ABC’s The View reacted as one would expect on Tuesday to Secretary of Defense-designate Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing the previous day. The table’s nominal Republican, Alyssa Farah Griffin, applauded Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s strange questioning about ASEAN while Joy Behar implied GOP Sen. Joni Ernst has betrayed her fellow sexual assault survivors by supporting Hegseth’s nomination.
Farah Griffin claimed that, “I thought that Tammy Duckworth was the most effective because she challenged him on facts and duties of the job, and he came up short. He didn't know what ASEAN is. I have been to the ASEAN Summit. I can name the countries that are in it, and I am woefully unqualified to be the Secretary of Defense.”
ASEAN, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is not a military alliance. It is a vital trading partner and some of its members, Thailand and, most notably, the Philippines, have defense treaties with the United States, but it is possible Hegseth was just confused why Duckworth was talking about an economic union at a military hearing.
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