Thursday, January 23 – Oppose Pete Hegseth / Defend Birthright Citizenship
ICA Action: Thank Senator Duckworth for opposing Pete Hegseth and urge her to keep fighting
Senator Duckworth has been leading the charge in discrediting Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. She exposed his complete lack of qualification during her questioning of him, forcing him to demonstrate his lack of knowledge on important issues.
The exchange is detailed in this Rolling Stones article:
Asked by Duckworth to name the three international security negotiations that the Secretary of Defense personally leads on behalf of the United States, Hegseth balked. “…NATO?” he offered, lamely. In case you're curious, they are: a Status of Forces Agreement, which delineates how military personnel can operate inside another county (Korea, for instance); an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement, a type of treaty that pertains to shared logistics (a security agreement the U.S. has with countries like Latvia); and a Defense Trade Cooperation Treaties, which relates to moving or sharing equipment (like the nuclear submarine deal hatched by the U.S., U.K. and Australia).
In his opening statement, Hegseth spoke about the importance of deterring Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific. A key component of the Trump administration's strategy in the Indo-Pacific was a reliance on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. Duckworth recalled, “I thought, okay, great… I'm going to lob him some softballs, right?” She went on to ask if he could name the countries in ASEAN, or even how many there were.
“I know we have allies in South Korea and Japan, and in AUKUS with Australia,” Hegseth offered — none of which are members of association. (For the record, ASEAN is made up of 10 South Asian countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.)
Partner Action: Fight Trump’s Attack on Birthright Citizenship
On Monday, President Trump signed a flurry of cruel, reckless, and in some cases flagrantly unconstitutional executive orders. One in particular checks all three of those boxes: His attempt to end birthright citizenship.
We’ve been saying that Trump would quickly overreach, and when he did, it’d be up to us (that means you) to help drive backlash. This is our first opportunity. And mind you -- this isn’t simply to erode Trump’s support so we can win elections. This backlash is necessary to stymie inhumane policies like this one and start getting vulnerable Republicans to distance themselves from the cruel and chaotic madness.
Democratic lawmakers must lead the charge against Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship. Urge your Democratic member of Congressto make a strong public statement condemning this unconstitutional act and commit to fighting MAGA extremism.
Action via Indivisible