GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has given the tattered remains of the Republican Party a shot at some minor redemption: an opportunity to impeach ludicrously unqualified Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The question now is whether the electorally shellacked GOP lawmakers in Congress will hold a man whom many of them clearly dislike
accountable, or simply continue to do President Donald Trump’s bidding by protecting Hegseth.On Nov. 9, Massie filed eight detailed and muscular articles of impeachment against the clownish former Fox News host, a man Republicans irresponsibly put in charge of the U.S. military in the first place.
Impeachment articles against Hegseth are detailed and horrifying
One article cites the horrific U.S. bombing of a school at the start of Trump’s war with Iran, which killed at least 120
schoolchildren: “The elementary school was struck after Secretary Hegseth sought to repeal congressionally mandated civilian-protection requirements, dismantled the Department’s civilian-harm mitigation infrastructure, removed the senior-most Judge Advocates General responsible for independent legal oversight, stripped civilian protection from the National Defense Strategy, and publicly denigrated legal restraints on military force as obstacles to ‘maximum lethality.’ ”
“There's no fog of war on the first day,” Massie said in a news conference after filing the articles of impeachment. “You’ve had months to identify these targets and pick them, yet they picked a school building on a school day with school kids in it, and then struck it again, and then struck it again.”
Another article cites the Trump administration’s incessant bombing of boats in international waters, boats that officials claim – without evidence – are carrying narco-terrorists: “By subjecting persons merely suspected of criminal conduct to lethal military force without judicial process, without Congressional authorization, and without establishing a lawful basis for treating such persons or vessels as military targets, Secretary Hegseth arrogated to himself and the Executive Branch the roles of judge, jury, and executioner and asserted a unilateral power to determine who may live and who may die.”
It's not just Democrats who dislike Hegseth. Republicans can't stand him
Massie said in his news conference that he’s not asking Congress to impeach Hegseth because the Defense secretary has been ineffective: “He was very effective at killing schoolchildren in Iran; he was very effective at extrajudicial killings. There’s no argument in these impeachment articles that he’s ineffective. The argument here is that he's broken laws and he's violated the Constitution.”
CNN reported on the pending Hegseth impeachment plan Nov. 5 and noted that “multiple GOP sources said they expect it to pass” and believe the Defense secretary “oversold the US’ ability” to quickly win the Iran war.
GOP Rep. French Hill of Arkansas did nothing to shut down talk of a Hegseth impeachment, telling CBS News on Nov. 8: “I want to hear the debate on it to see if it merits impeachment versus some other disciplinary action or action by the president if he's not getting the job done.”
This is not a move being led by those rascally “radical Democrats” who won the midterm elections in a thunderous blue wave. This is a few Republicans recognizing the profound unpopularity of the stupid Iran war Trump and Hegseth led America into, and looking for some way to save face.
You can always bank on Hegseth saying some really stupid things soon
Massie pointed out that Hegseth getting knocked out by GOP-filed articles of impeachment during this lame-duck session would be better for the Defense secretary than waiting until Democrats take full control of Congress: “I hope for his sake it does work, because the Democrats are going to bring people in here who have served under him and with him, give them protection – they’ll be able to say what he's actually done, the things he has ignored, the things he did that caused civilian casualties.”
Massie, one of the Republicans on his way out of office, has teed things up nicely for his own party. Republicans can force out a wildly unpopular doofus and at least show voters the party heard what they had to say and responded.
Hegseth is scheduled to give a morning press conference Nov. 10. Knowing him, it will be a cavalcade of caricature-ish bravado and stupidity.
As Massie put it: “I hope he addresses the eight articles and doesn‘t get up and misquote the Bible in Quentin Tarantino fashion and do some pull-ups and, you know, call everybody fat and gay.”
The latter is far more likely to happen than the former.
Massie is giving the GOP a chance to do the right thing with Hegseth
Hegseth is an irresponsible clown, and the details in Massie’s articles of impeachment spell out in shocking detail how dangerous and deadly he has been as Defense secretary.
The public doesn’t like him, military members and veterans don't like him, Democrats certainly don’t like him, and I honestly don’t think many Republicans like him.
So Republicans have a chance to rid America of this fool and take credit for doing it. They should jump at that chance.
Given their history of deference to Trump and his MAGA cult, I doubt they will. But the morally correct decision is right there for the taking.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Impeach Pete Hegseth, Republicans. You know you want to | Opinion
