‘I Had To Shut It Off’: Lifelong Dem Says She Is Dumping Party After ‘Awful’ Performances During Hegseth Hearing

A lifelong Democrat named Sandra announced Wednesday that she is changing her party affiliation to independent after being disturbed by her party’s senators’ performances during Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth’s Tuesday hearing.

The hearing featured Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine asking Hegseth about allegations of infidelity, alcoholism and abuse. Sandra, on journalist Mark Halperin’s “The Morning Meeting,” expressed particular disappointment in the Democratic female senators while specifically critiquing Kaine for his line of questioning. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Hegseth Confirmation Battle Heats Up With New Ad Targeting Joni Ernst) 

WATCH:

“I know in other hearings this grandstanding occurs, but I think the Democrats, and especially women, have not learned a damn thing about why Trump won. And as a lifelong Democrat, I am so disappointed, and I’ve toyed with the idea of becoming an independent, but I just did it,” Sandra said. “I went online, and I am now changing to an independent.”

“And Dan [Turrentine], I wish you were the strategist for this administration because when will they learn? Why didn’t they read Mark’s first book? Why wouldn’t they — why aren’t they learning? I can’t understand it,” she continued. “I had to shut it off. I didn’t even see all of the women. I did hear — who was it — Kaine … And he was awful too. I thought, what the hell?”

NewsNation host Chris Cuomo on Tuesday also criticized Kaine on Tuesday for using his time at the hearing to grill Hegseth over his past marriage, condemning both the standard he was holding the nominee to and the substantive issues he was neglecting.

“So because of his marriage, he can’t be trusted with the oath of office? Two points of disgust: How many people on that committee, how many in Congress, could pass the Kaine test that you can’t honor an oath to serve if you’ve ever been unfaithful? Kaine may be sitting in that room alone,” Cuomo said. “Who cares when we are talking about being the top warrior, not our pastor? I’ll tell you who agreed with me once about this: Tim Kaine. He supported Bill Clinton for president. He didn’t say he couldn’t serve despite all he knew about his peccadilloes. He still backed him. Why? Is president not as important an oath?”

Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand also spent eight minutes of the hearing lecturing Hegseth about women serving in the military, while Democratic Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth yelled at the nominee as he attempted to answer her query regarding auditing.

CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings argued that Democratic senators’ “mudslinging” strategy during the hearing backfired on them and ultimately benefited Hegseth.

“In short, I think Pete Hegseth kicked their asses today. I mean, it wasn’t even close. They didn’t lay a glove on Hegseth. No mistakes. Calm, cool, collected. I mean, before the thing even started, you had this, like, Code Pink, you know, protester freak show trying to disrupt the hearing,” Jennings said. “That’s the Democratic base, by the way, which probably explains why the Democrats on the committee acted in such a bizarre and unprofessional way. I was appalled at some of the way these senators handled themselves and some of the lines of questioning.”

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