Pete Hegseth Was Toast. The MAGA Swarm Came to His Rescue.

Summary

Summary of "Pete Hegseth Was Toast. The MAGA Swarm Came to His Rescue."

The Daily, hosted by Michael Barbaro and Sabrina Tavernise of The New York Times, delves into the intricate political maneuvering surrounding President Donald Trump's controversial nomination of Pete Hegseth for the position of Secretary of Defense. Released on December 16, 2024, this episode provides a comprehensive examination of the resistance within the Republican Party, the strategic responses from Trump and his allies, and the broader implications for party dynamics and governance.

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1. Introduction

The episode opens with Michael Barbaro setting the stage for a high-stakes political drama within the Republican Party. The focal point is the nomination of Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host, whose appointment has sparked significant controversy due to serious allegations against him. The discussion primarily features insights from Karin Demersian, a congressional reporter, and Jonathan Swan, a political analyst.

2. Background on Pete Hegseth’s Nomination

Jonathan Swan outlines the initial surprise and subsequent discomfort surrounding President Trump's selection of Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. Hegseth's past is marred by multiple allegations, including accusations of sexual assault, harassment of female employees, and mismanagement of veterans' nonprofits. An email from Hegseth's mother in 2018 further exacerbated concerns, labeling him as an abuser of women.

Jonathan Swan (01:41):
"I think everyone was pretty surprised when President Elect Trump picked a Fox News host to be his next secretary of defense. And the surprise turned into discomfort for a lot of people..."

3. Senator Joni Ernst’s Opposition

The crux of the opposition to Hegseth comes from Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, a combat veteran and a prominent Republican leader on defense and women's issues. Ernst's career is highlighted as being at odds with Hegseth's alleged behavior and policy stances, particularly his reported skepticism about women serving in combat roles.

Jonathan Swan (03:27):
"She breaks the glass ceiling. That becomes a big part of her resume and a reason that people look to her on defense issues."

Ernst's opposition is rooted in her personal history and commitment to addressing sexual assault in the military, making Hegseth's nomination particularly contentious for her.

4. Trump’s Inner Circle Reaction

As Ernst raises objections, Trump's inner circle faces a dilemma. Initial thoughts veer toward replacing Hegseth with Ron DeSantis, despite DeSantis's strained relationship with Trump following a contentious primary battle.

Senator Joni Ernst (06:23):
"Donald Trump was criticizing him behind his back, saying, you know, he could have told me about all this stuff."

However, advisors like Steve Bannon argue that abandoning Hegseth would signal weakness and set a negative precedent for Trump's administration.

5. The MAGA Swarm Pressure Campaign

In response to Ernst's resistance, Trump's team initiates a formidable pressure campaign, dubbed the "MAGA swarm." This strategy involves leveraging influential MAGA figures, substantial funding, and targeted digital advertising to sway or intimidate key Republican senators.

Senator Joni Ernst (17:25):
"You are in for another Tea Party revolution. We're getting tired of this shit."

The campaign employs a multifaceted approach:

• Media and Endorsements: High-profile Republicans publicly attack Ernst's stance, labeling her as obstructive.

• Financial Pressure: Dark money groups, associated with figures like Elon Musk, fund digital ads urging Republicans to support Hegseth.

• Grassroots Mobilization: Influential MAGA personalities call on their followers to contact Ernst's office, creating an overwhelming volume of opposition.

Senator Joni Ernst (20:07):
"It's the threat of big money coming in against you with Musk and his billionaire friends. It's people in the state that have real power."

6. The Resulting Shift in Senator Ernst’s Position

Faced with relentless pressure, Senator Ernst experiences a significant shift in her stance. Within days of the intensified campaign, she publicly softens her opposition to Hegseth, emphasizing a desire for a "fair hearing" based on verified information rather than anonymous sources.

Senator Joni Ernst (21:33):
"Following our encouraging conversations, Pete committed to completing a full audit of the Pentagon..."

Hegseth's team responds by adopting a more confrontational posture, engaging in media smear campaigns and leveraging his mother's public denials of past accusations to rebuild his image.

Pete Hegseth (15:23):
"What you're seeing right now with me is the art of the smear."

This tactical reversal by Ernst underscores the potency of Trump's influence and the lengths to which his team will go to ensure party cohesion.

7. Concluding Insights

The episode concludes by reflecting on the broader implications of this internal GOP conflict. Trump's ability to mobilize a "MAGA swarm" sets a precedent for future interactions within the party, signaling that dissent may be met with severe repercussions, including primary challenges and social ostracization.

Senator Joni Ernst (24:32):
"Absolutely. And when I talk to people close to President Elect Trump... they are putting Republicans on notice that they're not going to tolerate dissent."

This dynamic not only affects individual senators but also shapes the overall strategy and unity of the Republican Party moving forward.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Jonathan Swan (01:41):
  "I think everyone was pretty surprised when President Elect Trump picked a Fox News host to be his next secretary of defense."

• Senator Joni Ernst (06:23):
  "Donald Trump was criticizing him behind his back, saying, you know, he could have told me about all this stuff."

• Senator Joni Ernst (17:25):
  "You are in for another Tea Party revolution. We're getting tired of this shit."

• Pete Hegseth (15:23):
  "What you're seeing right now with me is the art of the smear."

• Senator Joni Ernst (24:32):
  "Absolutely. And when I talk to people close to President Elect Trump... they are putting Republicans on notice that they're not going to tolerate dissent."

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This episode of The Daily meticulously dissects the strategic complexities within the Republican Party as it grapples with supporting a controversial nominee. Through detailed reporting and insightful analysis, listeners gain a nuanced understanding of the interplay between personal convictions, party loyalty, and political pragmatism in contemporary American politics.

