January 23, 2025

Headline for an unread column.

"What It Means That No Republican Is Acting on the Pete Hegseth Allegations."

The piece is by Bret Stephens, and I did not read it. I think the answer is obvious, I'm pretty sure Stephens will not give the obvious answer, and I am not bound by protocol to sit through this sermon.

83 comments:

Spiros said...

Oh my God! So many false accusations. I just stumbled on the Blake Lively - Justin Baldoni scandal. Baldoni, a big nosed actor and director, was, obviously, accused of being a pervert. Ms. Lively is a very nice looking woman, good looking enough to be believable. So Baldoni takes all sorts of abuse from the peanut gallery, including the New York Times (!). Then Baldoni releases a couple of videos that utterly destroy Blake Lively's credibility. The truth is that Ms. Lively was REAL friendly with this man. I'll be surprised if they didn't sleep with each other.

Anyways, I think a similar thing is happening with Hegseth. The accusations are not credible.

n.n said...

#MeToo ended with a whimper when it became self-incriminating. And witch hunts are anachronistic holdovers from a bygone era. Throw another baby on the barbie, it's done.

Gerda Sprinchorn said...

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

Gerda Sprinchorn said...

On the upside, every Bret Stephens column and every Elon-heart-salute tizzy wastes the opposition's energy on trivialities that diminish their seriousness and credibility.

The Vault Dweller said...

There will be people upset at this, but they aren't upset because they believe an inappropriate person is getting the position, they are upset that the old tried and true tactics don't work anymore.

Leland said...

Maybe if Democrats had another play in their playbook other than "accuse him of sexual harassment decades ago", followed up by, "these mere allegations demand an investigation".

Cappy said...

"Wait, I have more flimsy evidence!"

RCOCEAN II said...

It is tiresome. Since its Trump's nominees and not Biden's, we've left "The POTUS gets to pick his own cabinet" behind, and now we're back to "He's unethical" "So and So says she abused her back in the day" "Oh my God, he's so unqualified".

And of course, we get Collins and the other RINOs Grandstanding and playing Hamlet. Y'know the same people who rubberstamped everyone Biden put forward. Boring!

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I agree. Why waste time on Stephens.

Eva Marie said...

“The piece is by Bret Stephens, and I did not read it.”
Apparently, no one else did either. There are 0 comments accompanying the column.

narciso said...

Oh noes...anyways

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Bret should turn his analytical skills to exploring why Democrats are hell-bent on dragging every confirmation out endlessly. And contrast that with the rapidity with which Republicans eagerly confirm D nominees. THAT'S tiresome.

Iman said...



Donald Trump Jr.
@DonaldJTrumpJr

“After it was revealed that the reporter behind the Hegseth hit pieces is the subject of a complaint accusing her of making phony accusations of sexism & misogyny she did what all leftists do — she went into hiding and denial.”

narciso said...

Let me tell you about courtney cube and her complicated relations with a dia drone

Gunner said...

What happens if he gets confirmed and does an good job? What is a good job for a Secretary of Defense? And I don't mean him having the "right" opinions. I mean job performance. How do we measure if it is good? Do any of his haters take back their insults in that case?

Amadeus 48 said...

Maybe they can find a picture of Hegseth with his arm outstretched. That is enough for AOC, Hillary, Obozo, Sen. Murph the Surf (D-Fantasyland), etc. to condemn Elon. Where does Stephens stand on that? Nah. Boring.

narciso said...

So much tedious drek after the kabul cspitulations they should remain silent

Gusty Winds said...

The wife came out and said there was NO abuse. Question is, how do Democrats get these women to make these last minute false allegations? What is the incentive? Perhaps they are paid, or it's just allure of fifteen minutes of fame.

Leland said...

I forgot about the Nazi play from the playbook. Probably because that play seems to fall flat when you remember the people calling others Nazis are the same people supporting Hamas and threatening Jews on college campuses.

Peachy said...

