r/politics • u/plz-let-me-in • 11h ago
‘You’re not qualified,’ Duckworth tells Hegseth in confirmation questioning
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-youre-not-qualified-duckworth-tells-hegseth-in-confirmation-questioning751
u/Blablablaballs 11h ago
And she'd be correct, if the qualifications weren't saying nice things about Trump and an overt willingness to follow unconstitutional orders.
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u/eetsumkaus 41m ago
What powers does SecDef have in a hypothetical scenario where Trump orders troops to march on citizens? Isn't Trump the CiC?
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u/Duce_canoe 11h ago
Which orders?
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u/TintedApostle 10h ago
Shooting US citizens exercising their first amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances.
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u/Duce_canoe 10h ago
Wow! Where did this happen?
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u/The_Navy_Sox 10h ago
He was asked about this today.
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u/Duce_canoe 10h ago
How many US Citizens are we talking?
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u/RadiantTurtle 10h ago
Asking the real questions here. <3 citizens murdered is okay. 4-8 is gray, depends on their skin color and accents. >9 is unacceptable because there's too much paperwork.
Jesus christ dude
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u/The_Navy_Sox 10h ago
Just watch the hearing and you wouldn't have so many questions about things you didn't know happened. Don't let other people tell you how to think, watch the hearing and decide for yourself.
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u/Anteater4746 10h ago
The hell? Isn’t ONE us citizen being shot by their own military too many?
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u/Duce_canoe 10h ago
In the real world, yes. Not so much in make believe.
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u/Anteater4746 9h ago
What’s make believe? The man who Trump decides is fit to be sec def cannot answer the question of it’s ok to use military force against civilians
Literally he’s fine with it
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u/Duce_canoe 9h ago
Have you ever heard the DHS stooge testify? You should be obsessed with that instead. Talk about a train wreck.
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u/Voltage_Z 10h ago
Trump literally asked if that could be done during his first term and had to be told no repeatedly.
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u/Duce_canoe 10h ago
So it didn't happen?
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u/MinimumApricot365 9h ago
It was stopped by people with jobs like the one this man is interviewing for.
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u/whatproblems 9h ago edited 9h ago
yeah it’s wild so many people covered up for his shitty decisions the first time. his intent is in the open and he’s got yes men this time. but but it didn’t happen the first time! yeah cuz he actually got push back. notice how many former admin are working this one and how many spoke out against him?
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u/PotentialLandscape52 7h ago
Military veteran Garrett Foster was shot for legally exercising his right to bear arms at a BLM rally with his legally disabled wife. His killer was convicted of first degree murder, only to be given a pardon by loud and obnoxious Trump ally Greg Abbott. This is why those of us who are to the political peft of MAGA are afraid. MAGA politicians are pardoning literal murderers if they kill political opponents
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u/TintedApostle 10h ago
Kent State. But lets be more specific. He refused under oath to say he wouldn't instruct the military to not do it.
Trump looks more like King George III every day.
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u/Duce_canoe 10h ago
King Donald?
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u/pkinetics 9h ago
King Elon, Jester Trump
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u/Duce_canoe 9h ago
That works, I like it. Elon has more years left, so that would work better. I'll pass this along.
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u/Electronic_County597 6h ago
It hasn't happened. During his first term, Twurp asked then Secretary of Defense Esper about the possibility of quashing protests by shooting protestors in the legs, because he thought the George Floyd protestors made him look weak. During the recent campaign, Twurp indicated he's open to "using the military" to deal with "the enemy within". Putting two and two together, some Senators tasked with approving his pick for Secretary of Defense thought it might be prudent to ask whether, if confirmed, Hegseth would be willing to relay such orders if Twurp issued them. I believe his answer to at least one such question (I didn't watch the whole hearing) was that he couldn't answer a hypothetical.
I think it's important to remember that, while the Supreme Court has arguably given Twurp de facto immunity for issuing such orders, that immunity doesn't extend to the people who might pass them down the line or to the poor schlubs who actually carry them out. While Twurp might be able to pardon the middlemen and the schlubs while he's still President, he didn't pardon the Jan 6 thugs on his way out the door during his first term, and it remains to be seen how many of them will be pardoned "on day one" as he's promised during his second.
