(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Right-wing fever swamp going to mattresses for Pete Hegseth [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-01-13

In a normal world, Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense would be on life support. After all, he was investigated in 2017 for sexual misconduct—and paid hush money to his accuser. He has faced myriad accusations of drinking problems and financial mismanagement, and there are concerns that he doesn’t have the experience to lead such a massive federal department.

But according to The New York Times, such little details are of little concern to a cabal of conservative activists. This gaggle of podcasters and activists are going to the mattresses to get Hegseth in the Pentagon. They’re working together to deliver a simple message to the Senate GOP: “Confirm Hegseth—or else.” According to one of them, former Trump White House adviser and former Breitbart chairman Steve Bannon, this is a sign that Trumpworld has learned a lesson from the first administration, which didn’t see such concerted pushes for his nominees.

In a rare interview with a paper that he himself despised during his brief tenure sharing the top of the White House org chart, Bannon outlined some of those differences—and how they’re playing out now with the Hegseth push.

“We know that one of the mistakes from the first time around was that we didn’t really have any outside groups, and the ones that were around weren’t really on board with the Trump agenda,” Mr. Bannon said in an interview. “This time, it’s more sophisticated, it’s got more money, it’s got a whole media and influencer ecosystem, and it started earlier, because a lot of it came out of the campaign.”

Bannon himself has hosted efforts by one of these outfits, Article III Project, an outfit fronted by former Senate Judiciary Committee chief counsel Mike Davis primarily dedicated to fighting “republic-ending lawfare” by “Democrats and the far left.” Several of Davis’ cronies have appeared on Bannon’s “War Room” to push viewers to their Website and contact their Senators to support Hegseth. Davis himself makes no bones about what he wants to see happen—“represent the grass-roots MAGA movement.” It’s gotten so intense that Republican Senators are reportedly urging Davis to make their phones stop blowing up.

Another element of that movement, Building America’s Future, has pumped a half-million dollars into advertising in support of Hegseth, claiming that the “deep state” is out to get him. It has Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita and top campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio as advisers. So it’s “deep state” to ask whether a guy who pays out hush money is acceptable? Silly us. A more mainstream (a term that must be used in its loosest possible sense in today’s GOP) conservative outfit, the Heritage Foundation, is in the mix as well, spending over a million to support Trump’s nominees.

Some of those groups are turning the screws on the Senate Repubs, hard. American Leadership PAC, an “anti-woke” super PAC with close ties to Indiana’s newly-minted junior Senator, Jim Banks, ran this ad as part of an effort to urge Senators from five states to confirm Hegseth.

x It's vital that we quickly confirm combat veteran @PeteHegseth as Defense Secretary. He understands that our military should be focused on protecting America, not woke social engineering. pic.twitter.com/wI2Cg5DBcE — Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) January 10, 2025

Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA was also in touch with a number of Senators who could potentially torpedo Hegseth and pressure them to vote for him. One of those Senators was Joni Ernst of Iowa, an Army vet. She was initially cool toward Hegseth, but changed her mind under the combined onslaught of an ad buy from Building America’s Future and a threat by Kirk to bankroll a primary challenger in 2026, she recently indicated she’s more open to voting for him.

Lately, one of my friends taught me a new word—“vacuity,” which means “emptiness.” If going all-in for a guy as unqualified as Hegseth isn’t a textbook example of vacuity, not much else is.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/1/13/2296802/-Right-wing-fever-swamp-going-to-mattresses-for-Pete-Hegseth

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/