GOP Senator Mike Lee is confused

When I saw two senators voted on Friday against confirming Lloyd J. Austin III, a retired General, as secretary of defense, I knew one of “nays” had to have come from the odious junior senator from Missouri, Josh Hawley.

And sure enough, there it was on the Senate’s roll call website detailing the 93-2 vote. The only surprise was that the other “nay” didn’t come from the also-odious Texas senator, Rafael “Ted” Cruz. Instead, it was from Utah’s Mike Lee.

A check of Hawley’s social media turned up no reasoning for his vote, who like Lee also voted against waiving a rule for Austin’s consideration, that he hadn’t met the requirement to be non-active duty military for at least seven years.

As for Lee, according to The Salt Lake Tribune, his office offered a hypocritical explanation for his votes. Spokesman Conn Carroll, said Lee “believes civilian control of the military is best served by the existing rule requiring a seven-year gap between active duty and the position of secretary of defense…Other senators may have voted to waive that rule for Gen. Austin, but Sen. Lee believes it should be uniformly applied.”

And of course, that’s complete B.S. and hypocrisy. Four years ago, Lee voted for the same type waiver and to confirm Trump’s first secretary of defense, former Marine four-star, General James Mattis. But what would Republicans and snakes like Lee, Hawley and Cruz be without hypocrisy? Nothing.