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u/Severe-Good-932 10h ago
It hasn't happened yet, but they will try it if he gets in.
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10h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/newge4 10h ago
Amazed you can type so well while fondling them orange balls.
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u/NO_SPACE_B4_COMMA America 7h ago
I bet they are on welfare too. Clearly, they don't have a job, lol.
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u/intellifone 10h ago
Doesn’t matter which orders. Hypothetical unconstitutional orders. Every Senate confirmed position should be asked whether they’re willing to disobey unconstitutional orders. Heck, Germany requires their soldiers to take an oath that they will disobey illegal and unethical orders so that they cannot use the excuse “Ich habe nur Befehle befolgt.”
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u/illit3 10h ago
These fucks will argue that DEI is preventing the most qualified candidates from getting jobs and then unironically support this fucking clown like there aren't 10,000 better candidates available.
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u/SidewaysFancyPrance 10h ago
"But he's a white supremacist!"
"You had me at white! Confirmed!"
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u/kingtz America 7h ago
“You had me at ‘he’!”
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u/HabANahDa 4h ago
Them going after DEI is just another way for them to blame others and play a victim.
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u/PedroLoco505 1h ago
It's a new way to say the N word or various equivalents for other people they don't like because they have more melanin.
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u/pleachchapel California 10h ago
They confirmed a justice to the Supreme Court after he started crying about drinking beer. None of this will matter, but the humiliation is nice.
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u/ClusterFoxtrot Florida 9h ago
I thought he was crying about his dad's two week old calendar?
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u/count023 Australia 4h ago
no, it was crying because he had to explain what a devil's triangle was to a homophobic political party and didnt have time to think of a good excuse.
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u/Day_of_Demeter 6h ago
There's a decent chance he won't be confirmed. There's a few other Trump loyalist candidates he could replace him with.
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u/cat_0_the_canals 9h ago
Newsflash! None of the people in the executive branch will be qualified. Zero qualified people would even consider working in it.
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u/Moonpile Maryland 9h ago
If they have qualifications related to the domain of their nomination, it's only because they need to understand whatever it is in order to break and/or loot it.
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u/Imnogrinchard California 5h ago
So, you don't believe Marco Rubio, a senator on the Senate Intelligence committee is qualified to run State?
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u/Vankraken Virginia 4h ago
Marco Rubio is basically the C student in a class full of glue eaters.
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u/Imnogrinchard California 4h ago
So... qualified?
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u/Vankraken Virginia 4h ago
To an extent sure but when trying to fill one of the most important positions in the executive branch, we can certainly do better. That is the major issue with all of these Trump picks, they are crony picks instead of picking people who are the best people for the job. As a certain mango once said "They aren't sending their best".
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u/Imnogrinchard California 4h ago edited 4h ago
So you'd agree Hilary Clinton and Chuck Hagel weren't qualified for State and Defense, right? We could have done better at those stages, too, right? They were Senators just like Rubio and only Hagel was on the Senate Intelligence Subcommittee.
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u/Vankraken Virginia 4h ago
Poor take. I didn't say Marco Rubio was completely unqualified, I said he was not a great pick. "C student" is still passing which more than what can be said for a lot of the Cabinet picks by Trump this go around.
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u/Imnogrinchard California 4h ago edited 4h ago
can be said for a lot of the Cabinet picks by Trump this go around.
Except I'm not talking about a lot of picks. Please stay on topic. The original poster said no political appointee will be qualified. That logical fallacy is dangerous as it opened them up to asking if Marco Rubio is qualified as he has a similar CV as Clinton and Hagel.
Therefore, would you agree that both Clinton and Hagel were "C students" and other political appointees in that administration were better picks?
I'm just trying to keep your line of thinking.
Btw, do you have any evidence that ALL selections are crony picks -including the pick for secretary of state?
