There were a lot of rancorous moments during the confirmation hearing on Tuesday for SecDef nominee Pete Hegseth.
There were some truly vile moments such as when Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who looked like the Joker, invoked Hegseth’s young daughter in an effort to attack him. Then there were the wild rants from some of the Democratic women including Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY).
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But they really weren’t able to lay a glove on him and at this point, he seems likely to be confirmed.
READ MORE:
Pete Hegseth Brings His ‘A’ Game and Gets the Job Done
But one of the most interesting exchanges was with new Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT). It was so important that he was able to unseat Jon Tester in the state. So he was impressive in his questioning of Hegseth. It was hilarious but it also got to the most important quality that a SecDef needs to have.
SENATOR TIM SHEEHY: How many genders are there?
HEGSETH: Two.
SHEEHY: I know that well, I’m a “she-he (Sheehy).” What is the diameter of a rifle round fired out of an M4A1?
HEGSETH: 5.56.
SHEEHY: How many pushups can you do?
HEGSETH: I did 5 sets of 47 this morning.
SHEEHY: Most important strategic base is in the Pacific?
HEGSETH: Guam.
SHEEHY: How many rounds of 5.56 can you fit into the magazine of an M4 rifle?
HEGSETH: Standard issue is 30.
SHEEHY: What size round is the M9 Beretta standard issue sidearm for the military?
HEGSETH: 9mm.
SHEEHY: What kind of batteries do you put in your night vision goggle?
HEGSETH: Duracell.
SHEEHY: You represent what warfighters deal with every day on the battlefield. You understand them. What happens is – decisions made in rooms like this cause d*ad 17, 18, 19-year-old Americans. Your priority is warfighters. I support you.
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The “she/he” take is pretty funny, given the senator’s name.
There has been all kinds of palaver about Hegseth’s qualifications. But indeed, he has the most important quality that seems to have been missing for a long time — will he have the backs of the warfighters? That’s the bottom line. He’s been on the line, he knows the questions, and he knows the answers. But most importantly, he’s committed to doing the best he can for the warfighters, not the military industrial complex.
As Hegseth said in his opening statement.
It is true that I don’t have a similar biography to Defense Secretaries of the last 30 years. But, as President Trump also told me, we’ve repeatedly placed people atop the Pentagon with supposedly “the right credentials”—whether they are retired generals, academics, or defense contractor executives—and where has it gotten us? He believes, and I humbly agree, that it’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. A change agent. Someone with no vested interest in certain companies or specific programs or approved narratives.