A group of three 20-something young men in black tie walked past me on Capitol Hill on Saturday night, no doubt on their way to one of the many celebrations for President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. this weekend.
“Hello, my fellow Republicans!” I bellowed.
“What gave it away?” They laughed.
This week Washington, D.C. was flooded by bright, happy faces. The Grand Old Party is here, and what a party it is. On the eve of Trump’s inauguration, Democrats face a whole new world of governing — and a new environment in Washington, D.C.
To their horror, Republicans have run the table: The White House, Senate, House of Representatives and Supreme Court are all under conservative control. Donald Trump even won the popular vote. The MAGA faithful are pouring into the nation’s capital by the thousands.
Democrats, meanwhile, are a rain cloud in search of a silver lining.
In December, they held a glimmer of hope that Republicans would trigger a shutdown. Foiled, the Democrats then tried to trigger a rift between Trump and Elon Musk, to no avail. On Jan. 3, they watched with dismay as Republican Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson secured his reelection as the 56th Speaker of the House.
The thunderclaps just kept rolling. Vice President Kamala Harris certified her opponent’s victory on Jan. 6 while an ebullient Speaker Johnson looked on, politely suppressing clear glee. On Jan. 9, former President Barack Obama and Trump chatted like old friends at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral.
What’s left of the left knows a maelstrom of liberal wails will erupt on Jan. 20. To show that they are doing something — anything — they need a win, however small, before Trump and his MAGA legions yank back the reins of power.
It looked like that win might be derailing Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth. So, this week they focused all their fire on taking down the Princeton grad and decorated combat veteran at his appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Jan. 14.
They shot the wad. And missed.
Having sat through hundreds of such meetings, I watched Hegseth’s performance with interest. If Democrats had any new information or fresh accusations, it would be brought out at the hearing with much sturm and drang.
But no new information emerged.
Democrats trotted out personal attacks: Hegseth drank too much at a party, he made a pass at a woman, he once went to a strip club. Oh, the horror. Can you imagine a soldier, home from deployment, who could do such a thing?
Evidently most members of the Senate Committee on Armed Services have never been near a military base, nearly all of which are surrounded by car dealerships, Hooters and bars.
Democrats’ main strategy seemed to be to rehash these personal smears, but say them louder and with more venom. Instead of forceful and commanding, many just seemed shrill. The result was internet comedy gold, with that one meme being viewed, at this writing, by 4.8 million people (likely exponentially higher than the number of people who actually watched the hearing itself).
But the biggest face plant came, unexpectedly, from Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Though usually a gifted questioner, she promoted Hegseth to a general. Hegseth grinned slyly, shooting back, “I’m not a general,” causing the room to erupt in laughter. Others quickly piled on and it was over.
The Democrats were reduced to a laughingstock, and with that, their best chance of upending a Trump nomination vaporized. Not only is Hegseth likely to be confirmed, but in keeping with his on-the-ground experience as platoon leader, the new secretary of Defense has cleared the way for the rest of Trump’s cabinet to make it over the hump.
Morgan Murphy is military thought leader, former press secretary to the Secretary of Defense and national security advisor in the U.S. Senate.
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