We want our country back - Corrupt Lying Soviet Democrat leftist lying a-holes.

Peachy said...

Donald Trump Jr.
@DonaldJTrumpJr
"After it was revealed that the reporter behind the Hegseth hit pieces is the subject of a complaint accusing her of making phony accusations of sexism & misogyny she did what all leftists do — she went into hiding and denial."

NBC News is a total and complete hack-filled Demcorat-Soviet propaganda machine. NBC has zero credibility - and all employees who work at NBC should be treated with nothing but scorn. NBC is a national embarrassment.

tim maguire said...

I looked for the comments, but there weren't any (there is a comment tab on the piece, so I don't know what's up with that). The "obvious" answer is exactly what you'd expect--party loyalty.

Lawnerd said...

His tattoo was close enough to a swastica that he was literally asked why he had a racist tattoo.

Captain BillieBob said...

The plan is to keep running the same playbook until it fails.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

What it really means is that the worst possible thing has happened; the GOP isn't afraid of the Democrats anymore.

Third Coast said...

I can't find the Stephens column about Doug Emhoff slapping around his date.

Kevin said...

Christine Blasey Ford is on her way back to the Capitol.

Krumhorn said...

He actually made a cogent point by identifying the “boomerang effect of liberal scorn”. Leftie phony last minute turd-throwing like they did to Justice Kavanaugh will no longer have the same effect as when they torpedoed John Tower. It almost ensures that Hegseth will be confirmed.

- Krumhorn

Ann Althouse said...

"I can't find the Stephens column about Doug Emhoff slapping around his date."

Good question. I found this from him: "I put the Trump marriage in the same category as Snake Island and the basement of the Lubyanka prison: places best not to visit. But it’s true that political advisers often don’t mind when a spouse softens a candidate’s image, like Barbara Bush cradling an infant with AIDS. Unfortunately for Harris, the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, hasn’t exactly been fulfilling that role lately, what with the tabloid fodder of his past relationships."

That's from "How Could the Election Be This Close?"

That links to a CNN piece: "Emhoff spokesperson denies to Semafor assault of ex-girlfriend alleged in tabloid report."

So maybe the unread column says Republicans are not looking at what is "tabloid fodder."

tastid212 said...

Stephens' column reads like it was written by a college freshman for a PoliSci 101 essay. The Republicans are standing together! Outrage, resignation and naiveté all on display. What a putz.

As though Schumer and Pelosi haven't been enforcing party loyalty more effectively than ever the past 16 years. Stephens wasn't always this dumb but he went over the guardrails several years ago.

MadisonMan said...

An unread Bret column, and unviewed movie by an unknown director. It's all related.

Breezy said...

The more the left does this, even now, the longer they’ll be in the wilderness.

The Vault Dweller said...

Seeing Justice Thomas loudly clapping and cheering at the Kavanaugh swearing in ceremony made me really happy.

RideSpaceMountain said...

For the people that dislike him because reasons, he will never do a good job, doubly so if he actually does a good job and properly plans for a future which doesn't include promoting transvestites because reasons instead of winning the nation's wars. His haters will never take back their insults, ever like him, and will only ever measure his job performance on how many people of color and lesbians have jobs at the Pentagon.

The people who won't vote for him shouldn't be paid any attention, and should in fact be shipped overseas to die in a trench in some foreign conflict they voted to start in the first place.

mindnumbrobot said...

We've read the same type of articles for years from weak, ineffectual, pansy ass Republicans looking for a belly rub from the Democrat/media establishment. They're irrelevant in Trump's Republican Party. But don't worry Bret, you'll still get invited to all the "cool" parties.

gilbar said...

"What It Means".. is the Bret is a lying mouthpiece for his DNC masters

gilbar said...

Hegseth turned me into a newt!
(i got better)

mikeski said...

On CNN, Scott Jennings asked some NYT cat lady if she was a Salute Truther.

Vicious and unrelenting mockery is the way.

gilbar said...

and if you don't like those, i can fabricate more!!

narciso said...

https://x.com/susancrabtree/status/1882160177325158521

mikeski said...

There's always a shrew in the woodpile.

Deep State Reformer said...

I think the scales have finally fallen from people's eyes. Some people anyway.

mikeski said...

She's not flying, is she? I was told she's 'fraid of it.

gspencer said...

"Live Action News now takes you to the West Coast for the in-progress interview with Christine Blasey Ford . . ."

Big Mike said...

@Gunner, if Hegseth simply shows up to work each day he’ll be better than Lloyd Austin.

Readering said...

A young George Bush was an alcoholic, but after one confrontation (probably not the first) with his father he quit. I am surprised Hegseth never quit. And that Trump hasn't made him quit. Maybe he has. But there is rarely such a thing as drinking in moderation for a reformed drunk.

Hassayamper said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Big Mike said...

IMHO Althouse has come pretty far from when she fell for Christine Blasey Ford‘s crock of shit.

Hassayamper said...

Question is, how do Democrats get these women to make these last minute false allegations? What is the incentive? Perhaps they are paid, or it's just allure of fifteen minutes of fame.

Some women make false accusations of sexual misconduct to attack politicians who threaten abortion on demand.

Some women transition their toddlers to the opposite gender after they play with a toy that doesn't match their own sex.

Some women wave "Refugees Welcome" and "Better a Rapist than a Racist" signs at the airport.

The motivation is the same in all cases. Seal-clapping approval from other liberal women on Instagram and TikTok.

Yancey Ward said...

How hard has it been for you to stop abusing puppies, Readering? Did you stop interacting with puppies altogether or did you just better control your behavior when around them?

PM said...

Just another flightless bird flapping its wings hoping to take off.

Readering said...

That's a head scratcher.

mccullough said...

The headline sounds like Pete Hegseth is making allegations.

Yancey Ward said...

Not one bit surprised, Readering, that you can't puzzle out the point even though it is a 2x4 to the face.

dbp said...

There are still people who pine for the days when they could destroy anyone with baseless accusations. Those days are over. Those people were evil and are still evil, but at least now, they're also irrelevant.

wendybar said...

You mean the tattoo that was on Jimmy Carters funeral program?? That racist symbol??

Readering said...

Feeling my nose and I think you missed.

Mary Beth said...

There are 462 comments now, including one that accuses Stephens and other journalists of "normalizing" Trump. Considering all the (false) things journalists have accused him of, it makes me wonder what normal is for NYT readers.

John Borell said...

It means, for now, the GOP is done with this unsubstantiated shit.

wildswan said...

On the topic
I'm not bound by protocol to sit through your sermon:

I'm not bound to look into every allegation of sexual misconduct or racial prejudice brought forward by the national sermonizers aka Approved Narrators.

And I don't. I've decided that most of these stories are simple smears. They are so poorly sourced and researched that I'm not going to bother checking them out, I'm just going to ignore them. They might as well be another Meghan/Harry story in a magazine by the grocery checkout line. And there is no grocery checkout line these days, anyhow, if you do self-checkout. Yes, I'm over there in the other line asking myself what Andrew Marvell really thought about King Charles I. Or just trying to remember Marvell's lines:
?
Ye county comets that portend .../ Shining unto no higher end/ Than to presage the grass's fall/ Your courteous lights / Ye waste

Jupiter said...

"The piece is by Bret Stephens, and I did not read it."
"I am sitting in the smallest room in my house. Your article is before me. It will soon be behind me."

Readering said...

I suppose it will take another Paul Weyrich testifying under oath to what he witnessed to derail this John Tower like figure.

Jaq said...

^^^ This

Ann Althouse said...

"An unread Bret column, and unviewed movie by an unknown director. It's all related."

Wait 'til you see "Headline for another unread column" (at 11:21).

I'm becoming the Bartleby of Blogging.

