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To the Editor:7xm

Re “Pete Hegseth Is Sworn In as Defense Secretary After Being Confirmed by Slim Margin” (nytimes.com, Jan. 25):

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To those Senate Republicans who voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense (and Vice President JD Vance, who broke a 50-50 tie): Unfortunately, you are far from the first members of the U.S. Senate to disgrace themselves through cowardice. But you have done so in historic terms.

By confirming such a wildly unfit nominee and ignorant hatchet man as Mr. Hegseth, you, who trumpet belief in America’s greatness, have actually just severely weakened the United States and greatly endangered your constituents.

Tom WolfsonWashington

To the Editor:

Senator Mitch McConnell’s vapid vote against the confirmation of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense is meaningless. This senator, as well as most of his Republican colleagues,phl63 gaming had two significant chances to put an end to such unfolding calamities through impeachment votes against Donald Trump. They chose not to do so.

Now they, as well as our country and the wider world, must live with the consequences. Senator McConnell’s leadership was absent when it really mattered. He will long be remembered not for this one vote to withhold confirmation but for twice voting not to convict the president of the United States.

Peter GilmourChicago

To the Editor:

Senator Joni Ernst could have stopped Pete Hegseth, an unfit nominee, from being confirmed as secretary of defense. Yes, she was threatened with the end of her career as a Republican senator from Iowa. Does she value that career so much that she can’t do something else of worth?

A primary challenge with MAGA forces aligned against her could take a heavy toll, but she could have drawn centrist Republicans and benefited from a likely national fund-raising effort. A tough choice. Still, she chose self-interest over the public interest. How does that differ from what Donald Trump does?

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Calls for school crackdowns have mounted with reports of cyberbullying among adolescents and studies indicating that smartphones, which offer round-the-clock distraction and social media access, have hindered academic instruction and the mental health of children.

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