A Very Bad Idea
Hegseth Horsetrading His Sobriety?
Current – but maybe not for long – Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth has reportedly told a senator that he will stop drinking if confirmed for the post.
That was a very stupid thing to do, for a whole host of reasons ranging from the political to the practical.
Starting with the practical – trying to lead and reform the largest government agency in the world while going through rehab will simply not work.
Rehab involves time and therapy and drugs and time and introspection and time, time Hegseth should be devoting to changing the culture at the DoD. He simply cannot be that distracted with personal matters right from the beginning.
Another practical aspect is the matter of respect, or lack thereof, which would undercut the acceptance of his leadership immediately.
People always say – publicly – that it’s great to go to rehab, to stop drinking, that it can show self-knowledge and the ability to change.
Privately, people do not think the same thing, seeing the process as an admission of weakness and personal failure. “It’s great he’s finally stopping, but he shouldn’t have got himself in that situation in the first place,” is a very typical thought.
Then there is always the possibility of relapse. True, the further away from rehab that issue tends to diminish (well, maybe after the second stint, really,) but there is always that lingering worry that the person will go off the rails, lessening the confidence in the people Hegseth is meant to be leading.
And not just leading – if Hegseth were just going to a place holder, yet another DC defense bureaucrat, being a bit of a booze hound would not be such a big deal. It’s not as if he would need those brain cells and improved focus if he was only meant to sit like a lump behind a desk and let the department continue on its merry way.
But in his case, Hegseth is supposed to utterly transform the massive and completely ossified and grifty defense establishment. For that, one should be as pure as Caesar’s wife, as those impacted will use his personal problems to combat the political potential.
In other words, no matter what happens now, Hegseth is kneecapped in large part because of his own vow.
Politically, it is also a desperate ploy that shows the nomination is most likely dead. The entire process, thus far, seems rather akin to Dr. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross five stages of grief. Denial and anger have already been covered and now Hegseth is on to bargaining, which one can assume will soon lead to depression and, hopefully, eventually, acceptance.
It is possible he could have blustered his way through the Senate, and claimed a “high tech lynching” situation as maybe some or most or nearly nearly all of the sexual misconduct allegations are false.
But by opening up the drunk door, Hegseth has made the “maybe he was so hammered he forgot” or “maybe he was so blitzed he really did go too far” statements at least legitimate possibilities. This is not Blasey Ford going after Justice Kavanaugh – this is recent activity that Hegseth has now given his opponents a way to make serious allegations far more credible.
It’s like getting pulled over by a cop and he asks you how many drinks you had and you “oh, only a couple.” By admitting to having at least some amount of alcohol in your system, you have given the cop the green light and welcome to trying to stand on one foot for 30 seconds.
Additionally, Hegseth saying he’ll get sober if and when confirmed is disastrous – it’s almost like he’s trying to negotiate away his possible drinking issue.
That’s not how it works and he definitely has at least 28 days (for in-patient care though out-patient may be a possibility, though the premise does not change) before his hearings to go off to rehab. That at least would show that he is serious and, possibly, provide him some sympathy cover. By merely saying he will get sober if he is confirmed he actually creates the opposite impression on people.
And what if Hegseth doesn’t get confirmed and/or drops out prior? Does that mean he will not get sober? Will he only get sober if he gets something in return, as implied?
That is addict slippery.
As for his possible replacement, even though Ron DeSantis ran the worst presidential campaign in 2024 – wait, check that, second worst, almost forgot Kamala – his governorship of Florida has shown he absolutely has the skills to take on the job. The state is bureaucratically efficient and logistically very sound – Tampa Bay was not Asheville, NC this year.
Hegseth was damaged – rightly or wrongly – before his vow. Now, he’s just damaged.
(Note – this may be apocryphal, but the idea of a 28 day stay was created by a now-defunct but one very posh rehab facility in Newport, RI. They realized that by shifting to 28 days instead of an entire month they could get a 13th billing cycle into every year. Neat.)