I had read they had just recently been dismissed, and so were scattered in various places, some involved in other things. And the vote was called for at an odd hour? Definitely not suspicious or manipulated.

@BluescreenOfDeath @technocrit It reminds me of a scene from the film "Amazing Grace," where actor Ioan Gruffod's "Wilberforce" character schedules a vote in Parliament to abolish the slave trade, at the same that he knows a majority of the slavery-defending members will be absent, thereby guaranteeing him a victory. The GOP needed to do some posturing, so their Messiah Trump would not be blamed for the obvious military failures. They also needed to create some distractions fast, so their cult would have something to talk about besides the blue wave discussions, which would have shown them why they should no longer support Donald, and would have proven that the blue wave was real and not "fake news."If any of the GOP who are in Congress now genuinely wanted #Hegseth #impeached and removed, they would have waited until the Dems were in charge to propose it. This was all theatre, and the attendance-- or absence-- of a small number of Democrats at this point was never going to change the final result. That particular game was rigged. The vote and results were decided before anyone even stepped in the room.

With the exception of Haley Stevens. She can rot.

Plus even if the impeachment could succeed in the senate and get him removed now, the Republicans can rubber stamp whoever they want as a replacement while they still have the majority.

I don't disagree with your take. The timing was deliberate. But the larger issue is that these people were elected to vote in our interests and they chose (through self stated ineptitude or otherwise) to miss a vote important to their constituents and the Democrat party. They're not doing their job and it's glaring in the face of newly elected members who badly want to do their job and very activated voters. If you take two hour poops at work to avoid work, the one time you definitely shouldn't do that is when you've got a presentation to do. The lack of care they're showing under such a spotlight shows either corruption or brazen disrespect.

Quit with the logic. I want to RAAAAGGGGEEEE!!!!!!

Typical centrist excuses

Yah and a bunch just happens to be at a AIPAC Rally and blamed nonexistent traffic for not showing up. 🙄