Josh Hawley blocks Russia pro from joining Pentagon, drawing fiery rebuke

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

WASHINGTON ― A key Russia expert and two other defense experts are being blocked from joining the Pentagon by GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, as the Biden administration struggles to solve the deepening Russia-Ukraine crisis and deploys thousands of U.S. troops to bolster European allies.

Hawley’s move on Thursday drags out the confirmation process for the National Security Council’s former Russia director and former U.S. Russia Foundation CEO Celeste Wallander, who is President Joe Biden’s nominee for assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. Hawley’s objection to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s request to confirm Wallander sparked Senate floor drama, as Shaheen hammered Hawley’s tactics for “making us less secure.”

The delay for Wallander leaves a key Pentagon role unfilled amid heightened alarm about the prospect of Russia, which has amassed 100,000 troops near Ukraine, launching an invasion. A tripwire force of roughly 3,000 American troops is deploying to NATO countries to reassure allies, with another 8,500 on high alert to deploy if NATO’s 40,000-person response force is activated.

There’s been bipartisan criticism over Hawley blocking swaths of Biden’s foreign policy picks in recent months. After saying for weeks his blockade is aimed at pressing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other top officials to resign over the administration’s chaotic Afghanistan exit last year, Hawley said Thursday he would relent if there are further public hearings on the withdrawal.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-senator-blocks-russia-pro-182545681.html

Doesn't want to upset his hero Putin.

[Turbineguy]

1. Hawley works for Putin.

[leftieNanner]

4. Hawley works for himself too.

He actually thinks he will be POTUS one day.

[Irish_Dem]

11. Why he needs Putin's support.

To help him steal the WH.

[SCantiGOP]

16. I'm afraid he has some twisted,

dystopian scenario in mind where he does team up with Putin to take over the government.
I consider him one of the top threats to our free society.

[Irish_Dem]

23. This describes most of the GOP leadership. Twisted and dystopian.

Yes they are serious threats to our democracy.

[mountain grammy]

29. Exactly!

[ancianita]

21. Sedition caucus Hawley says the opposite, that "Biden has rolled out the red carpet for Putin."

Maybe he's projecting for Putin; maybe he's attacking Biden for Putin making the first moves. He has no credibility over foreign affairs or the military, anyway. He rides on his degrees because he knows his Missouri constituents think he's so smart coming from Stanford and Yale. He doesn't even live in Missouri, just uses his sister's address near the border.

[Irish_Dem]

30. Projection of his own behavior. Also confuses people about who the bad guy is.

Sociopaths do this.
Criminals do this.

[leftieNanner]

2. I would like to see the Senate change some rules

Hawley, Cruz et al have such fun blocking nominees. Our Defense Department, Diplomatic Corps, and the USPS Board of Governors all have nominees sitting and waiting.

It should take more than one Asshole Senator to stop these nominations.

[Gore1FL]

6. One rule they could impose is state residency.

I want proof that Hawley and his nuclear family all live at his sister's house in Missouri for a reasonable portion of the year to call it a residence.

We don't have to get to the 14th amendment. He's done by Article 1.

[dchill]

9. Right. It should take 51.

[Lonestarblue]

28. It's ridiculous that the Senate even has a say in these assistant positions.

The number of positions that must be confirmed by the Senate has grown enormously over the years. That number should be whittled down to department heads and major government roles. Does changing the number of appointees to be approved have to be done with a vote of 60? If a simple majority, Democrats need to do this. The rules did not stop Trump, who simply got around the issue by naming people he wanted for acting roles. If Idiots like Cruz and Hawley want to keep playing games, Biden should do the same.

[HUAJIAO]

3. I hate to imagine what his childhood was like...

[paleotn]

5. The traitors need to pay. Lets start with Hawley.

[dem4decades]

8. Start with any of them but for for Christ's sake, start.

[Fullduplexxx]

7. Make them acting

[keithbvadu2]

10. "Russia is our friend" - new republican meme of Trump's regime.

