By Targeting Hegseth, Democrats Open a Path for Gabbard
Since Hegseth’s November nomination, Democrats have focused the bulk of their attention on the former Fox & Friends weekend host, effectively taking their cues from the extensive press coverage of his drinking, sexual conduct and views on women in combat. Trump’s payoff to Gabbard for endorsing his candidacy, the Journal noted, “doesn’t mean the Senate must accept that political transaction, especially on national security.” It is, as one well-placed Senate Republican official explained to me, easier for the GOP to swallow Hegseth. What bodes well for Gabbard, is the rapid capitulation of House hard-liners to Speaker Mike Johnson once it became about Trump’s preference rather than the party’s agenda. Republicans well-connected in the national security sphere also believe there’s something else at work that may save Gabbard: the hope that she can effectively be marginalized by Trump’s choice to run the CIA, former Rep. John Ratcliffe. This all would have been far easier on Senate Republicans had Trump tapped Gabbard for, say, the Veterans Affairs Department rather than overseeing the nation’s spycraft.
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