Pete Hegseth’s nomination to serve as Defense Secretary appears on track for a narrow passage in the Senate, with all Democrats in opposition – and two Republicans joining them.
Those two Republicans? Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski: the GOP’s pair of centrists who’ve been a thorn in Donald Trump’s side for a decade.
Voting against Hegesth in a procedural motion on Thursday, the two released statements declaring their disapproval of the Fox News host and his long history of comments about women serving in combat. Collins, in her statement, insinuated that she didn’t believe Hegseth’s views had changed, despite his assurances.
“Although he has recently revised his statements on women in combat since being nominated, I remain concerned about the message that confirming Mr. Hegseth sends to women currently serving and those aspiring to join. Women have served our nation with distinction, overcoming immense obstacles to excel in combat and leadership roles, and they deserve to know that their leader honors and values their commitment to our nation,” added Murkowski in a lengthy statement on the vote.
Collins said in her own statement: “I am ... concerned about multiple statements, including some in the months just before he was nominated, that Mr. Hegseth has made about women serving in the military. He and I had a candid conversation in December about his past statements and apparently evolving views.”
“I am not convinced that his position on women serving in combat roles has changed,” she added.
The pair of senators released their statements on the same day as the cloture vote, indicating to many that they had failed (or not tried) to rally other Republican senators against Hegseth’s confirmation.
With Mitt Romney and John McCain gone, and the Senate now split 53-47 for the Republicans, the two will play a diminished role in the chamber. But the role will exist nonetheless, and they still have an opportunity to form the bedrock of resistance on policies they want to see moderated. That could include any assault on abortion access undertaken by the Trump administration, including through the federal budget.
The two are insulated from any political kickback from MAGA-world, something few Republicans even in the relatively incumbent-friendly Senate can say. That was evident enough in 2017, when they joined John McCain in halting the GOP’s plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, dealing a massive blow to Trump’s first-term agenda that would go unmatched for four years, when Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema played the same spoiler role for Joe Biden’s presidency.
Unlike Collins and Murkowski, their efforts were not appreciated by voters in their respective states; Sinema bowed out of the running after a poll showed her in third place for her own seat, while Manchin decided not to run again.
They are the Mod Squad: the first choice for reporters seeking to hear a Republican condemn something Donald Trump has tweeted, truth’ed, or said to the cameras.
With political analysts increasingly leaning towards the idea that Democrats will retake at least one chamber of Congress in the 2026 midterms, it comes down to this: how effective can Collins and Murkowski be over the next two years in curbing Trump’s agenda? And how many fights will they really pick, knowing how little capital they have this time?
As Trump prepares for his first big endeavor — wrestling with the GOP Congress over the budget — it will be interesting to see whether the Mods decide to get involved, or let the president fight his battle with the conservative wing of his party while watching from the sidelines.
