When asked for comment, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John Thune said "two things we don't discuss publicly: Whip counts and private conversations with the president."

Summary

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has told Donald Trump that Pete Hegseth likely has enough votes to be confirmed as Defense Secretary, despite controversy over past sexual misconduct allegations, a financial settlement, and concerns about his leadership and alcohol use.

Hegseth’s confirmation hearing is set for Jan. 14, with Senate Republicans aiming to expedite key national security confirmations before Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

Other high-profile hearings, including for Marco Rubio (State), Pam Bondi (Attorney General), and Tulsi Gabbard (DNI), are tentatively scheduled for the same week amidst ongoing bipartisan negotiations.

    • @[email protected]
      8•2 days ago

      Fuck that. Fight even if you’re going to loose because it literally costs them nothing to fight it.

      • @[email protected]
        1•2 days ago

        Hot take: the Venn Diagram of people saying fighting is a waste of political capital and those saying people who didn’t vote for Harris consented to Trump’s agenda is a perfect circle.

            • @[email protected]
              2•2 days ago

              If effort is the only cost, then yes. If political capital in the form of bipartisan goodwill is your concern, they should not have fought Kavanaugh or any appointment where the odds aren’t better than a coin toss.

        • @AbidanYreEnglish
          3•2 days ago

          Voting against this clown doesn’t burn any political capital for a Democrat.

    • @inclementimmigrant
      2•2 days ago

      If the Republicans have the votes to get this alcoholic, unqualified, sexual deviant into the position then fine, let them do it on their own.

      It would be absolutely stupid for any Democrat to cast a single vote for those or any other unqualified Trump appointee AMD sets the tone for being capitulating jackasses that will continue to lose their base.

    • Tiefling IRL
      2•2 days ago

      It helps set the record for what your elected representatives are doing.

      Unfortunately, nowadays most Democrats agree with Republican positions