Indivisibles,

Yesterday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held its confirmation hearing for the most unqualified nominee for Defense Secretary in recent American history -- Fox News commentator and MAGA ideologue Pete Hegseth. 

Senate Dems focused much of their fire on his blatant unfitness and lack of qualifications for the position. 

• The Defense Department is one of the largest bureaucracies on earth with a $841 billion budget and millions of uniformed and civilian personnel. Hegseth’s management experience is limited to two nonprofits, and he was allegedly pushed out of those jobs for financial mismanagement and sexual harassment. 
• There’ve been numerous allegations about Hegseth showing up to work intoxicated. During the hearing, Senator Kaine read an account of Hegseth drunkenly shouting “kill all Muslims” at a work event. 
• Hegseth has disparaged women and LGBTQ+ members of the military, insisting -- as recently as November -- that women do not belong in combat roles. 
• Trump’s nominee has been accused of sexual assault and his own mother called him an “abuser of women.” 

The man is not capable of handling the demands of this job. But in truth, it’s what Hegseth is capable of that ought to worry us the most.

Trump has made no secret that he’s willing to use the military to crush dissent. In his first term, he asked generals if troops could be deployed to shoot racial justice protesters in the legs. His military commanders were shocked by those questions and understood their duty to refuse illegal orders. 

Not so with Hegseth. Hegseth is a true MAGA believer. He’s written about the military taking sides in a civil war, and mused that the left must be “categorically defeated.” At yesterday’s hearing, Senator Hirono asked if he’d carry out an order to shoot unarmed protesters. He refused to answer. He refused to say if he’d allow the military to carry out mass deportations or whether he’d object to an illegal order. 

That’s why Trump chose him. Because when push comes to shove, Trump knows Hegseth’s loyalty will not be to the constitution, our democracy, or the American people -- it will be to Trump and his pursuit of autocracy. He will not hesitate to deploy the military against mass protests that may erupt in the coming years or to send soldiers into our communities to detain immigrants. Nor will he bristle at greenlighting torture or other atrocities. 

If you don’t want this MAGA extremist to be our next Secretary of Defense, your senators need to hear from you. 

Call your senators now and tell them to vote NO on Hegseth >>

Email your senators now and tell them to vote NO on Hegseth >>

Don’t have senators? Please forward this email and use our social toolkit to spread the word.

Like many fights to come, blocking Hegseth’s confirmation will be an uphill battle. Republicans only need a simple majority to approve confirmations and -- despite all we heard yesterday -- they believe they’ll have the votes to do it. 

But part of why Republicans are so confident in this moment is the muted public outcry to Trump’s outrageous nominees. Our allies on the hill are saying they aren’t hearing from many constituents right now -- and that needs to change immediately if we want Dems to show up and fight back like they did at yesterday’s hearing. It definitely needs to change if we’re going to get a handful of Republicans to be more afraid of confirming unqualified extremists than defying Trump. 

The committee vote on Hegseth’s nomination could come on Monday. The final confirmation vote isn’t scheduled, but it’s likely to come soon after. So now is the time to make some noise. Share clips from yesterday’s hearings and stories about why Hegseth is so dangerous on your social channels or talk about it with friends and family. Urge them to contact their senators. And make sure you do, too. 

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team

P.S. -- For more on our strategy to fight the confirmation of Trump’s most dangerous nominees, check out our new resource, Nix the Noms.