"It Could Be Worse. It Could Be Raining"

Things are bad in Washington. They will get worse. Also, a wet and wild Musical Interlude

I’m Michael A. Cohen, and this is Truth and Consequences: A no-holds-barred look at the absurdities, hypocrisies, and surreality of American politics. If you were sent this email or are a free subscriber and would like to become a paid subscriber, you can sign up here.

If money is tight or you’re already up to eyeballs in subscriptions, here’s another idea — share this article. Email it to a friend (or even an enemy). Post it on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Text or email it to your wife, husband, mother, father, brother, sister, or even your creepy second cousin who lives in Storm Lake, Iowa. Word of mouth is often the best way to build support for a creative endeavor, so if everyone here sends it to just one person … it would be much appreciated.

One of my favorite movie scenes of all time is in “Young Frankenstein.” Dr. Frankenstein, played by Gene Wilder, and his assistant Igor, played by Marty Feldman, are digging up a corpse in the local cemetery. Frankenstein says, “What a filthy job,” Igor responds, “Could be worse. It could be raining.”

On cue, it immediately starts raining.

This clip is a helpful analogy for thinking about the next four years under President Donald Trump. Things could always be worse … and they likely will be.

For example, yesterday, I watched the confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, and let me tell you, it wasn’t good.

Quite simply, Hegseth is not remotely qualified to run the Pentagon.

There are obvious problems with his personal behavior — from credible accusations of sexual assault and incessant infidelity to excessive drinking and complete mismanagement of the non-profit agencies he previously ran. Hegseth also doesn’t have the background, experience, or management skills to run the nation’s largest bureaucracy. He tried to present himself as a new kind of Pentagon leader who has served in a combat role on the frontlines … never mind that the current Secretary of Defense is a combat veteran, as were two of the men who held the job under Trump (James Mattis and Mike Esper). Chuck Hagel, who served as SecDef in the Obama Administration, still has shrapnel in his body from Vietnam.

Hegseth struggled to explain his abrupt switch on women serving in combat (he’d long publicly opposed it until a few weeks ago), couldn’t name the countries that are members of ASEAN (the Associations of Southeast Asian Nations), his past support for soldiers who committed war crimes, and the many stories of his lewd and drunken behavior. Hegseth bobbed and weaved around tough Democratic questioning while Senate Republicans threw him softballs or bizarrely defended his behavior.

I am struck by the connection between Hegseth and John Tower, George H.W. Bush’s first nominee for Secretary of Defense.

The Senate voted down Tower’s nomination after allegations arose of womanizing and excessive drinking. It was the first time the Senate had rejected a new president’s Cabinet nominee. The charges against Tower were not on par with those against Hegseth (for example, Tower was not accused of sexual assault). Still, they were serious enough to doom his chances, even though he’d previously served as a senator, and the Senate usually gives deference to former colleagues.

However, the major difference between Hegseth and Tower is that the latter served as chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee and was widely regarded as an expert on defense policy.

Hegseth has 1/10000 of the experience and knowledge that Tower brought to the table. He is a MAGA defense expert, which means that he pontificates about the issue on Fox News and various conservative podcasts, and he is slavishly loyal to Donald Trump.