Another another another another another another another another another another another another "another Humpday Shrapnel post" post post post post post post post post post post post

This week: Defensive Defense, Progressive Racism, Canadian comedy, and FREEDOM!

1. Pete Hegseth is fighting back against a legacy media bent on sinking his nomination for Defense secretary, with his lawyer revealing that there is no non-disclosure agreement to which an anonymous “rape” accuser is bound.

   But fighting back against a legacy press whom few believe is one thing; trying to make it past the establican GOP in s Senate confirmation is another. Today, Hegseth met with Senator Susan Collins, whom the New York Times is reporting “declines to endorse him for Defense Secretary” — though in her remarks with the press after her meeting, she made no mention of refusing to support the nomination, stating instead that she’ll wait for the FBI background check and the hearings before she makes her determination.

   

   If I had to bet, I’d wager the Times’ headline, while echnically accurate (she has yet to endorse Hegseth, after all), is meant to suggest that Hegseth has lost the GOP Senator and add fuel to the narrative that Hegseth continues to be “embattled.” Other legacy media outlets not known for their Trump support have been more neutral in their coverage of the meeting. So if you’ve been holding out for evidence of a change in the way the new Trump administration will be covered, there’s still hope it won’t suck entirely.

   Meanwhile, Joni Ernst, whom GOP insiders have suggested wanted the position herself and, along with the unctuous and fey Lindsay Graham, was part of an early establican GOP cabal hoping to scuttle Hegseth’s nomination, is less under the spotlight today. MAGA social media pressure, along and the suggestion from Trump surrogates that the reelection prospects for the Iowa Senator might very well hinge on her willingness to support the President-elects’s mandate, seems to have changed Ernst’s tune, and she has signaled that she’ll support the nomination — something Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton has said will be a consistent theme of the transition.

   This leaves pro-Ukraine GOP Senators Mitch McConnell, Graham, Collins, Mitt Romney replacement John Curtis, Todd Young, and Lisa Murkowski as the most likely potential GOP holdouts. McConnell, Romney, and Murkowski may ultimately try to sink the nomination of Hegseth, who as a decorated military vet with extended battlefield service is an outspoken opponent of American adventurism and entry into foreign conflicts that don’t directly concern US national security interests.

   In the end, I suspect Collins, Young, Curtis, and Graham will join the majority — with Democrat John Fetterman a wildcard to give Hegseth 52 votes. In a pinch, though, J.D. Vance may be called upon to put Hegseth over the top.

   If, however, Collins and Graham and Ukraine hawk Young join with other holdouts within the GOP who are at odds with much of Trump’s foreign policy — and many of his cabinet nominees — I expect Trump to use other maneuvers to seat his picks, and for the small coterie of Trump “resist” ghouls to find themselves potentially isolated and the subject of well-financed challenges to their future Senate hopes.

2. Days after Trump’s victory, the Biden-Harris Administration granted Iran “sanctions relief” to the tune of $10 billion US taxpayer dollars. From The Washington Free Beacon: