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The Daily / Pete Hegseth Was Toast. The MAGA Swarm Came to His Rescue.

Summary

Warning: this episode contains strong language. Over the past few weeks, the resistance of a single Republican senator, Joni Ernst of Iowa, had threatened to derail Donald J. Trump’s choice of Pete Hegseth to run the Department of Defense. Karoun Demirjian, who covers Congress for The Times, and Jonathan Swan, who covers politics, discuss how Mr. Trump and his allies ensured that Ms. Ernst’s resistance went away. Guest: Karoun Demirjian, who covers Congress for The New York Times, with a focus on national security. Jonathan Swan, a Times reporter covering politics and Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign.

Subtitle: Warning: this episode contains strong language. Over the past few weeks, the resistance of a single Republican senator, Joni Ernst of Iowa, had threatened to derail Donald J. Trump’s choice of Pete Hegseth to run the Department of Defense. Karoun De
Duration: 00:26:52
Publishing date: 2024-12-16 10:45
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/the-daily
Contributors: The New York Times; author
Enclosures: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pfx.vpixl.com/6qj4J/nyt.simplecastaudio.com/03d8b493-87fc-4bd1-931f-8a8e9b945d8a/episodes/a4fbb153-f758-46dc-9c67-96ae55e8cc28/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=03d8b493-87fc-4bd1-931f-8a8e9; audio/mpeg

Shownotes

Warning: this episode contains strong language.

Over the past few weeks, the resistance of a single Republican senator, Joni Ernst of Iowa, had threatened to derail Donald J. Trump’s choice of Pete Hegseth to run the Department of Defense.

Karoun Demirjian, who covers Congress for The Times, and Jonathan Swan, who covers politics, discuss how Mr. Trump and his allies ensured that Ms. Ernst’s resistance went away.

Guest:

Karoun Demirjian, who covers Congress for The New York Times, with a focus on national security.
Jonathan Swan, a Times reporter covering politics and Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign.

Background reading:

Mr. Trump became convinced that letting Mr. Hegseth fail would set off a feeding frenzy among senators.
Ms. Ernst, who is facing re-election in 2026, appeared less skeptical about the pick after MAGA supporters threatened her with political retribution.

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