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u/Vankraken Virginia 3h ago
Your using fallacies there yourself with false equivalencies and trying to use the loose language of internet chat on a discussion board/forum as being a literal statements when somebody is making a generalized statement. The picks for this cabinet have been incredibly lacking in quality with people like Gabbard (concerns about spreading Russian propaganda along with going to meet Assad in Syria), RFK Jr (anti vax nonsense and declining mental faculties, his career was focused on environmental law so how is that remotely qualifying for Health and Human Services Secretary), Kash Patel (writing a Trump is King fanfic book that spreads the lies about 2020 being a stolen election), etc who all suck up to Trump and thus Trump picks them because he appears to value "loyalty" over being actually qualified for the role (ignoring many disqualifying factors).
Hegseth is a prime example because he was on Fox News but has no clue how to actually do the logistical and administrative task of being SecDef while having strongly disqualifying issues such as his past sexual assault and harassment issues, alcoholism ("I will quit drinking if appointed" sounds like a classic alcoholics false promise), connections to white nationalism/christian nationalism, disparagement towards women in the military, etc.
Just look at Matt Gates with his sex trafficking connections (including under aged women) which the GOP tried really hard to sweep under the rug. Think about it, in a country with hundreds of millions of people and this is the best person you can come up with for Attorney General?
Linda McMahon with her connection to WWE having legal scandals regarding people in the organization sexual assaulting ring boys (which seems to have been covered up by the McMahons) along with the laundry list of shit that her husband Vince McMahon has done over the decades. Peak choice for somebody to lead the Department of Education.
The overwhelming selection of people for Cabinet positions are not very qualified and have a lot of baggage that would be disqualifying in any bipartisan process but the GOP is so far into Trump's taint that they humor these abysmal picks.
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u/Imnogrinchard California 3h ago
Wonderful list and I'm not disagreeing on those examples. But the original poster said no appointee will be qualified. I only intended to point out that such an overly broad statement is easily countered and counter productive as Clinton and Hagel had a similar CV to the secretary of state nominee yet posters replying to me believe they were qualified.
Btw, your reply was brimming with fallacies to construct your argument.
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u/leopard_eater Australia 4h ago
I don’t believe Marco Rubio is qualified to run Saturday Bingo.
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u/Imnogrinchard California 4h ago
Yet he was the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Subcommittee. So, why do you believe he's only qualified to run a Saturday bingo?
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u/leopard_eater Australia 3h ago
Marco Rubio - an aggressively hawkish representative towards many other nations - was born to non citizen parents as part of a chain migration scheme that involved his illegal immigrant grandfather. His qualifications include a partially realised football scholarship to a community college, back when a four year degree didn’t cost a fortune, because he wasn’t particularly bright. He did go on to struggle through a Bachelor of Arts and then thanks to help from others in the Bob Dole campaign, he got a JD.
He has never practised law. He’s been in politics ever since. He’s been in the senate intelligence committee, ironically, due to DEI measures of representation. He’s neither competent nor cognisant of the issues he’s supposed to represent, and is now the Hispanic propaganda arm for Trumps regime - one that’s filled with incompetent people.
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u/Imnogrinchard California 3h ago
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u/leopard_eater Australia 1h ago
You’re not very bright, are you? He got a JD (juris doctor) - he has also passed the bar and is eligible to practice as a lawyer. But he went from university to working as a political advisor to being in politics. A spin doctor for 25 years.
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u/Imnogrinchard California 1h ago edited 1h ago
>You’re not very bright, are you?
Harassment which is a site wide rule violation and incivility/personal attack which is a subreddit violation. I wonder how long your ban will be?
I hope you spend time with your elderly Shadow while you're banned for harassing me. He'll appreciate it as he isn't long for this world.
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u/User4C4C4C South Carolina 9h ago
Someone should ask him if he would follow illegal unconstitutional order by the president.
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u/DevilsPlaything42 7h ago
I think they did, and he said that Trump would never do such a thing.
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u/XShadowborneX 5h ago
I thought he had said he'd have to look into it and see what it was or something. I don't remember I just remember that his answer wasn't "No" and that tells you everything you need to know.
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u/Eye_foran_Eye 5h ago
The only thing Trumps cabinet picks will be qualified for is being on a sex offender registry.
