During yesterday's confirmation hearing for Defense Secretary-designate Pete Hegseth, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sprung something of a pop quiz on President-elect Trump's nominee. The Senator asked if Hegseth knew how many Americans currently serve in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Hegseth nailed two of the three, and was in the ballpark of the third. Having failed to induce the nominee into flunking his test, Blumenthal went on to assert that Hegseth lacks the necessary experience to lead an institution as vast as the Department of Defense -- diminishing his credentials as "communication skills" worthy of a spokesperson role, rather than a cabinet secretary:
JUST IN: Senator Rich Blumenthal (D-CT) says Pete Hegseth is not capable of presiding over the military because he has never presided over a million people.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 14, 2025
"450,000 [in the Army]... 337,000 [in the Navy].... 172,300 [in the Marine Corps]..."
"Those numbers dwarf any experience… pic.twitter.com/A5hyINMwVd
Whatever you think of this line of questioning (I wonder how many members of that committee could have answered accurately), and regardless of your thoughts on Hegseth's nomination (I strongly recommend watching his opening statement to understand why so many rank-and-file warriors are vociferously supporting his confirmation), let's take a moment to talk about this particular inquisitor. It feels like something of a sick joke that Blumenthal sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee at all. He's certainly in no position to lecture anyone else on military matters or to sit in judgment of decorated war fighters. Why? Because unlike Hegseth and many others, Blumenthal was never a war fighter himself. That's not unusual, of course; most Americans are civilians. But most Americans did not lie about it for their entire adult lives and political careers until they got caught. The New York Times busted Blumenthal years ago:
At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life. “We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.” There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.
The deferments allowed Mr. Blumenthal to complete his studies at Harvard; pursue a graduate fellowship in England; serve as a special assistant to The Washington Post’s publisher, Katharine Graham; and ultimately take a job in the Nixon White House. In 1970, with his last deferment in jeopardy, he landed a coveted spot in the Marine Reserve, which virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam...What is striking about Mr. Blumenthal’s record is the contrast between the many steps he took that allowed him to avoid Vietnam, and the misleading way he often speaks about that period of his life now, especially when he is speaking at veterans’ ceremonies or other patriotic events. Sometimes his remarks have been plainly untrue.
Months later, the people of Connecticut chose to reward him with a Senate seat. And Democratic leadership later made the astounding choice of seating this man -- a man famous for lying about serving in war -- on the Armed Services Committee. If he had any sense of shame or decency, he might have demurred when presented with that appointment. At the very least, he might refrain from pontificating about the military qualifications of others, given his humiliating history of lies and stolen valor. But he manifestly lacks any such shame or decency, reveling instead in power-flaunting performances like the one above. Nominees seeking positions of profound influence deserve tough questions. It is often the role of the opposition party to pursue answers through aggressive or even hostile questioning. I take no issue with that, within reason, but it is beyond me why anyone would stomach one ounce of sanctimony from this fraud is beyond me. I'll leave you with a pop quiz of another sort from the hearing, which Hegseth aced:
Sen. Sheehy asks a series of seemingly simple questions:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 14, 2025
"Right there you’re representing qualifications that show you understand what the war fighter deals with every single day on the battlefield. You understand what happens on the front line where our troops will be." pic.twitter.com/Y7HIf1xDvm
This exchange helps explain why so many combat veterans packed into the hearing room on his behalf. How many members of that committee could have gotten those answers correct? I can think of one, from Connecticut, who most certainly would have whiffed.
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