Extreme Commanders

As Trump Threatened a Primary, a G.O.P. Holdout on Hegseth Flipped

Four days after President Trump was sworn in for his second term, his nominee for defense secretary was teetering on the brink of defeat on the Senate floor, and the president was on Air Force One talking about political retribution.

Mr. Trump had gotten word that Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, planned to oppose Pete Hegseth, the former “Fox & Friends” weekend host who was his choice for Pentagon chief, and who faced accusations of excessive drinking and abusing women. If Mr. Tillis could not be brought to heel by that night, there would be enough Republican “no” votes to sink Mr. Hegseth’s confirmation, a humiliating defeat at the dawn of Mr. Trump’s second term.

Turning to a group of North Carolina lawmakers who were flying with him to survey storm damage in their state, Mr. Trump noted Mr. Tillis’s impending defection and posed a question: Which of them wanted his endorsement for a primary challenge to the senator next year?

The implication was clear: Mr. Tillis’s refusal to back Mr. Hegseth could cost him his seat. By that night, Mr. Tillis, who had been toiling behind the scenes for days to kill Mr. Hegseth’s nomination so he could avoid having to publicly cross Mr. Trump, would vote to confirm Mr. Hegseth to control the most powerful military force in the world.

The story of Mr. Tillis’s secret effort to persuade fellow Republicans to join him in opposing Mr. Hegseth — and his sudden turnabout when it became clear he would be the deciding vote to defeat the nominee — is a tale of political calculation and capitulation by a single G.O.P. senator.

But it also helps explain a broader dynamic at play with Mr. Trump back in the White House, as Republicans in Congress, fearful of reprisal by the president and his supporters, have put aside grave reservations and surrendered to his demands.

The trend has been on display this week in the Senate, where Republicans almost unanimously fell in line to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, elevating them despite grave concerns about their fitness for their posts.

This article is based on interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with Mr. Tillis’s maneuvering and his change of heart, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private discussions.

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Spineless cowards.

Judge: I can't grant 'prophylactic' order to stop Musk, DOGE access at federal agencies

A federal judge declined Friday to immediately grant a request from 14 states to block Elon Musk and the advisory body he heads from accessing federal government systems, saying they hadn’t proven they faced any irreparable harm.

“The order you’re requesting is incredible broad,” U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan said. “It would essentially bring government to a halt.”

On Thursday, attorneys general from 14 states filed a lawsuit in federal court in D.C. arguing actions taken by Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut government spending and drastically reduce the federal workforce violated the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. In their lawsuit, the states said Musk was wielding “virtually unchecked power” without proper authorization from Congress or meaningful supervision.

“As a result, he has transformed a minor position that was formerly responsible for managing government websites into a designated agent of chaos without limitation and in violation of the separation of powers,” the states alleged.

Chutkan, a 2013 Obama appointee who previously presided over the Justice Department’s election subversion case against President Donald Trump, called an emergency hearing Friday afternoon to hear a request from the states to bar Musk and his employees from accessing sensitive government data systems or directing agencies to fire workers. Speaking for the states, Adam Kirschner, a senior assistant attorney general with the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s federal litigation unit, said Musk was roaming unchecked through the federal government and causing a “constitutional crisis.”

Federal judges around the country, including in D.C., have issued temporary restraining orders barring or restricting DOGE access to certain federal systems and halting the Trump administration’s efforts to place thousands of foreign service workers on administrative leave. But Chutkan said what the states wanted was far broader than previous orders and would amount to “grinding the government to a halt.”

“You’re essentially asking me to shut down the government,” Chutkan said.

“We’re asking you to shut down a constitutional violation that we haven’t seen in this country,” Kirschner said.

President Trump has said publicly, and Justice Department attorneys have repeatedly argued in court, that Musk serves in an exclusively advisory role and that any steps he takes require the approval of the White House. The DOGE office and Musk’s role at its head were created last month via executive order to implement what Trump described as his “DOGE agenda.” In its first month, Musk and DOGE have taken credit for terminating hundreds of millions of dollars in federal spending and the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

While Chutkan seemed open to the argument Friday that the states could eventually prove Musk was exceeding his constitutional authority, she repeatedly stressed that, at this point in the case, they would fail to get the order they sought if they couldn’t prove imminent and irreparable harm. Despite multiple opportunities, Kirschner and another attorney, Anjana Samant, deputy counsel for impact litigation at the New Mexico Department of Justice, were unable to provide any specific examples of harm that would befall the states over the 72 hours of the President’s Day long weekend if Chutkan didn’t act immediately.

“I can’t give prophylactic TROs!” Chutkan eventually said.

Chutkan asked the states to send her a proposed order by 5 p.m. on Saturday to review – with no promises she intended to grant it.

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As a lifelong genuine independent, I can't wait to hear from any Republican about wanting competent governing. Or reasonably honest governing. Or governing by "decent people with Christian (hahahahaha) values.

You know, that victimized group that's such a target of negative bias and lack of influence in this culture.


The GOP is such a disgusting, sick, stupid, mess.

But yeah, make sure our kids are protected from the millions of transgender, gay-married, satanic, lefties who let billionaires like George Soros call the shots.

Gee, if only hateful ignorance and immense hypocrisy were terminal conditions.

The Sisko wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2025 5:04 pm

Spaceman Spiff wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2025 7:53 am

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ ... y-00203464

And then I began to detect a second pattern inside and outside D.C. alike. Democrats, on the whole, seemed much more inclined to believe what the economic indicators reported. Republicans, by contrast, seemed more inclined to believe what they were seeing with their own two eyes.

Say it ain't so, Politico! Thought you were out here for us, turns out you're not.

Unless you meant that tongue in cheek, I think the author makes a very valid point. I disagree with how s/he arrived at some conclusions, e.g., including the unemployed in average or median wages. I have to go be with Mrs. Sisko for V-Day but I’ll revisit this later.

It was semi-tongue in cheek.

The author did make valid points (others, not so much like their overall unemployment rate they came up with...though I do believe the government has shifted those goalposts to fudge numbers) but I agree on the overall premise.

It’s super depressing how one man without even a fundamental understanding of history can upend 70 years of world order in 2-3 days.

We think we are in the 2nd era of Trump but is it really the first era of Elon Musk?

So added Musk to thread title.

Should be time for Trump’s first speech to congress soon. The first speech isn’t called the State of the Union, since President has barely been in office.
Will Elon speak? It wouldn’t shock me if Elon actually speaks at this.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/rfk-jr-go ... -on-day-1/


What a historically idiotic, unqualified, incompetent nutter filled cabinet the orange pile of diseased tissue has bestowed upon us.

Buts let's reflect back on Biden's cognitive limitations! 🫨

SWIM wrote: Sat Feb 15, 2025 9:35 pm

It’s super depressing how one man without even a fundamental understanding of history can upend 70 years of world order in 2-3 days.

It's only taken 3 weeks for the US to become a pariah of the world. This won't end well.