As I told everyone who participated in our live blog on Tuesday, I am not a fan of televised confirmation hearings in the United States Senate. Regardless of which party is in power, the hearings are nothing more than an opportunity for a bunch of attention starved egomaniacs to grandstand. Every senator knows going in to the hearing how he or she is going to vote, so the process is useless.
My personal distaste for seeing "Hollywood for Ugly People" acting out for the cameras doesn't matter, however, and we're stuck with this bad theater.
Thankfully, Pete Hegseth is ready for all of it.
Several times during last year's general election campaign, I wrote that one of JD Vance's biggest strengths was his ability to handle the media. His celebrity before he got into politics gave him valuable experience in the fundamentals of dealing with television interviewers. Hegseth's time at the Fox News Channel has given him an edge as well.
We are all painfully familiar with how woefully unprepared so many Republicans are when thrust into the spotlight. They often walk right into every "Gotcha!" question thrown at them. Hegseth may have been facing Democratic politicians and not propaganda pimps from the mainstream media on Tuesday, but they were all attempting to set traps for him.
Hegseth is more than used to bright, unnerving television lights and on-camera exchanges. Time after time on Tuesday, he calmly responded to Democrats who were behaving like rabid animals who grew up being rewarded for bad behavior. Here's one example that I shared on X:
Incapable of going more than 15 seconds without interrupting Hegseth, Sen. Rosen then lectures on what's "disrespectful."
— SFK (@stephenkruiser) January 14, 2025
It often times seemed as if Hegseth was being assailed by a bunch of unhinged drunks who wanted to take him to task for having been drunk himself at times in his life. The phrases "unseemly spectacle" and "poop-flinging chimpanzees" came to mind.
As Hegseth remained unflappable, the Dems became more desperate to score a direct hit on him. They got progressively louder, spoke faster, and kept interrupting him. Honestly, I'm surprised that we didn't see any of them cry and soil themselves. And it was all accompanied by that insincere politeness that Senate tradition forces upon us. At one point during the live blog I said it would be better if they would just start brawling. Over on the other side of Capitol Hill, Rep. Nancy Mace gets it:
WATCH: Rep. Nancy Mace challenges Rep. Jasmine Crockett to a fight after she called her a "child."
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 14, 2025
"If you want to take it outside, we can do that." 👀 pic.twitter.com/INdKQ2w4un
People who don't like each other shouldn't have to act like they do. No one should ever be forced to pretend that Sen. Mazie Hirono has brain cells, class, or anything to contribute to a conversation.
One of the saddest recurring cries for help on Tuesday was listening to some of the Dems complain about the fact that Hegseth declined to meet with them prior to the hearing. More precisely, Hegseth ignored them. The implication was that they may have thought more highly of him had he paid them a little attention. That's patently absurd, of course, and Hegseth knows that. They're dealing in bad faith and no Republican ever need indulge their foot-stomping attempts to make it all about them.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said that Hegseth has the votes to be confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense. The Dems' desperation on Tuesday leads me to believe that's true.
If any Republicans get in the way of Hegseth's confirmation, I hope Trump waterboards them in the Potomac.
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