This Is How the Next 4 Years Play Out
Republican senators had a duty to national security and the Constitution but instead conceded power to an authoritarian, felonious rapist.
Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) bent over backward to get the “bad boy,” Fox News host Pete Hegseth, not to prove to the world that he could independently make decisions unhindered by a brow-beating felon but at least blink in Morse Code that he could. Everyone present understands that any public display of a spine by Trump’s underlings would spell doom for the person. Senator Slotkin spoke to the woman-abusing pisshead in the way a kindergarten teacher would a frightened 4-year-old, offering him every opportunity just to nod, blink, and move on to the next question.
Slotkin: It’s okay, Petey…take a breath…did you ‘make’ in your undies
Fox-News Host nominated for Secretary of Defense (FHSD): Anyone from any grade could make in their undies, so I don’t understand.
Slotkin: Yes, that’s right, Petey. Bravo. Anyone could make in their undies. But we aren’t talking about anyone. There is a very foul odor in the room, and we want to know if you had a little movement. It’s okay. It can happen.
FHSD: My brother’s friend Larry once had to make so bad that he made it on an airplane…can I have another Fluffnutter sandwich?
The Call-of-Duty commando, and FNSD, was Comaneci-esque (Biles for today’s generation) in his ability to avoid any answer that would ever let Trump imagine that the Defense Department would ever be anything less than his own goon-squad to go after domestic opposition. Hegseth signaled his cult leader, “Sir, whatever you want me to do with this military, I will do.” Slotkin wanted the abuser-of-women to go on the record by saying he would uphold the 1878 federal law known as the Posse Comitatus Act.
The Posse Comitatus Act bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement except when expressly authorized by law. This 143-year-old law embodies an American tradition that sees military interference in civilian affairs as a threat to both democracy and personal liberty. However, recent events have revealed dangerous gaps in the law’s coverage that Congress must address (The Posse Comitatus Act Explained).
Instead of acknowledging the need for this act, Hegseth twisted himself into a pretzel to talk about how Trump would never ask him to do anything that could be perceived as illegal. In other words, if Trump were asking it, it would already be a “legal ask” because he is an upstanding citizen who always puts the nation’s laws first.
The Hegseth spectacle yesterday was, in many ways, the first step toward an American enabling act. If you don’t know what this is, please google Hitler’s Enabling Act, passed in March 1933.
A gross dereliction of duty on the part of the Republican-controlled Senate and the Trump-directed FBI. That is a harsh but unavoidable assessment of the confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth to serve as Donald Trump’s defense secretary. Both institutions should be ashamed of their performance — Republican senators most of all, as, bullied by the president-elect and intimidated by deep-pocketed, no-holds-barred pressure campaigns, they abdicate their constitutional advice-and-consent responsibility.
The seriousness and breadth of the allegations against him — from sexual assault to excessive drinking to sheer lack of experience — demand the most searching and responsible of inquiries. Instead, the Hegseth nomination has largely produced reflexive party-line salutes (Senators Covered Themselves in Shame).
I recently talked to a homeless guy in Freehold, New Jersey. I was walking “uptown,” which is what we call going to the center of town to drink beers, shop, or do whatever. The guy was sitting along the tracks around the corner from what used to be the Kaufman’s furniture store on South Street. He was sitting there on a crate and smoking a cigarette. In the old days, we would have repeated what our parents said and called him a “hobo.” Later, he would become a “bum,” and nowadays, he is “mentally ill” or “down on his luck.” He seemed to be holding onto sobriety like a person gripping the safety bar on a rollercoaster.
We chatted. He asked for a few dollars for a drink — but just one. He was trying to quit. A cold rain began to fall. I was heading across the street there to try out the new microbrew. Assessing how he was dressed and sniffing the air carefully so as not to be noticed, I determined I could offer him a pre-holiday beer. At first, he was shy, but then he accepted.
While I sipped my beer, he downed his in two gulps — it reminded me of a close friend in Russia. He got up, used the bathroom, and disappeared into the night. I thought about Trump’s nominations for key positions in our government, and then it dawned on me: I might have just had a beer with the future Attorney General or Secretary of the Army.
It is a new and unfathomable reality unfolding, and not only is the entirety of the government willing to facilitate the end of our democracy, but a majority of Americans, too, are cool with it. “If that is what Trump says is necessary to recover from the ‘nightmare’ of Biden, then so be it!”
Where the f*** are we? Sadly, I do believe America has become Kansas.