'Betrayal of our flag': Lawmaker says federal workers are 'embarrassed' by Trump's Cabinet
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) tore into Donald Trump's Cabinet nominations on MSNBC's "The ReidOut" Wednesday, saying the government could fall apart simply by virtue of the people below them not taking them seriously.
He took particular aim at Trump's nomination to lead the Pentagon, Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, whose sexual misconduct allegation has caused the Trump team to scramble — and reportedly consider a replacement.
Anchor Joy Reid noted that Hegseth went on a Christian nationalist podcast this week to outline his plans to transform the country. "He wants to build an educational insurgency," she said. "Christian nationalist educational insurgency. That's why you break government. If the government is no longer functioning, you can build whatever you want on the ashes."
"Those are a lot of big words that he used ... and I think he is trying to sound smart," said Swalwell. "That's what he is saying, is that he is going to deconstruct government, put in a far-right extreme movement. It's almost not deconstructing. It's anti-government. He is opposed to his own government."
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"There is nothing to me that is a bigger betrayal of our flag, Constitution, the Pledge of Allegiance that we all take," he continued. "But these are the people who they have put in. And the problem is the servicemember needs to know that the person who's going to make the call for them to go into battle, to defend our country, is putting country first. You don't see that with Pete Hegseth. The law enforcement officer and the prosecutor, when they make a decision to indict somebody, that the individual leading the Department of Justice is credible and putting the country first. And again, you don't see that in Matt Gaetz."
Fundamentally, he added, the problem with Trump's picks is "they are not going to have credibility with the people who need to serve under them, and they are not going to have credibility from the American people who need to buy into what our defense forces are doing or law enforcement are doing. Frankly, Joy, if you want to know the truth, when I talk to colleagues at the congressional gym, when I talk in line at the Dunkin' Donuts in the Longworth Building, they are laughing at these nominees. They think it's a joke. They are embarrassed. I am embarrassed for the American people who thought that bringing Donald Trump into power was going to serve them. It's just serving him."
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