Why are they laughing? The mess at the Pentagon is their fault.
By J.C. Bruce
When this nation’s founders crafted our Constitution, they broke it down into numerous “Articles,” the first of which established a Congress comprising a House of Representatives and a Senate.
The creation of the Office of the President is contained later, in Article II.
There’s a reason why James Madison, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and the gang put Congress first—they believed that the legislative branch should be the core and most powerful institution in a representative republic.
Not the presidency.
In fact, if you read the Constitution, it’s clear that while the president was invested with great powers, many of the chief executive’s prerogatives were subject to congressional oversight—including appointments to Cabinet posts.
Which is why, when you look at the mess at the Pentagon today, you have to ask: “Where was the Senate?”
Sure, it’s Donald Trump’s fault for nominating a lamebrain like Pete Hegseth to be the Secretary of Defense, but it was the job of the Senate to ensure that idiots not be allowed to run the essential agencies of our government.
And the Senate failed in that duty.
It was a close call, to be sure. Every single Democrat, including independents who caucus with Democrats, voted against confirming Hegseth. Even three Republicans joined them (Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky), which made it a 50-50 tie.
Then Vice President J.D. Vance broke the tie in Hegseth’s favor.
I’m reviewing all this history (sorry about the Ted Talk) because the Pentagon is in turmoil. Hegseth has been firing or running off all the adults in the room—this week, the Secretary of the Army—and this state of chaos has prompted leaks to the Washington Post of internal warnings against any expansion of the Iran war.
This sort of leaking may be illegal (although no matter what nonsense you hear from the White House, publishing leaks is not).
According to The Hill newspaper:
People familiar with a classified assessment prepared for Hegseth told the Post that several combatant commanders have advised the Defense chief that prolonging operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening the U.S.’s ability to address threats elsewhere, including on U.S. soil.
The warnings appear in the Aug. 14 edition of the Secretary of Defense Orders Book (SDOB), detailed by the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and the four-star commanders overseeing U.S. operations throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America, the Post reported Sunday.
Hegseth had issued orders to the leaders of the European, Pacific and Southern Commands, as well as the Navy, to be prepared for extended deployment in the Middle East.
To which, according to the Post, all of those commanders replied with a “non-concur.”
That Pentagon insiders are reaching out to journalists to share this internal turmoil speaks volumes about how screwed up the Pentagon is under Hegseth, who has fired or forced out more than two dozen senior military leaders.
The latest of these is Dan Driscoll, the civilian leader of the Army, who previously had met with Trump and warned him about the clown fiesta in the Defense Department.
According to The New Republic:
Trump was reportedly shocked when Driscoll told him just how many officials had been fired, stepped down, or not selected for promotion under Hegseth—something you’d think the president would already know about. Now, in the midst of a flailing war with Iran, the military is without its highest-ranking civilian leader, two Senate-confirmed head generals, and a confirmed commander.
That’s what you get: When a clown moves into the Pentagon, we shouldn’t be surprised when it becomes a circus.
Sure, it was Trump’s disastrous idea. But look at his track record of incompetent Cabinet choices—Bondi, Noem, Blanche, Gabbard, to name but a few.
This is why the Founders put in place guardrails and gave that gatekeeping responsibility to the Senate.
That weird sound you hear at the Madison Family Cemetery in Virginia is James spinning in his grave.
And by the way, both Florida Senators, Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, were among the Republicans voting to confirm Hegseth.
Moody, appointed to the job by Gov. Ron DeSantis, is running to keep her seat in the Nov. 3 election. She faces Democratic State Sen. Angie Nixon. Had Nixon already been in the Senate, none of this would have happened. That’s the difference one Senate seat can make.
Here’s hoping that come Election Day enough Floridians will have the wisdom to prevent future catastrophes like this by sending Moody packing.
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J.C. Bruce
We all need to unite together and right the wrong that has been done to all of us. We are not blue or red, right or left. We are Americans who need to take back our democracy and vote those corrupt clowns out of office.
Trump tries to run America like a business, and he offers no oversight to the people he puts into various positions unless they mess up, then he takes action against them. The government is not a business; it exists to serve the needs of Americans. You're right when you say 1 vote in Congress could make the difference. But we need more than 1 person to join Congress. All 3 branches of the government are no longer working as they should be, and it's up to us to change it. Trump has indicated with his actions that he will do everything to stop Americans from voting in the midterms. We must overcome whatever he throws at us and vote. This could be the most important election we ever vote in. Please make your vote count.