Senator Challenges Retired General During Hearing

By
Rachel Stevenson
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Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) isn’t one to mince words and his takedown of retired Army Maj. Gen. Randy Manner, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, was a masterclass in calling out elitist hypocrisy. The hearing ostensibly focused on the incoming Trump administration’s plans to deport criminal illegal aliens, but Kennedy wasn’t about to let Manner off the hook for his past inflammatory remarks about President Trump and his supporters. And honestly, why should he?

Let’s start with Manner’s opening statement, where he claimed it’s not the military’s job “to police its citizens or enforce controversial and politically charged immigration policies.” That’s an interesting spin, General, but enforcing immigration laws and protecting Americans from criminal illegal aliens isn’t exactly a “controversial” task—it’s literally about upholding the law and ensuring public safety. But Manner, a longtime Democrat favorite, decided to wade into political waters, painting Trump’s immigration plan as some sort of authoritarian overreach.

Enter Senator Kennedy, who wasted no time exposing Manner’s disdain for Trump and the millions of Americans who support him. Kennedy dug into comments Manner made on CNN, where he proudly endorsed General Mark Milley’s description of Trump as a “fascist” and went further, labeling Trump supporters as fascists themselves. Let that sink in: a retired general, someone who’s supposed to represent honor and impartiality, broadly smeared half the country with a term that carries the weight of some of history’s darkest chapters.

Kennedy, in his trademark folksy-yet-fierce style, confronted Manner directly: “You think you’re smarter than the American people, don’t you?” Manner, clearly flustered, tried to dodge the question, but Kennedy wasn’t about to let him slither away. “You think you’re more virtuous than the American people, don’t you?” Kennedy pressed. Manner’s indignant response—that he was insulted by the question—only highlighted his inability to handle legitimate accountability.

Let’s be real: Manner’s record speaks for itself. He’s openly praised Milley for undermining a sitting president—an act many would call treasonous—and signed a letter blaming Trump for Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. This is the same withdrawal that left 13 American service members dead, stranded allies, and handed over billions of dollars in U.S. military equipment to the Taliban. And yet, in Manner’s eyes, the real problem is Trump? It’s laughable.

The irony here is rich. Manner talked a big game about “duty, honor, respect” in his testimony, but his own actions betray those principles. Celebrating Milley’s backdoor dealings and accusing Trump of plotting to use the National Guard as a “personal police force” isn’t exactly the behavior of someone upholding honor or respect. It’s the behavior of a partisan operative cloaked in a military uniform.

Kennedy’s line of questioning revealed a deeper issue: how the armed forces—and by extension, some of its leadership—have become overrun by individuals more interested in scoring political points than serving the nation. Manner’s statements reflect the kind of shallow, woke rhetoric you’d expect from a college freshman majoring in grievance studies, not a retired general with decades of service.

The hearing was supposed to be about immigration policy, but Kennedy turned it into a referendum on the toxic elitism infecting the military and political institutions. Manner’s refusal to take responsibility for his divisive comments or back up his critiques of Trump with substantive arguments shows exactly why Kennedy’s grilling was necessary. Americans deserve leaders who prioritize the country over political gamesmanship, not retired generals who think they’re above the people they served.

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