The Borking of Pete Hegseth
It all began with Robert Bork.
Nominated for the United States Supreme Court by President Reagan in 1987, Bork was superbly qualified for the job. In his career, he had been a professor at Yale Law School, solicitor general of the United States, acting attorney general, and then served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He was enormously respected by his legal peers.
And then.
Bork would later write this of what happened after his nomination was announced:
During all of this time there was the incessant barrage of negative advertising, media coverage, a daily flood of mail, and constant telephone calls. The media varied, of course, but the reporting in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the three network news programs was almost unrelievedly hostile, as, of course, were the advertisements. The campaign was having its effect.
Indeed the “Get Bork” campaign did in fact have a major effect. What was not foreseen on the day was that the campaign against Bork would, in fact, set the pattern for campaigns against not only future Republican nominees for the Court but for Cabinet positions as well.
Court nominees Clarence Thomas and, later, Brett Kavanaugh were targeted for what had become known as “Borking” — virulent media campaigns designed to smear and defeat the nominee of the moment.
This time the target in this latest “Borking” campaign is President-elect Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth.
Any rational person would be impressed with Hegseth’s background. He received his bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton University, then went on to earn his Master of Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He signed up for the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps while at Princeton, and while working as an equity analyst at Bear Stearns was a commissioned officer in the Minnesota National Guard.
He was part of a unit sent to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. Later he volunteered for service in Iraq, was an infantry platoon leader, and earned the Army Commendation medal. He later was awarded the Bronze Star, the Combat Infantry Badge, and another Army Commendation Medal. He became a captain, volunteered for duty in Afghanistan, and was made a Major. He has gone on to be a Fox News television host, has written books on the military, and served as executive director for the Concerned Veterans for America. (READ MORE: Three Cheers for Pete Hegseth)
In short, as with Judge Bork’s work in the law, Pete Hegseth has decidedly shown himself to be a seriously accomplished military man, with a considerable knowledge of the military in which he has served with distinction.
And as with Judge Bork, Hegseth is now under a massive political and media assault that is designed first to smear him and then defeat his nomination with allegations of alcohol and sexual abuse and more.
Beyond that, you can believe that a Borking campaign is waiting in the wings to deny Trump nominee Kash Patel the job of FBI director. There are also some stirrings to Bork Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The real question now is whether Senate Republicans will let the Borking of Pete Hegseth result in his defeat. And whether they will stand up for Patel and RFK Jr. as well.
A look back at American political history since the Borking of Bork clearly illustrates that Borking has become a staple of the American Left. The targets may vary — a Supreme Court nominee here, a Cabinet nominee there. In 1988 it was Indiana Republican senator and GOP vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle.
But what does not vary is that this is how the Left targets those they consider to be threats to what they see as a Leftist hegemony over whatever institution the nominee has been proposed for.
Hegseth’s latest book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, is a prime example of exactly why he is being targeted.
Hegseth writes of a military brass that “are following the rest of our country off the cliff of cultural chaos and weakness.” He is personally determined to put a halt to that journey “off the cliff of cultural chaos and weakness.”
And make no mistake, it is precisely because of that belief that he has been targeted for the latest Borking, with all manner of allegations of what the New York Times calls “a growing series of disclosures about his past, including allegations of sexual impropriety, alcohol abuse, and financial mismanagement.”
The fact here is that the critics have no credibility precisely because they have kept going the Borking route repeatedly over the years. Robert Bork first, later Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, then Bush 41 Vice President Dan Quayle, and so on — and on and on.
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