Democrats need a scalp.
asserted
Democrats → need → scalp
And that scalp is almost surely going to belong to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
asserted
scalp → go → Hegseth
Impeaching President Trump for the third time holds far too many political risks with no corresponding upside.
asserted
Impeaching → impeach → upside
Another prosecution of the president, in the year of “affordability,” would only make Democrats look distracted by petty partisan politics and personal vendettas, rousing independent anger.
asserted
Democrats → make → anger
His impeachment would satiate some partisan bloodlust without ticking off independents.
asserted
impeachment → satiate → independents
Most polling finds Hegseth is the least popular member of Trump’s cabinet.
asserted
Hegseth → find → cabinet
It’s no more complicated than that.
asserted
It → ’ → that
This is why House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is a “hard yes” on impeaching Hegseth in 2027, describing him as one of the most incompetent and unqualified defense secretaries in history.
asserted
Jeffries → impeach → history
Jeffries has apparently forgotten that Joe Biden’s highly qualified Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin not only disappeared for weeks at a time without informing Congress (or anyone noticing), but also oversaw the chaotic and inept withdrawal from Afghanistan — in which a suicide bomber murdered 13 American service members.
asserted
bomber → forget → members
Jeffries publicly defended Austin after his disappearances, in case you think the impeachment plan is anything but partisan.
asserted
plan → defend → case
Though I’m skeptical Hegseth was the best person for the job, he’s proven to be a lot more capable than Lloyd Austin.
asserted
he → ’m → Austin
Support it or not, the initial military phase of the Iran war was extraordinarily successful, one of the most dominant military displays of precision and power in our history.
asserted
phase → support → history
Within days the United States, with the help of Israel, had control of Iranian air, decapitated Iranian leadership, destroyed the Iranian navy and severely degraded the terror state’s ability to conduct regional warfare.
And it was all done with very few casualties.
asserted
it → have → casualties
The war’s fits and starts and failed negotiations were all political decisions.
asserted
fits → fail → ?
Then there was Operation Absolute, in which special forces bypassed Venezuelan air defenses and ground forces and, in around two and a half hours, captured communist dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, then transported them to New York City to face drug-trafficking indictments.
asserted
forces → be → indictments
Hegseth also cleansed the military of a lot of the trendy progressive cultural quackery that sprouted up in the woke era (and perhaps will re-sprout soon enough.)
asserted
that → cleanse → era
Meanwhile all five active-duty branches exceeded enrollment targets last year.
asserted
branches → exceed → targets
Congress, of course, can impeach anyone it likes for any reason it conjures up — or, for that matter, no good reason at all.
asserted
it → impeach → matter
In his failed articles of impeachment this week, Republican House member and crank Tom Massie accused the secretary of war of contravening the War Powers resolution.
asserted
member → fail → resolution
This is almost surely going to be one of the indictments used by Democrats, as well.
asserted
This → go → Democrats
Perhaps Massie is unaware that the president of the United States, not his cabinet, is charged with obtaining Congress’ consent for war.
asserted
president → charge → war
If contravening that resolution was an impeachable offense, secretaries of defense under Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama should have been impeached, as well.
asserted
secretaries → contravene → Reagan
There’s certainly a far better case to be made for impeaching presidents who ignore the Constitution than cabinet members.
asserted
who → ’ → members
The House Republicans’ impeachment of Biden’s Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, for example, was based on his “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law.”
asserted
impeachment → base → law
Which is substantively true — but Mayorkas was merely following the policy decisions of the duly elected president.
asserted
Mayorkas → follow → president
Impeachment of a cabinet member changed nothing.
asserted
Impeachment → change → nothing
Even if Mayorkas had been removed by the Senate, Biden’s policies would have remained.
asserted
policies → remove → Senate
Impeachment has become political Kabuki theater.
asserted
Impeachment → become → ?
And these performative impeachments do nothing but degrade another important constitutional process.
asserted
impeachments → do → process
You can dislike Hegseth.
asserted
You → dislike → Hegseth
You can believe he’s terrible at his job.
asserted
he → believe → job
But he’s done nothing to deserve impeachment.
asserted
he → do → impeachment
The Aporia
