What if Democrats manage to investigate and refer evidence to state criminal trials (so they are safe from pay-to-pardon) all of Trump's corrupt appointees, and let Trump pick more corrupt people to repeat the cycle, like flies to a piece of crap?

Exactly, this shithead just put his lead shithead as chief-of-staff. These picks are just getting worse. They’re probably just waiting for nazi general clones to finish gestating before firing more women and minorities in leadership positions.

Genuinely unsure about this, but what happens if Congress impeaches, convicts and removes him and then chooses not to confirm any of the new candidates put forward for the next two years? Does the department just operate without a secretary?

Hegseth was actually appointed with no margin of error, 50:50 and VP tiebreaker, so no a worse guy could not replace him.

First of all, not within a day, and second, the replacement can be immediately impeached too. Disruption is still a win compared to letting Hegseth or any replacement purge and politicize the military with impunity.

Then Vance. Then Jeffries. It's so frustrating.

Impeachment is not removal from office.

I wonder if there are Republicans out there whose anger at Trump wrecking the midterm is more significant than their fear of crossing him (and/or blind loyalty).

This is an opportunity for the first of them to break from his control. They could be some of the first to pretend that they were never actually in favor of his insane policies.

No shit.

The actual issue about the health of the troops is irrelevant; Hegseth's decision-making isn't about that. It's about filtering out anybody who puts objective reality above loyalty to Trump and his fascist agenda. Hegseth is purging the military of political opposition so that when the time comes to throw out the Posse Comitatus Act and march troops to subjugate the American public, nobody will be left to stop it.

That would require the administration to have humor, empathy, and the best interests of citizens at heart. They'd rather just fearmonger and grift.

Because of the pandemic, 2020 should have been the absolute easiest reelection in history and trump fucked it up.

They don't mean every 13 year old. Mostly the pudgy moron in a video game lobby talking shit about banging your mom then they have a screaming fit when they are the first to get killed.

I guess, but they will still be less effective at that too. It opens up easier access for rapidly declining morale, infiltration, and assassination.

To say the least - they've shat all over what used to be any trust or confidence anyone sane ever may have had in them

It failed in 2016.

All forms of finality punishment are cruel. You'll never change my mind that death sentences are anything other than evil purely based on the fact that if it's on the table for anyone, it's on the table for everyone and we have a false conviction rate of nearly 1 in 20.

I imagine the smart move is to keep him there for a few more weeks to eat the sin and diatract dems and then axe him when you need to regain the narrative.

If Republicans are going to eat one of their own, it has to be now, while they are still in charge of the Senate and can approve the next one. If they wait too long, the new Congress takes over, and now the President needs to ask Chuck's permission to appoint anyone.

We may not be able to reverse the damage quickly, but Hegseth has to be stopped. The damage he is doing to our national security is ongoing.

The senior official’s account of the application of new criteria was confirmed by two of the officers who were selected for promotion by a rigorous merit-based process to a flag or general officer rank, but then withheld by Hegseth’s office. Those officers were told by Pentagon officials over the phone their promotions were being withheld, but they were not given a chance to respond, they said. For most, not getting promoted will end their military careers. If these officers do not promote to the rank they were selected for within 18 months, most will be forced to retire. The result has been a precipitous loss of experience and talent at the top ranks, the official said.

Emphasis mine. He's not just refusing to promote people, the refusal if forcing them out of the military. Losing all these qualified officers is costing us vast amounts of experience. Like Trump, Hegseth may not be an enemy operative, but it's hard to imagine how he could do more damage if he was. This man is a national security disaster and he needs to go now.