I hope you will discuss these items in your wrap-up:
1. The gross use of meritocracy. We do not have a meritocracy in this country and will not until everyone has access to what is now only accessible by the upper class.
2. The protection of other this and other GOP nominees or even congressional people who have fallen by the wayside. It d…
I hope you will discuss these items in your wrap-up:
1. The gross use of meritocracy. We do not have a meritocracy in this country and will not until everyone has access to what is now only accessible by the upper class.
2. The protection of other this and other GOP nominees or even congressional people who have fallen by the wayside. It doesn't happen on the Dem side.
3. Hegseth's clear and total incompetence.
4. The failure of the committee to hold a full hearing or require full and honest vetting.
Chairman Wicker wasn’t wrong that they followed “precedent” — Biden SecDef nominee Lloyd Austin’s hearing was the same length as this one to within five minutes. But Lloyd Austin was also the former CENTCOM commander and was very well-known by almost all the committee members.
And there was almost zero controversy to Austin’s nomination — only his being separated from the military for just five years, requiring a special waiver, was unusual.
The reason for a longer hearing is obvious: because Hegseth’s controversial and his vetting was incomplete. But Republican senators can’t admit either fact since Trump denies it.
So it’s a small example already, a week before Trump takes office, of how being beholden to the strongman’s lies impact policy in Kafkaesque (or Orwellian) ways. Clearly he needed more questioning — but it’s only clear if one accepts reality.
I hope you will discuss these items in your wrap-up:
1. The gross use of meritocracy. We do not have a meritocracy in this country and will not until everyone has access to what is now only accessible by the upper class.
2. The protection of other this and other GOP nominees or even congressional people who have fallen by the wayside. It doesn't happen on the Dem side.
3. Hegseth's clear and total incompetence.
4. The failure of the committee to hold a full hearing or require full and honest vetting.
Chairman Wicker wasn’t wrong that they followed “precedent” — Biden SecDef nominee Lloyd Austin’s hearing was the same length as this one to within five minutes. But Lloyd Austin was also the former CENTCOM commander and was very well-known by almost all the committee members.
And there was almost zero controversy to Austin’s nomination — only his being separated from the military for just five years, requiring a special waiver, was unusual.
The reason for a longer hearing is obvious: because Hegseth’s controversial and his vetting was incomplete. But Republican senators can’t admit either fact since Trump denies it.
So it’s a small example already, a week before Trump takes office, of how being beholden to the strongman’s lies impact policy in Kafkaesque (or Orwellian) ways. Clearly he needed more questioning — but it’s only clear if one accepts reality.
All true. I accept reality, but I still have trouble realizing how much worse it will get.