Congressional Cowards is a weekly sequence highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—regardless of how disgraceful or lawless his actions.
Republicans are as soon as once more circling the wagons round Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth as he faces backlash for ordering the navy to kill survivors of a missile strike within the Caribbean Sea.
Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri had essentially the most full-throated protection of Hegseth, writing on X that “Democrats by no means needed [Hegseth]. He was and is a menace to everlasting Washington’s established order.”
Schmitt continued, “And for their next act? —They want him tried for war crimes. Yep—war crimes. They intend to prosecute another political opponent. They have lost it. Congressional Democrats are fueled by a radicalized Leftist base and are hellbent on power. The rules don’t matter to them. At all.”
GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma was desperate to defend Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma additionally piled on, saying that there absolutely was a cause for the 2 survivors of the boat strike to be summarily killed—even with out having seen any proof.
And, true to type, Home Speaker Mike Johnson performed dumb when requested if he thinks it was a battle crime.
In the meantime, Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas had essentially the most eyebrow-raising response to Hegseth’s position within the alleged battle crimes.
“I can’t recall any time in my history of doing counterterrorism operations where we strike a group, whether that’s a building or a boat or a vehicle, and then we were, like, ‘Oh, well, there’s survivors. We have to go. We can’t kill them.’ Of course we killed them,” Crenshaw mentioned.
The one Republicans who refused to defend Hegseth’s conduct are those who not have something to lose, corresponding to retiring Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

As at all times, Home Speaker Mike Johnson performed dumb when requested about Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth’s obvious battle crimes.
“If someone knowingly launched a second missile at that boat, which led to the deaths of the other two, then they have to be held accountable, and they shouldn’t be in whatever role they’re in,” he instructed CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
Except for defending Hegseth’s oversight of battle crimes, Republicans are additionally backing him after a long-awaited inspector common report discovered that he endangered the lives of U.S. troops together with his irresponsible leaked Sign battle plan group chats.
Hegseth “created a danger to operational safety that might have resulted in failed U.S. mission goals and potential hurt to U.S. pilots,” the report states.
“Based on this particular allegation, which is now several months old, I think the secretary is in a pretty good position on that,” Senate Armed Companies Committee Chair Roger Wicker instructed CNN’s Manu Raju.
After all, it comes as no shock that almost all Republicans are raging hypocrites who will defend the indefensible as a result of President Donald Trump desires them to.
When Hegseth’s irresponsible Sign chat fiasco first turned public, Republicans in Congress wasted no time defending him.
And so they appear to be doing the identical now.