D.C. Deconstructed

Join me Friday afternoon for a Live Chat

Thank you for writing in with so much passion and information about the Hegseth Hearing Substack

I hoped that there would be pushback, as well as agreement. A large point of a Substack is that we writers have a dialogue with our readers: not something that happens in traditional media.

As I said yesterday, I spent the evening in Washington D.C. at a party filled with Trump apparatchiks from both the 45th administration and the incoming 47th one. There was a mix of bold-faced names and, I suspect, future bold-faced names.

Erik Prince opined about the Hegseth hearing, saying that the vast daylight between the two distinct paradigms in Washington D.C. had never been more apparent, and thus, in his view, there was much work to do. “Our enemies are not afraid of us, and we have allies that wonder what the hell we are doing,” he said.

Of course I asked him for what he thought about Sen. Kaine’s questions about Hegseth’s infidelity - whether it disqualified him from serving because, as some of you pointed out yesterday, adultery is technically a crime in the military, as defined in Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Prince replied that in the military, adultery is, practically speaking, viewed as a fireable offense only if it interferes with one’s ability to command.

Another vet, a former senior naval officer, told me that adultery is of course widespread in the military, especially in the Navy - hence the expression “a girl in every port” - and in the Air Force. The Army, he said, takes it more seriously than the other two branches, but it’s usually only used as an excuse to fire someone they already want to get rid of - or, as per Prince - if it’s negatively impacting the officer and/or the officer’s colleagues so they can no longer do their jobs. This person knows Sen. Tim Kaine well, and said the Senator had grilled Hegseth from the heart. Sen. Kaine is an ardent Catholic and a loyal husband, and for him, my source says, this is personal as well as political.

There was a great deal of chat on a wide number of topics. I heard some extraordinary stories from inside the Trump, Biden, and even Obama White Houses. I learned details about what’s happening in Ukraine that I had not known. I learned about unreported things going on in Venezuela. Africa. New Zealand. And even Bangladesh (I’d forgotten there’d been a coup there). I learned more about the wild fires in California than I’ve read.

I also learned that the new generation of Trump Republicans really likes to party. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a room stuffed with so many people drinking liquor and smoking a mix of cigarettes and cigars and clearly so reluctant to go home to bed. It was an entirely different vibe from the soirees of New York’s Upper East Side where these days the most dangerous drink is an Athletic.

There was so much to absorb, that it’s hard to put it down succinctly in one post. So I’ve decided to do my first Live Chat with any of my paid subscribers who want to know more about what I’ve been hearing and to discuss what’s going on in general.

I’m scheduling it for 3 p.m. Friday, January 17. I’ll chat online for 30 minutes with anyone who has questions or wants to tell me what you think. It’s meant to be very casual.

It’s easiest to get to the Chat if you download the Substack app on your phone. Once you download the app, click the bottom right chat icon: two text boxes floating over each other, then look for Vicky Ward Investigates chat. (See screenshot below for a visual guide.) You can also click the “Join chat” button at the bottom of this post at 3 p.m. on Friday to get taken there directly.

NOTE: This feature is currently only for paid subscribers. So, upgrade today and I’ll see you soon!