trump wants a fast start and is pressing the Senate for quick action. No Democrat is expected to vote for Hegseth, and Republicans can only lose 3 votes from their 53-seat majority to bring Hegseth across the finish line.
Senators Susan Collins, R-Maine and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are potential no votes, and maybe, just maybe, former Senate leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., might join them. He has stepped down as GOP leader. He won’t be running again, and he despises Trump. Will he do the right thing? Will he be true to conscious and country or president and party?
All 53 Republican senators know Hegseth might be qualified as the spokesman for the Defense Department just as they surely know he is unqualified to head the department. But they are unlikely to vote what they know.
There may not be a John McCain among them, and the nation will be ill-served by their failure to be faithful to the trait so revered by the military: courage.
See Eleanor Clift’s book Selecting a President, and Douglas Cohn’s latest books The President’s First Year: The Only School for Presidents Is the Presidency and World War 4: Nine Scenarios (endorsed by seven flag officers).
Twitter: @douglas_cohn
© 2024 U.S. News Syndicate, Inc.
Distributed by U.S. News Syndicate, Inc.
END WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND