The Daily Populous Wednesday January 15th, 2025 day edition
Authored by pbs.org and submitted by plz-let-me-in

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., told Trump defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth during his Tuesday confirmation hearing that she did not believe he was qualified to do the job.

Watch the video in the player above.

“This hearing now seems to be a hearing about whether or not women are qualified to serve in combat. And not about whether or not you are qualified to be secretary of defense. And let me just say that the American people need a secretary of defense who’s ready to lead on day one. You are not that person,” she said.

Duckworth asked Hegseth about whether he’d led an audit or international security negotiations. She suggested he was asking the committee to lower their standards for defense secretary because he was “buddies” with President-elect Donald Trump.

Responding to Hegseth’s past comments questioning women in the military and in combat roles, she said “there is no U.S. military as we know it” without them.

While women have earned their place in their units, “You have not earned your place as secretary of defense,” Duckworth added.

“You say you care about keeping the armed forces strong … then let’s not lower the standards for you,” she said.

illit3 on January 14th, 2025 at 23:19 UTC »

These fucks will argue that DEI is preventing the most qualified candidates from getting jobs and then unironically support this fucking clown like there aren't 10,000 better candidates available.

pleachchapel on January 14th, 2025 at 23:15 UTC »

They confirmed a justice to the Supreme Court after he started crying about drinking beer. None of this will matter, but the humiliation is nice.

Blablablaballs on January 14th, 2025 at 22:26 UTC »

And she'd be correct, if the qualifications weren't saying nice things about Trump and an overt willingness to follow unconstitutional orders.