"Russia is our friend" - new republican meme of Trump's regime.

Used to be: “Better dead than red”

"... retired Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis said in May 2015 that among world threats “in the near term, I think the most dangerous might be Russia.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/6/donald-trump-james-mattis-differ-on-vladimir-putin/

[hippywife]

12. And these goobers are old enough to know better. smgdh

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/404017-trump-supporters-whose-pro-russia-shirts-went-viral-were-not

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

18. Two of Trump's "best and brightest".

[hippywife]

19. Definitely representative of the herd. nt

[Caliman73]

31. The history and context of those positions.

"Better dead than Red" was obviously an indication of the opposition to Communism, which was objectively an opposing economic view to Capitalism. It wasn't just Republicans that said that. The Kennedy's, arguable a Liberal dynasty were also staunch anti-Communists, Truman took us to Korea to defend South Korea from the Red North Koreans and Chinese. Eisenhower, Kennedy, and LBJ set us up in Vietnam to oppose the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong there.

Most people were of that mindset.

"Russia is our friend" is different. They are no longer Communist. The Communist Party has relatively little power in the government anymore. Russia is an arch conservative state that actually has displayed a tendency toward an ethnic White state. That is what the Republicans/Conservatives like about Putin. Putin did away with Democracy and established a rule by the "elites" in Russia. That is what Conservatives want for the United States. They had a tepid interest in pluralism from the beginning of the American experiment, and now that "White" people are having to consider a more diverse worldview, the Conservatives hate it and would rather do away with democracy and pluralism, favoring what Putin has set up in Russia.

[keithbvadu2]

32. Yep! Fer sher, fer sher. Right wingers still toss around 'communist' anyway.

[Volaris]

36. That's partly because putin showed them how to organize a Mob State.

Bannon doesnt want the administrative state destroyed because he thinks Less is somehow More.

He wants it destroyed because that makes it easier for him to rob, and that's the end of it.

As far as it goes, the mob thought getting Kennedy elected would be good for business (you can feel free to tell me that's CT Bullshit lol)

But putin actually DID THAT SHIT.

[bahboo]

13. traitor not even trying to hide it....

was he one of the assholes who went to Russia on the 4th of July?

[Rebl2]

14. Sounds

like he is working for putin and maybe is taking directions directly from him. What an ass.

[Ford_Prefect]

15. It seems to me if he's working for Putin (yes he is!) there is bound to be a money trail

which I guess would be the province of either the FBI or Homeland Security. Why can't we pry a few agents free to look into it.

[DickKessler]

17. How many WestExec employees do we need?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Is that some kind of talking point? Got something against Anthony Blinken and Jan Psaki?

Last edited Fri Feb 11, 2022, 12:45 PM - Edit history (1)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. Hawley: I'll fuck the USA if it means I can fuck up a Democrat(ic) President. . . . nt

[CaptainTruth]

24. Hawley is on my Traitors list on Twitter. It's public, follow along if you like.

CaptainTruth @TruthTeamOne

[geardaddy]

25. F*ck that traitor

[DFW]

26. If Hawley is NOT on Putin's payroll

Putin should be sending him big Christmas and birthday cards thanking Hawley for the freebies.

[calimary]

27. So, get around it, Mr. President!

Appoint them to some new position you can invent, that would be relevant here, so they could be included in all the important meetings. It could be a Presidential appointment that doesn’t need the blessing of the Senate OR House.

Should be easy to get around anything that dumb cluck can think up for the purpose of blocking you.

Get creative, Mr. President! Deviously creative!

[mahina]

33. Oh, he is likely getting paid.

[Marcuse]

34. Give them visitor passes and put them to work.

[GoCubsGo]

35. This is just more proof that Hawley is a Russian asset. nt

[JohnnyRingo]

37. Hawley wants to run in 2024.

and he wants the administration (and the country) in shambles by then so he can ask the question "Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?".

However did we get this way indeed.