Illinois senator says Pete Hegseth’s nomination is ‘really troubling’ due to sexual assault allegations
Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth is a champion for victims of sexual abuse… just as long as the alleged abuser is a Republican with a conservative agenda. According to a new item out at The Hill, Duckworth recently made these comments regarding the nomination of Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense:
‘It’s frankly an insult and really troubling that Mr. Trump would nominate someone who has admitted that he’s paid off a victim who has claimed rape allegations against him,’ she said on a Sunday ‘Face the Nation’ appearance. ‘This is not the kind of person you want to lead the Department of Defense.’
As it seems to me, the encounter was consensual, meaning Hegseth’s alleged “victim” was unfaithful to her spouse and leveled the “rape” charge as pass for the indiscretion. Now, if it turned out that Hegseth were actually a violent rapist who abused women? I’d think we need a new nominee.
But since when does Duckworth actually care about sexual assault? Her hypocrisy is the real “insult,” because she’s using the grotesque reality of sexual abuse as a cheap political tool to discredit those who hold different ideologies, and doesn’t speak up for real victims.
Where was Duckworth when Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Alejandro Mayorkas opened the border, and the number of children trafficked and raped because of it skyrocketed? Is that fact “troubling” to Duckworth’s conscience?
Would she also consider Mayorkas’s appointment troubling since his leadership has led to bona fide instances of sexual assault (and murder) against counteless young girls and women? Does the name Laken Riley sound familiar? Jocelyn Nungaray? Rachel Morin?
Did she have a problem with Biden? Tara Reade made very credible accusations of unwanted and forcible touching—and so did Ashley Biden.
Did she ever demand that we get to the bottom of the allegations made against Tim Walz, accusations which were particularly unsettling concerning the report that Walz had assaulted young boys in his custody? Hardly.
What about the congressional #MeToo slush fund that makes hush money settlement payments using taxpayer dollars to “secretly pay off victims of sexual harassment”? I’ve never heard Duckworth voice disgust over the abusers given what is basically free rein at the Capitol.
Did Bill Clinton’s indiscretions offend her? Does she care about the trauma Juanita Broaddrick suffered?
What about Hunter Biden? Where was Duckworth’s outrage when reports of buying prostitutes emerged? Does the picture of Hunter Biden half-clothed with prepubescent girls crawling all over him at a “birthday party” set off any alarm bells for Duckworth?
Nope, none of it matters, because party agenda trumps what’s right and decent.
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