Ann Althouse said...

"^^^ This"

I really wish people wouldn't use the "reply" function. I don't see it displayed under the comment it refers to. I'm just seeing the old-time chronological display. I wish I could turn it off, but perhaps at least some of you will remember my preference that you not use it.

jae said...

The comments over there are precious. A collection of leftist dysfunction and despair.

Bruce Hayden said...

No more needs to be said. The Dems tried to Kavenaugh him, and it collapsed.

Jaq said...

The bar is so low now after Biden that not going AWOL during a time of international crisis would actually be something now. I have heard the opinion that being afraid to let people know that you are out of the office is common in environments where factional power struggles are going on, and that makes sense. We know that Biden was non compos mentis by this time, and so the fear was that when he was away, his powers would be usurped by another faction.

Jaq said...

How did Nazi Germany get family members to report on each other?

Jaq said...

"No brain, no pain."

Bruce Hayden said...

Sorry. I love it the Reply feature. I just wish that it would nest to more levels. It saves me a lot of work, not having to copy and past enough to make it clear what comment I am responding to, sometimes 50 or 100 comments earlier.

Was this something that you (Ann) inadvertently turned on? Or was it a feature that Blogger suck in, in a midnight update of the platform?

Marcus Bressler said...

When I want to reply to a particular post/commentor, I try to write, "Xxxxx said," and then use a quotation of his/hers. Then I comment.

William said...

I read the column. I don't think Stephens is consistently wrong about everything. I have a vague memory of him having been right about something, but not this column.....I thought he might find it in his heart to say one or two positive things about Hegesth. Hegseth had a bad war. For the decompression process, I would think he's entitled to a few drinks and a few flings. If it's good enough for JFK, it should be good enough for Pete Hegseth. Anyway, what most of these pundits find it hard to accept is not Hegseth's flaws but the fact that he chose Jesus Christ as the higher power to lift his life from the morass. In this he differs from JFK and more resembles the younger Bush, and such a deliverance is unforgivable.

Bruce Hayden said...

Ann. I reread your post, and I think that can see your issue. You see comments like we see them before we activate commenting - sequentially, by when posted. As a commenter, I usually quickly switch to commenting (and threading) mode, if I find the topic interesting enough to comment on. I used to wait until I found something that I wanted to respond to. Now, I do it up front, for the threading.

Bruce Hayden said...

Marcus - that’s the sort of thing that I used to do here, and will no doubt revert to it, if Ann can turn off the Reply feature. But Blogger is one of the few blog packages that doesn’t provide for threading (which is now available to a single level there now). I find it a pain, compared to other blogging platforms. Of course, the wheels can go off in the opposite direction, with comment threads of dozens of comments unwinding and you not knowing what was being responded to way up there when it took off. At least with just a single level of threading, this isn’t a problem with Blogger.

Readering said...

Hmm. Maybe that's why I don't strike out.

Kakistocracy said...

“I know history will judge me harshly for becoming a Trumper now but f**k it Pamela is asking for more alimony now that she got fired and I’ve got two kids at private schools.” ~ Bret Stephens

The Never Trumper gig doesn’t pay like it used to. 😂

rehajm said...

The problem is he's is a bipartisan threat to Washington. The longer this drags the later we move on to the next invented stall. The more there's bipartisan stalling the greater the likelihood Washington 'keeps moving'.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JRoberts said...

If the Democrats are this troubled about Hegseth's marriage issues, I can't wait to see the fainting spells they'll have when they start reviewing RFK Jr's marriages.

JIM said...

That Stalin era guy said it best - show me the man and I'll find the crime. Once you've tasted tyranny there's no going back to the rule of law. Yet the left keeps assuming it was only about the price of eggs. Silly children.

Readering said...

Turns out headline was wrong. 2 GOP Senators have come out against Hengseth so far. Women, as was the sole GOP no on Tower under Bush 1. Stay tuned.

Yancey Ward said...

Exactly.