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Actual Patriots (not the Jan 6 imitations waving flags and weapons) Can Save America. Patriots: Republicans and Democrats.

Writer's picture: Chuck RaddaChuck Radda

If I had a vote in the Senate (and I don't), if I had the chance to shape the future of this country (and again, I don't), and also, if instead of a vote, I had two peremptory challenges to remove two of Trump's appointees from our lives forever (and—you guessed it—I don't) I would make sure that Pete Hegseth and RFK Jr. never cloud our future again.


Of all the blunderers and incompetents Trump is gathering to help him run his kingdom, those two should keep us up at night, for they are vying for positions that can cost the most lives with the greatest immediacy. Sure, an Interior Secretary promoting more fossil fuel usage will exacerbate an already fouled atmosphere—it'll kill us eventually. And an Education Secretary bent on denying history will leave us dumber—ignorance will destroy us eventually. (cf., Trump has already won two presidential elections). But Hegseth and Kennedy, tasked with protecting our security and health, can supervise our ruination without unnecessary delays.


Hints and formal accusations of Hegseth's drunkenness and abuse do not arise in a vacuum, and the fact that so many Republicans are obdurately opposed to any further vetting confirms what every one of us knows: Hegseth is unqualified and unprepared. Further, it has been ingrained in us to accept alcoholism as a disease. Fine. Let's get this guy cured before we hand him the keys to our nation's defense if it is one.


Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appears to be neither abusive nor a victim of alcoholism. Unfortunately, those are his only two assets. He's a health care "expert" via the anecdote and grapevine, eschewing science in favor of the magical. He's "Web M.D." without the M.D., preying on our distrust of everything and the conspiracies that come with it to the point where we seem willing to endanger our lives and our children's. Like all professions, the medical profession has its weaknesses, but its accomplishments are indisputable and sometimes astonishing. Kennedy? Hubris and cynicism—we've seen it before—but now we confuse it with expertise. As I said earlier, keep us dumb enough; ignorance will destroy us.


Democrats can slow the confirmation process of both these men, but it will take some courageous Republicans not yet in the throes of MAGA idiocy to step up and save the country from itself. We'll soon know if they exist and if they can tide us over until this educated country in which we live has garnered enough wisdom to save itself.

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