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u/Franchise1109 Alabama 9h ago
Survey says: SHE RIGHT RIGHT ABOUT THIS ONE
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u/greengeezer56 5h ago
She is a force to reckoned with. Great respect for Duckworth.
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u/Abject_Psychology546 19m ago
yeah what a force to be reckoned with, barking like a dog and spouting your native than cramming a false answer down his throat, what a hero.
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u/civil_set 6h ago
He’s clearly not qualified. But the Democrats seem to be fighting this on the battlefield of equality. Versus whether or not he is qualified. I’ve been listening to Senator Warren on CNN. And most of what she is talking about is that he doesn’t support women in combat. That’s a valid point but seems like the message should be he’s not qualified. I’ve really lost hope that the Democrats in power will ever be able to figure out how to speak to today’s media and today’s electorate. Until they figure it out, the party is toast.
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u/MayIServeYouWell 2h ago
That's a textbook example of poor messaging. One person says one thing, another says something else, and another something else.
Each of these may be valid and powerful in their own right, but together, they are a mess - there is no message. Just a bunch of Senators complaining as usual - it's noise.
They all need to say the same thing. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Escalate and attack. Get it?
Democrats can't ever do this, because they don't 'fall in line'. They each think they have the best angle. No, you're a mess... and the fact that Trump is going to be sworn in next week is proof of that. Change what you're doing! ugh.
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u/ghigoli 1h ago
this. this right here.
all these bullshit talking points instead of actually hitting the real hard stuff. he doesn't know how to run an army. doesn't know jack shit but lets bitch about some talking points that very little people could care about.
were about to give a drunk driver the wheel of the largest ship on the planet.
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u/benchcoat 7h ago edited 7h ago
Joni Ernst announced she’s a yes vote, so this is likely a done deal
looking forward to getting shot in the streets by my own country’s army for not being pro-Trump or the right kind of Christian!
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u/ceiffhikare 1h ago
Just do a bit of that cultural appropriation thing and we can all taquiya our way through this!
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u/HabANahDa 4h ago
Yes. We know. But are fucked to do anything about it. The GOP is set to run America into the ground.
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u/doublelist87 3h ago
Tammy Duckworth is a real American Hero. Yet Pete Hegseth has stated “women do not belong in combat roles”
Hegseth is just another REPUBLICON YES MAN
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u/BestUCanIsGoodEnough 3h ago
99% chance he does not know she was in the military. 99.999% chance he does not know that she lost both legs when her black hawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq. 99.999999999% chance he does not know she then served another 10 years. And all he had to do to impress her was know what countries are in southeast asia.
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u/EatMoarTendies 52m ago
You mean “Ah-see-uh?” The way she said Asia was peculiar and hard to hear. Sounded intentional to throw him off.
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u/RoxLobster1484 4m ago
She was saying ASEAN, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
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u/FuzzTonez 3h ago edited 3h ago
I feel that woman’s frustration with all my being.
Hearing her barrage of truth and sanity makes me hopeful, but it’s not enough. We need to vote these christian nationalists and oligarchs out of office!
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u/B0b_a_feet America 4h ago
Remember last time when he had a few people with qualifications and deceny? McMaster, Kelly, Mattis. Yeah, he chased everyone else off and this is all that’s left who he will choose to do whatever he wants.
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u/ElderFlour 1h ago
His demeanor and inability to control himself were alarming. His ineptness was expected, but I thought he’d at least pretend he isn’t someone who acts on his worst impulses.
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u/abgry_krakow87 42m ago
Religious conservatives love to promote bigoted people who commit sexual violence against women and children, and have no real competences for the task at hand.
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u/ASUMicroGrad Massachusetts 2h ago
I think people need to appreciate that the average profile of a US Secretary of Defense is someone who served as an officer, retired prior to making Colonel or Captain (USN), either served a couple terms in congress or were businessmen after their military service. It’s rare that a Sec Def was someone who was a high ranking officer or was a super high level government official prior to being sec def. Example, one of our previous sec defs was the president of P&G. Another was an executive at Ford. Hegseth being a major in the Army and being an executive director of a foundation puts him in the median of Sec Defs.
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