Trump’s Cabinet Picks Have Made Republican Senators Look Like Chumps

Pete Hegseth, then the nominee for Defense secretary, promised Joni Ernst he would make the conducting and passing of an audit at the Pentagon a major priority. Yet, since his confirmation, he’s simply promised to pass one by the end of the Trump administration; no different, really, then what was already anticipated under the Biden administration. Hegseth also promised during his confirmation hearings to allow more women in combat roles and not hamper female advancement, but his new standards for combat roles emphasize brute strength over other factors, even as research shows that brute strength alone is a poor indicator of readiness.

Kash Patel, as the nominee to run the FBI, told Mike Lee of Utah that he would make certain that the agency remained independent of the White House and would avoid any “political weaponization.” Lee was beyond naïve; he was practically a Patel cheerleader, reading aloud an endorsement for Patel from the National Sheriffs’ Association. Yet he’s been silent as the Justice Department led a questionable raid on the home of former Trump national security advisor John Bolton. Nor did Lee seem bothered by the dismissal of FBI agents who investigated Trump for harboring classified documents and those that led inquiries into the January 6 attack. Lee did, however, call for an investigation of James Comey for his “86-47” social media post.

Republican Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee also swallowed Patel’s lies, hook, line, and sinker. He claimed to her that there would be “no more political persecutions and no more two tiers of justice,” and also promised to release the Epstein files, a pet issue for Blackburn. “Absolutely, senator,” he said. “I will do everything, if confirmed as FBI director, to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened in the past and how we are gonna countermand missing children and exploited children going further.”