Dan Sullivan

As justification for the wholesale dismantling of many American institutions, Republican leaders resort to one mantra: “Elections have consequences.” One of the most egregious and consequential was President Trump’s appointment of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense (or war), an appointment enabled by Alaska’s junior senator, Dan Sullivan, and most of his Republican colleagues.

Even a cursory review of Hegseth’s qualifications belies President Donald Trump’s claims to hire “only the best and the brightest.” Hegseth came to President Trump’s attention as a Fox News contributor on Defense Department and veterans affairs issues. Hegseth interviewed Trump for Fox News numerous times during his first term, when his military perspectives aligned with and appealed to President Trump.

Those military perspectives were forged as a midranking officer in the Army National Guard and as the CEO of two veteran advocacy groups between 2007 and 2015. Hegseth was eventually forced out of the second advocacy organization after numerous questions about finances, poor leadership and alcohol abuse were raised.

Ultimately, he was confirmed by the Senate on a 50-50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaking vote. Before his confirmation, he had never managed an organization with more than triple digits. Now he oversees a department with 2.1 million employees.

Today, our armed services are paying a staggering toll under Hegseth’s stewardship as secretary of defense. Qualified men and women who have spent decades in our armed services and were in line for promotions have been denied promotions or severed from their respective services simply because of who they are. Some of the brightest flag-rank leaders have been unceremoniously dismissed without explanation, exposing major gaps in the chain of command and eroding confidence in being able to speak truth to civilian power. Service members are subjected to neglect and abuse, then gaslighted when they raise concerns about living conditions and combat readiness.

Hegseth is the chief promoter of an overzealous focus on “warrior ethos,” the idea that our armed services have become soft and less effective because of “woke” mentalities permeating our armed services. We need to look no further than the Ukrainian war to understand that our national defense today is in need of men and women who are highly tech-savvy and can adapt to continuously changing technology on the battlefield. We have the most elite special forces in the world that get the job done when called on. Our focus today must be on making sure we have the brightest technologically trained individuals in the world serving in our armed forces.

And most tragically, urged on by Hegseth, we initiated a war that has not accomplished any of the stated objectives, and it has now turned into a stalemate with no acceptable exit strategy. The deployment of our men and women has been stretched far beyond reason; we have depleted many of our high-tech munitions, and many of our military facilities in the Mideast have been damaged or destroyed and rendered useless or unsafe to utilize. This is a catastrophic economic, diplomatic and military failure that should never have been allowed to happen.

Through all of this, Sen. Sullivan has raised nary a concern publicly or pushed to hold Hegseth or President Trump accountable. The senator took oaths of office as both a senator and an officer in the Marine Corps to serve and defend our Constitution.

Sullivan’s deafening silence in the face of Trump’s and Hegseth’s failing performance is a dereliction of his oath of office. “Elections have consequences,” and in November, the consequence for Sen. Sullivan should be to retire him.

Michael Kampnich is a graying-of-the-fleet commercial fisherman, a former logger and a Craig City Council member.