Trump Camp in FEAR: GOP Senate Already ‘Neutered’ His Power

No one seeks out personal loyalty like President-elect Donald Trump – who craves the quality in others over even competence (Which is about as telling an admission as any). And no one is better at creating a context that puts loyalty to the test front and center. Trump’s platter of nominees include some that are just so obviously unqualified that he has everyone, from Newsmax to Lindsey Graham, struggling to take the picks seriously while also giving every indication that they want no part of any of this… but for loyalty. No one faces the loyalty test more squarely than the GOP Senate in the nomination process. So far, the Senate can be said to be holding the line in that Gaetz is gone and Hegseth’s nomination appears doomed to either fail or, perhaps worse, succeed. Costing everyone. It leaves Trump’s team afraid that they’ve already been so weak as to rendered neutered, mandate squandered.

On Morning Joe earlier today, Washington Post reporter Jacqueline Alemany described the terror ripping through team Trump. The camp faces two choices, either push forward a nominee in Hegseth that they had insufficiently vetted and succeed – with an unqualified and hated Secretary of Defense, or lose and be defeated – again, as in Gaetz – before raising a hand over a bible. According to Alemany: (Video Below)

“This has been the one benefit of having other candidates that are more overtly controversial. There’s –– it’s been a little bit of a deflection tactic from some of the other more, some of the other candidates and nominees who also have controversies, controversies that haven’t yet spilled out into public view yet.”

Hold here momentarily to reflect on that “yet” because the other nominees – use Pam Bondi as an example, who have real problems that need to be addressed prior to taking the positions, have so far benefited from all the controversy over Gaetz and now Hegseth. By no means are the rest in the clear, Tulsi! Pam Bondi will have to answer questions about dropping a suit against Trump University after receiving a donation and Gabbard will, well – have to explain how she got to be so uniquely pro-Syria. Meanwhile, Hegseth is sucking up all the nomination oxygen and making Trump look “weak.”

Alameny goes on to describe the real troubling dynamic and that is that Trump will look weak in any scenario in which sanity prevails except the one noted above about Hegseth taking himself out for the team:

“But what you’re saying exactly is why Trump aides are telling us behind the scenes that backing Hegseth and continuing to stand by him is so important. To show and not allow this narrative to set in that the GOP-led Senate has essentially neutered Trump’s power and his mandate to appoint people into his positions, people who are loyalists who are going to carry out his campaign promises and his MAGA mandate.“

I may be alone but I find it utterly fascinating to note that a true loyalist would look over the landscape, see the problems that the loyalist alone caused, and withdraw his nomination for the betterment of the movement – the ultimate loyalty test. But Hegseth is “all-in.” He cannot go back to doing weekends at Fox News, not with previously being nominated to secretary of defense and not with the now-known rape allegation staring viewers back in the face. So Hegseth must go forward under the premise that he’s qualified and deserving of the job. Meanwhile, somewhere Ron DeSantis is shaking his head.

As for the GOP Senate, they have an existential crisis. Republicans must collectively establish just how strongly they will want to stand up for self-perceived norms versus the demands springing forth from the self-proclaimed “MAGA-mandate” in which someone like Peter Hegseth is qualified to lead the United States military. Hegseth so feared that Fox News would fire him that he paid off a woman who claims she raped him – and yet he is still under consideration for a top cabinet job. The GOP Senate has to ask themselves if they’re willing to hold Hegseth to at least the same standard as Fox News. If they cannot put their foot down to do on someone who – even absent the rape and drinking allegations – isn’t anywhere near the caliber of candidate expected in such a position, then their advise and consent role is abdicated. They know it.

Meanwhile, one almost has to feel for the staff at Mar-a-Lago. (Almost) Apparently, Trump nominated Hegseth without knowing about the rape allegation. Now they are forced to either continue in order to show their strength in victory – but doing so on the back of nominating a guy that upsets even some of Trump’s biggest supporters (See Greg Kelley at Newsmax). That is the only “victory” as the situation now stands. Or they “cave” and scuttle the nomination. Despite the fact that it is so clearly the right thing to do, and despite the fact that they didn’t know of the rape allegation at the time of the nomination,pulling Hegseth’s name would still embolden the GOP Senate, making the next nomination that much more difficult, and the next, and the next – weaker with each one. Again, almost have to feel for them…

The answer is that Hegseth has to find it in himself to take his name out of the controversy. He needs to ask if he can play another role in the administration, perhaps in the communications office, or make him some sort of “czar” of something bad – like “diversity” blach! One of Trump’s very highly paid staffers has to find a landing spot for Hegseth and push him onto it – so that Trump can then move on to another candidate who actually does at least have the minimum qualifications… I did mention Ron DeSantis – almost as a joke, because he is just so obviously “qualified” in every normal sense (Yale law, JAG Corps, two-term governor), and yet DeSantis’s name hasn’t seriously been floated for any position  – perhaps because the Mar-a-Lago crowd still sees DeSantis as a threat. But without regard to a second choice, someone has to find a dismount in which Hegseth can go to Trump and say, “I cannot cost you any more political capital, I am withdrawing my name to get this issue off your plate… ”

Whether Hegseth or they will ever get there or not? We don’t know. We only know that Trump’s team sees him as being effectively neutered by the GOP Senate. I suppose it never occurred to them to point to Hegseth as deserving some blame (Why didn’t he immeidately say, “You don’t want to do that… )  or the people who put Hegseth in front of Trump in the first place.

God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and @JasonMiciak and now on Bluesky. 

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