Democrats slammed the confirmation process, with some fuming that lawmakers were not given access to an FBI background check detailing the sordid allegations.

~Juliegrace Brufke/The Daily Beast

In the Coen brothers 2009 film “A Serious Man,” protagonist Larry Gopnik (portrayed by Michael Stuhlbarg), suffering from a growing series of misfortunes, seeks the guidance of his rabbi.  During the session, the rabbi tells Gopnik about another congregant, Sussman the dentist, who had sought his advice.  Sussman, while casting a mold of a non-Jewish (a goy) patient’s teeth, discovers Hebrew letters etched on the inside of his lower teeth, when translated, say, “Help me.”  Is it a sign from God?  The scene ends as follows:

GOPNIK: So what did you tell him?
RABBI:  Sussman?
GOPNIK:  Yes!
RABBI:  Is it…relevant?
GOPNIK:  Well–isn’t that why you’re telling me?
RABBI:  We can’t know everything.
GOPNIK (to himself): It sounds like you don’t know anything.

Exasperated and curious, Gopnik asks, “And what happened to the goy?”  To which the rabbi replies, “The goy?  Who cares?”

I came to the same conclusion as I watched excerpts of the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearings for Defense Secretary designee Pete Hegseth, confirmed in the opening quote.  “Is it…relevant?”  “So, he cheats on his wife, drinks to excess and when it comes to financial management is a complete failure.  Who cares?”  Ulysses S. Grant was a alcoholic.  John Kennedy was a philanderer.  Donald Trump filed for bankruptcy six times.  NOBODY CARES.  So why waste time on the irrelevant.

In a country of 350 million citizens, there are drunks, whoremongers and shysters who would make damn good Defense secretaries because they have the knowledge and experience to understand when and where lethal force is the appropriate response to an international crisis.  The secretary’s primary job is not to count beans or micromanage the HR department.  (The Heritage Foundation will find other loyalists, who do not face Senate confirmation, to do those jobs.)  He is there to advise the president about military options as a tool of foreign policy and whether there exists sufficient capacity to wield that hammer.  Why not ask Hegseth:

• When do think it is appropriate for the U.S. military to engage in a regional conflict?
• How many such conflicts do we have the capacity to take on at one time?
• What criteria will you use to determine the appropriate balance among land, air, naval and space assets in the next defense budget?

Unfortunately, this ship has already sailed.  One can only imagine the vague or inaccurate answers Hegseth might have provided.  Those responses would have had a better chance of embarrassing one more Republican enough to vote no on Friday.

There are other cabinet and agency heads proposed for the administration still to be evaluated.  And the slew of executive orders provide grist for those nomination hearings.  Perhaps the best opportunity to test this approach is the upcoming hearings before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for HHS designee Robert Kennedy, Jr.  Forget the brain worm, dead bear prank and other RFK memes.  Ranking member Bernie Sanders should engage the nominee in the following discussion.

Mr. Kennedy, could you describe for the committee the demographics of the Medicaid program?

If Kennedy says he cannot or gives inaccurate guesses, Sanders should educate him, especially as it relates to the number of retired Americans who depend on a combination of Medicare and Medicaid for their health care.

Mr. Kennedy, the congressional DOGE caucus has circulated a document that includes cuts to Medicare to fund President Trump’s tax cuts.  Are you prepared to strip millions of American’s of their health care to give additional tax breaks to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg?

Regardless of RFK’s answer, I have complete confidence Sanders can produce a sound bite that can be used by every Democratic candidate for Congress in 2026.  The Democratic mantra for the next two years should be:

When it actually has to govern, MAGA is its own worst enemy.  Do not get in its way.  Just be on the record as opposing bad policies and document their impact.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP