Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson explained on Friday how Democratic senators’ attacks on President Donald Trump’s nominees during confirmation hearings are backfiring politically because of conservatives’ current ability to push their messages more effectively online.
Many Democratic senators have taken adversarial approaches to Trump’s cabinet nominees, including screaming at them, interrupting them and hurling accusations against them. Hanson, on “Victor Davis Hanson Show,” said that Trump’s nominees have all excelled at their hearings as they have come under fire from Democrats.
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“The funny thing about all these nominees that some of the RINOs [Republicans in name only] in the party deprecated: Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, man when they go before those people— Sean Duffy — they have all of the answers,” Hanson said. “They’re really impressive people and they go head-to-head. It’s kind of they have a wink and a nod, and I think their logic, I’m just suggesting this, I don’t have any confirmation, but their attitude — they go in very confident.”
“So, their attitude is basically, ‘I have 53 senator votes and you have none to stop me. You can’t stop me. Now you think you’re going to get [Republican senators Lisa] Murkowski and [Susan] Collins and maybe Mitch [McConnel]? I can still get confirmed,’” he continued. “‘So, I’m not going to kiss up to you in any way possible. In fact, the only thing I worry about is not getting 50 senators. And the only way I would not get 50 senators is to sell out Donald Trump, and I’m not going to do that. I’m not stupid, and I don’t want to anyway.’ And that gives them a lot of confidence.”
McConnell, Murkowski and Collins all voted against Hegseth’s confirmation to be secretary of defense, but Vice President J.D. Vance broke the tie to confirm him on Jan. 24. His confirmation followed a hearing that included Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine accusing him of infidelity and Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand lecturing him for eight minutes about women serving in the military.
“And then you get these people frustrated, like [Democratic Massachusetts Sen.] Elizabeth Warren. She’s come off as completely unhinged. And then they don’t understand the media that the left — polling right now — 37% — and I guess it was the latest Emerson poll, 37% said they approve of the Democratic Party,” Hanson added. “Do they understand how they drive that down when somebody like Elizabeth Warren just cuts off [Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] RFK, won’t let him answer a question, screams and yells.”
Hanson referenced how Warren pressed Kennedy to “commit” to not accepting compensation for any lawsuits against drug companies during his potential tenure at HHS and for four years after, which prompted a heated exchange. He asserted that immediately after the clash, “the right-wing blogosphere” noted that Warren and Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders were the two senators who raised the most money in pharmaceutical contributions.
Senators on both sides of the aisle who critically questioned Kennedy at his Wednesday and Thursday hearings found their contributions from the healthcare industry and their personal investments in the pharmaceutical industry and companies that make highly processed food being highlighted on X, receiving millions of views.
The Democratic Party’s approval rating plunged to 31% among registered voters, according to Quinnipiac polling released Wednesday.
Sanders exploded at Kennedy during his Thursday confirmation hearing after the nominee accused him of corruption for accepting pharmaceutical industry donations. Hanson suggested Warren and Sanders are examples of “hypocrites that are defending big pharma against RFK,” saying “that doesn’t work” because of conservatives’ ability to push their agenda in part because of how billionaire Elon Musk has run social media platform X.
Hanson also said Democrats wrongly assumed attorney general nominee Pam Bondi was “just a blonde bimbo” and that they could “tear her apart.” He said that she instead “t[ore] them apart.” He similarly said they underestimated Hegseth.
“And then they see Pete Hegseth. And they go, ‘This guy is weird. He’s got the Jerusalem cross, you know, and he’s been married three times. And we’re just going to slice him up because I’m Senator Sanders and I’m Senator [Chuck] Schumer, I’m Senator Warren, I’m Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.’ And then he just destroys them,” Hanson said.
He also said Kennedy “destroyed” the Democratic senators while FBI Director nominee Kash Patel dealt with them “like carving a Christmas turkey.”
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