At the Hegseth hearing, GOP senators covered themselves in shame

A gross dereliction of duty on the part of the Republican-controlled Senate and the Trump-directed FBI. That is a harsh but unavoidable assessment of the confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth to serve as Donald Trump’s defense secretary. Both institutions should be ashamed of their performance — Republican senators most of all, as, bullied by the president-elect and intimidated by deep-pocketed, no-holds-barred pressure campaigns, they abdicate their constitutional advice-and-consent responsibility.

I have witnessed many contentious confirmation hearings over the years and watched as the system has become increasingly partisan and vitriolic. But the Hegseth hearing represents a new low in that diminished process.

The seriousness and breadth of the allegations against him — from sexual assault to excessive drinking to sheer lack of experience — demand the most searching and responsible of inquiries. Instead, the Hegseth nomination has largely produced reflexive party-line salutes.

What unfolded during Tuesday’s hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee was the continuation of a relentless lack of curiosity — an utter absence of willingness to take the constitutional role seriously — that has marked this nomination from the start. If the GOP goal is getting Hegseth across the finish line — well, mission accomplished, it appears. If the point was to determine whether he is fit for the job, abject failure.

https://wapo.st/4amaYJ8

One cannot shame the shameless, which now includes the entire Republican Party. We are witnessing in real time the corruption of our government institutions for the power and profit of those at the top.

What Congressional Democrats either fail to see or acknowledge is that Hegseth and others of his ilk view Democrats as the real enemy to the country, and Republicans will abuse their legislative, judicial, and administrative power to eliminate their political rivals while calling it "preserving democracy" and "Making America Great Again".

To hell with bipartisanship or compromise; those -- along with common civility, courtesy, and decency -- is for losers in their minds.