I was disappointed yet unsurprised to see that you were among the sheep who voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, a man whose qualifications for the job are minimal and whose baggage is significant: paying hush money to silence a woman accusing him of sexual abuse, an alcohol abuser who resorted to promising not to drink if confired, whose only “bona fide” is that he is a Trump loyalist, willing to do any and all of Trump’s bidding. You could have tanked this dubious and sketchy nomination with your vote. Your vote mattered. Yet you cravenly voted the way Trump wanted you to vote. And that’s that.
When you took office, you solemnly swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. You fail to see that there is a domestic enemy of the Constitution a mere 1.8 miles away. Your vote for Hegseth - a man who will purge women (you have six daughters) and Black Americans from the the military, so “white kids” will feel “wanted again” - is a vote for Trump - a man who stated early in his campaign that he would pursue “termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution” and who has already taken steps to suspend the guarantees of birthright citizenship in the 14th Amendment of our Constitution. Are you breaking your solemn oath, your word to defend the Constitution already? Take a good look in the mirror. Why are you in office? To enable a president who aspires to be a dictator, or to work for us, the people of the United States? Our taxes pay your salary, your ample health care, your cushy retirement plan. Must be nice. You’re welcome. But are you with us or against us? This first test of that question was an epic fail, and does not bode well for the next six years you are in office. We the people of the United States, we the people of Pennsylvania, are undeniably, unrepentantly, jubilantly diverse. We are worthy. It is unfortunate that you choose not to see or to celebrate that.