Welcome to Beg to Differ, the Bullwork's weekly roundtable discussion featuring civil conversation across the political spectrum.

We range from center left to center right.

I'm Mona Charen, syndicated columnist and policy editor at the bulwark.

And I'm joined by our regulars, Bill Galston of the

Brookings Institution and the Wall Street Journal, Damon Linker, who writes the substack

newsletter notes from the Middleground and Linda Chavez of the Niskanon Center. Our special

guest this week is Matt Bennett, Executive Vice President for Public Affairs at Third Way. Welcome one and all.

I almost want to say welcome to the circus because it has a little bit of that feel.

You know, TV show stars being very, very prominent in the president to be's cabinet choices and other things.

We've got the return of Mehmet Oz and we've got Pete Hags and so forth.

So let's start with the consideration of these choices and what they tell us about what's coming.

Pete Hegseth has been trooping over to the Hill to speak with Republican senators,

and he had his mom appear on Fox and Friends to say that letter, that email that she wrote about,

wrote to him in 2018, accusing him being just a really reprehensible human being,

that he is a changed man and no longer an abuser of women and a drunk and a lot of other things.

She says that the Senate really should confirm him and he promises Matt Bennett, I'm going to

start with you, he promises that if confirmed he will stop drinking.

So very encouraging.

You know, he was chosen for what?

For the lantern jaw, you know, and it's not looking good for him, which is a good sign, right?

It's a good sign that at least there's some life in the old senators yet.

Let's hope so. I mean, the guy couldn't possibly be worse for this job for like 16 different

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