Ripcord: a cord or wire pulled in making a descent to release a parachute out of its container.
Self-Proclaimed “Warrior’ Pete Hegseth knew full well that Trump was quietly consulting people he trusted to keep their mouths shut (not all did!) about replacing him. Like an athlete or team about to start a competition even they know they’re going to lose Trump often deluded himself into thinking things might somehow work out. However reality intruded enough that one or more scapegoats would be needed and Hegseth was on the short list. So, Petey Boy started angling (weeks ago) to bail out and parachute into a nice safe Senate seat that Marsha Blackburn had given up to become Governor. Let’s just say Hegseth will need a new Plan B if Trump aborts him from the administration.
Back at the end of September when then #1 Texas was set to play #14 Tennessee at Neyland Stadium it was the featured game of the week. Always one to hog some spotlight Trump decided to attend. The Governor hosted him, and in the skybox there was also Marsha Blackburn who, it being Tennessee was sure to win the election to replace the outgoing Governor. Makes sense she’d show up. But Hegseth tagged along. Even then it was suggested he might have been trying to convince either the outgoing Governor or Blackburn (once she’s sworn in) to name him to fill out Blackburn’s term. If memory serves he didn’t appear to be all that welcome by either of them. Trump himself wasn’t anywhere close to getting universal welcome from the crowd either!
I could be wrong, but I’m thinking Blackburn took the measure of enough people booing Trump to confirm her decision to get the hell out of DC. She wants a quieter life and less drama. Naming Hegseth as her replacement would almost certainly cause her no end of ‘why the hell did you pick HIM’ questions. She held off making her announcement, probably because of the midterms but as we learn from the Independent Senator and soon to be Governor Blackburn just ‘canceled’ Hegseth’s proverbial soft landing from a highly likely being tossed out of his job as SecDef. A hard landing is the result when a parachute doesn’t open and Blackburn has officially told Petey Boy the ripcord on his has been cut. No wonder he was so angry on the steps of the Pentagon. There is reporting Trump is STILL shopping for a replacement for him!
I’d like to hope that Blackburn has a mean streak, and given Hegseth’s purging of so many highly qualified (for more than Petey Boy) from our armed forces she might have sent him something along the lines of the title pic. Maybe signing it ‘No Senate for YOU! Marsha, aka Senate Nazi’ Ok, that’s unlikely but for Petey Boy having a WOMAN publicly slam the door on his escape plan has to hurt in a special sort of way. It’s not like Blackburn has to worry about Trump. Her state is one of the few red states that solidly backed GOP candidates! So Blackburn gave Petey Boy a public thrashing:
But Tennessee Governor-elect Marsha Blackburn, a Republican who will resign from her Senate role in January when she is sworn in to the state’s highest office, dismissed the rumor of Hegseth filling the seat as “nothing more than Washington D.C. spin,” The Washington Post reports. As governor, Blackburn will appoint her successor when she takes office – and it probably won’t be Hegseth.
“The Blackburn team is focused on the transition, not entertaining baseless speculation. Dc [sic] won’t pick the next senator,” a source close to Blackburn told the Post.
Fellow Senator and former helicopter pilot Tammy Duckworth who as we know lost her legs serving in Iraq when her chopper was shot down after a day of flying over gomer territory should make a point of buying Blackburn lunch! I’d like to go back to that presser Hegseth had on the steps of the Pentagon. His anger was palatable. I think he knew Blackburn was going to publicly neuter his Senate ambitions. And that Trump wasn’t going to pressure her to give him a break. Trump has been pissed at Hegseth ever since that weekend at Camp David where he finally learned how much the war in Iran had a) seriously depleted our stores of missiles and guided bombs, b) how long and how much money it would take to replace them, and c) that we couldn’t ‘win’ short of a major invasion with ground troops and that even for spineless GOPers in Congress that would be a non-starter.
Sure, Netanyahu helped talk Trump into starting the war but Hegseth cheerleaded the whole thing too, assuring Trump his ‘warriors’ could bully Iran into submission in a week. Maybe two. Ten bucks he even pointed to the much more limited snatch job of Venezuela’s former ruler to convince Trump it would be a cakewalk. That war has made the pain of Trump’s tariffs far worse and every indication was that voters knew it. Plus Trump had promised his MAGAs no more ‘forever wars’ and he’s presiding over just that. No wonder Trump, who never accepts responsibility for anything and needed a scapegoat was eyeing Hegseth as his fall guy.
Hegseth has been concerned about exactly that, hence his trying to arrange a new gig. Fox probably wouldn’t want him back and other RWNJ outlets wouldn’t pay anywhere near what Fox could. Sure, he could start a podcast but there’s already plenty far more established dudes covering the same stuff he’d talk about. The Senate? That would be just perfect. He could grandstand, sort of like a Gym Jordan of the Senate. He could probably get re-elected at least once, and secure that Congressional Pension and the other lifelong perks including health care.
Now all that is as smashed as a skydiver who’s parachute didn’t open. Just a bunch of smushed up flesh and bone spilling out of tears in the jump suit. With Miller’s appointment as Chief of Staff Hegseth might hang on a bit longer, if only so Miller can order more troops and armored vehicles into our city streets until Congress and judges put a stop to it. Once Hegesth can’t do that he’s not only of no use to Trump, but will be an even bigger liability than he already is.
I don’t see him being anywhere honorable enough to fall on his sword for Trump. He’ll have to be publicly fired. Will some DC lobbying firm take pity on him and give him a job? I doubt it. They have a tall task ahead of them and need people who can get results. Sober, intelligent and hard working people who don’t waste time showing off. With no job, and no ability to pay to stay in DC he might have no choice but to slink home to Tennessee. Maybe Kid Rock will take him in…
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
Actually, Kegsbreath could likely find himself facing the same scenario that’s been floating around about the current members of Congress denying certification of the new Democrats being able to take their seats. Since Blackburn isn’t officially resigning from her Senate seat until she’s sworn in as Governor (at least, that seems to be what the article said) which will be January 16. Per TN Code § 8-1-101 (2025):
The governor shall take the oath of office on the first Saturday following the fourteenth day of January next following the governor’s election, after the commencement of the organizational session of the general assembly as established by the Constitution of Tennessee, Article II, § 8.
Since the new Congress (which will include Blackburn until Jan 16) will be sworn in on Jan 3 (it’s a Sunday but it doesn’t seem that Congress has voted to change that date as of yet), and the SENATE gets to decide who can and who cannot join (that’s per the US Constitution–Article I, Section 5), and the Democrats will be in charge of the Senate by that point, I can’t see any of them opting to allow Kegsbreath to join the body (also, the suggestion that Blackburn might choose Kegsbreath to replace her *could* seem to be a form of fraud).