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Hey everyone,
Welcome to State of the Day,
The defiant War Secretary has evaded long-overdue accountability
The Case For Impeaching Pete Hegseth
Let me offer something aside from the cacophony of midterm coverage for a moment:
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me → evade → moment
The House of Representatives voted last night to block an effort to impeach War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
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House → vote → Hegseth
The House moved to effectively kill the motion to impeach, and while Democrats will have another opportunity when they take control of Congress in January, the GOP’s failure to hold one of its own accountable will stand as a stain on the 119th Congress’ already tumultuous record.
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one → move → record
The articles, introduced by the fiery Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, sought to hold Hegseth accountable for what the lawmaker called an extensive list of abuses of power.
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lawmaker → introduce → power
They ranged from the actions of the Iran War, military strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, to the capture of Nicolas Maduro.
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They → range → Maduro
The first three articles concerned the administration’s handling of the Iran War and its alleged violations of the War Powers Resolution, a 1973 law that limited the president’s ability to keep American forces engaged in hostilities without being granted congressional authorization.
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that → concern → authorization
Essentially, the law makes sure the president doesn’t get a free pass to send troops into conflict because he feels like it.
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he → make → it
Massie claimed those limits were ignored when the administration launched its campaign against Iran.
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administration → claim → Iran
The White House has taken some rather creative approaches to defending itself, including contesting the characterization of the hostilities as a war.
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House → take → war
And while gaslighting the American public into believing we’re not at war, when we clearly are, is a little clever, I have a feeling they’ve tried that before — see: Vietnam.
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they → gaslighte → that
Congress even passed a resolution in June directing the president to remove American forces from hostilities in Iran.
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Congress → pass → Iran
The administration argued that the resolution didn’t apply because hostilities had already terminated, but as we know, the bombing never stops for very long — at least over the past eight months.
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bombing → argue → months
But here’s the thing: Impeachment is a political action.
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Impeachment → ’ → ?
Congress alone gets to decide whether someone has done things worthy of impeachment.
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someone → get → impeachment
The Constitution gives lawmakers on the Hill the authority to determine whether an official’s conduct constitutes “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
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conduct → give → Treason
That standard leaves some wiggle room for interpretation.
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standard → leave → interpretation
Just two years ago, congressional Republicans impeached former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the southern border.
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Republicans → impeach → border
The Senate dismissed the articles within hours of opening the trial, arguing the charges were unconstitutional.
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charges → dismiss → trial
Republicans understood the message an impeachment sends then — their inability to understand it now is a testament to their penchant for placing party over country.
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inability → understand → country
Hegseth has overseen military operations as the U.S. entered into an unauthorized war, killing American servicemembers, and taking innocent civilian lives.
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U.S. → oversee → lives
On the first day of military action, one strike hit a girls’ school in Minab, killing over 120 children.
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strike → hit → children
That’s Hegseth’s cross to bear.
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That → ’ → ?
But to be clear, Massie wasn’t simply accusing Hegseth of being present when a military strike went horribly wrong.
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strike → accuse → Hegseth
Massie’s articles outlined the steps Hegseth allegedly took to break down the structures in place to protect civilians from being caught in the crossfire.
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Hegseth → outline → crossfire
These allegedly included gutting oversight mechanisms, cutting loose staff responsible for reducing civilian harm, and weakening protections intended to keep innocent people out of harm’s way.
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These → include → way
The U.N.-backed investigation found, on reasonable grounds, that the strike amounted to a war crime.
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strike → find → crime
Meanwhile, the Pentagon still hasn’t released its final investigation.
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Pentagon → release → investigation
Reuters previously reported that an early internal assessment found American forces were likely responsible.
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forces → report → ?
Just consider the real-life implications here: over 120 innocent children were killed by American weaponry funded by our own tax dollars, for a war that never received proper authorization, and we haven’t even received a report on the incident from our own government.
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we → consider → government
Partisan games aside, that should not be an overlooked error — this was not some accounting mishap.
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this → overlook → ?
Innocent people died as a direct result of an ill-equipped War Secretary.
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people → die → Secretary
Despite this, Hegseth dismissed Massie’s efforts as a political spectacle.
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Hegseth → dismiss → spectacle
The question was whether Congress, which has seen its powers and purviews radically diminished by this administration, would be willing to deliver its heaviest rebuke to the architect of the very war Americans cite as their biggest frustration.
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Americans → see → frustration
They were not.
And House Republicans will only have their majority for a few more weeks, so if they wanted to show the American people they’d heard their grievances, that was their opportunity.
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that → have → grievances
The party that championed ending foreign wars, reining in the swamp, and curbing two decades of executive-power expansion had a choice to make.
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that → champion → choice
They made the wrong one.
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They → make → one
The America First movement promised a departure from the policies that led to quagmires like the Iran War.
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that → promise → War
Congressional Republicans had the chance to put their money where their mouths were on the campaign trail.
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mouths → have → trail
And all things considered, there was little political capital to be lost here — the midterms are over.
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midterms → consider → ?
If you lost, you lost — if you won, congrats, you have two years.
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you → lose → years
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
