With the Senate’s narrow approval of Pete Hegseth as defense secretary (Vice President J.D. Vance cast the tie-breaking vote), Democrats need to realize that only the first stage of the fight over Hegseth is over. Manifestly unfit for office, indeed arguably an active danger to the country given his reported propensity to show up to work drunk, there’s no simply moving on from this embarrassment of an appointment. If the president and his Senate allies were foolhardy enough to empower such a man, then the opposition needs to make sure Trump and the GOP end up eating this shit sandwich they’ve just forced America to buy. If Hegseth is as unfit as we have reason to believe, then it will not be long before evidence of his depravity begins to surface. Whether it’s his drinking, his violent sexism, or his affinity for white nationalism, this guy is a ticking time bomb for our national security. Indeed, we could go a step further and say that Democrats have an affirmative obligation to hold to account a man they know is poison both to national security and to the orderly running of the U.S. military; they should actively encourage service members and citizens alike to contact their Democratic members of Congress should they encounter evidence of his near-inevitable incompetence and recklessness to come. There should be no resigning ourselves to a man who will surely weaken or severely damage our national defense