Transcript

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[Michael Barrow]

SIPC from the New York Times, I'm Michael Barrow. This is the Daily over the past few weeks, the resistance of a single Republican senator has threatened to derail Donald Trump's controversial choice of Pete Hegseth to run the Department of Defense. Today, Karen Demersian and Jonathan Swan with the story of how Trump and his allies ensured that that senator's resistance quickly went away. It's Monday, December 16th.

[Karin Demersian]

Karin, in your role as a congressional reporter, you have been closely tracking the fate of Trump's pick to run the US Military. Pete Hegseth, A pick that was controversial from the start, but has become only more controversial over the past couple of weeks, right?

[Jonathan Swan]

I think everyone was pretty surprised when President Elect Trump picked a Fox News host to be his next secretary of defense. And the surprise turned into discomfort for a lot of people and shock as allegations started coming out about these fairly sordid details from his past. First it was an accusation that he had committed sexual assault. And then after that, it became this article from the New Yorker which alleged that he was drinking on the job and harassing female employees and was mismanaging the veterans nonprofits that he was running. In the middle of all that, there was this email that cropped up that his mother had written him into 2018, calling him an abuser of women and telling him what a reprehensible person he was. And so as that mountain of allegations grew, there started to be more senators, including some of Trump's allies, who started to express real discomfort with having to back this guy, or at least with the fact that they were having to grapple with these allegations and calling them disturbing, calling them troublesome. And that's a problem for Trump because even though Senate Republicans are going to take the majority in the new year, a very slim majority, they cannot afford to lose more than three of their own if they actually want to get these nominees confirmed. And it becomes clear that there's really one senator who has the potential to swing things one way or another. It's a senator whose whole brand basically has been built on these issues around which Hegseth is having problems with these allegations. And that senator is Joni Ernst of Iowa.

[Karin Demersian]

Well, just explain that. Tell us about Senator Joni Ernst and how her career ends up so at odds with Hexaf.

[Jonathan Swan]

So when Joni Ernst runs for the Senate a decade ago, a centerpiece of her campaign is the fact that she's a combat veteran and she's one of the first generation of female combat veterans. And she's actually becomes the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate. There have been others since. But she breaks that glass ceiling. That becomes a big part her resume and a reason that people look to her on defense issues. A couple years later, she talks about how she was a victim of sexual assault. And this becomes this very, you know, raw disclosure that she writes about in her memoir that is discussed publicly. And she becomes a figure again. You know, rare in the Republican Party that a woman would step forward and start to discuss this all very personally.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Thank you, Senator Heinrich. Senator Ernst.

[General Hyten]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. General Hyten, you have been nominated to be the second highest ranking military officer in 2019.

[Jonathan Swan]

She breaks with her party to oppose the nomination of John Heighten, who's up to become vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

[General Hyten]

I have reviewed the evidence as well as your performance while serving as the STRATCOM commander.

[Jonathan Swan]

He's been accused by a subordinate of sexual assault, and her whole party waves him through. And she says, no, I'm not going to do that.

[General Hyten]

The facts have left me with concerns regarding your judgment, leadership, and fitness to serve as the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

[Jonathan Swan]

Two years after that, she's joining with Kirsten Gillibrand to rally support for a bill that is trying to address how sexual assault cases in the military are adjudicated. It had been in the chain of command forever, and they were trying to take it out of the chain of command so that victims wouldn't have their cases basically muzzled if it was inconvenient to their unit. And she really opens the floodgates for more Republicans to say, okay, I'm on board with this.

[General Hyten]

Abuse is not something you can just simply forget. It stays with you forever. And I know this personally.

[Jonathan Swan]

And so she basically builds this brand where people look to her in the GOP and Democrats consider her a partner and an ally for talking about these issues of women's experience in the military, for bringing to light various sexual assault issues. And then Trump picks Hegseth, who is accused of sexually assaulting and harassing women. And oh, by the way, has said publicly he doesn't believe women should serve in combat roles. And Joni Ernst is a combat veteran, so there's just a lot of tension and clashing there between her resume and what she stands for and the allegations against him and the problems that are associated with his pick.

[Karin Demersian]

Well, so given her role as a Republican leader on all of these issues, issues that do not seem to align with Hegseth's biography and these accusations that he faces, what is Ernst's response to Hegseth being tapped to run the military?

[Jonathan Swan]

Well, the day that Hegseth is announced as Trump's pick, I caught her in the hallway of the basement or the Capitol and asked her what she thought, and she said, he's going to have his work cut out for him. At that point, we didn't even know all these allegations against him. But as the allegations began to mount, she became that much more resolute of, I will talk to him, but very, very clearly not saying anything nice about him. And this all leads to a whole lot of scrutiny and focus on the first in person meeting they have. Pegseth goes to her office for a sit down and comes out and he talks to reporters, but she doesn't really say anything else except for, okay, we met yesterday.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

You had a significant meeting with Pete Hegseth, our former colleague, and right now.

[Jonathan Swan]

And then she goes on Fox News the next morning, and the host kind of has to drag it out of her, but he basically, after asking her about the meeting, he says, okay, it.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Doesn'T sound on your answer that you've gotten to a yes. If I'm wrong about that, it doesn't.

[Jonathan Swan]

Sound like you got to yes yet. And she says, that's right.

[Karin Demersian]

Hmm.

[General Hyten]

I think you are right. I think for a number of our senators, they want to make sure that any allegations have been cleared. And that's why we have to have a very thorough vetting process. And that's why I was happy to sit down with Pete and have that.

[Jonathan Swan]

Conversation with him, which is a pretty big confession of uneasiness. And it just kind of confirms what everybody was sensing, which is that she's not okay with this guy.

[Karin Demersian]

So quite understandably, this senator who has led her party on all these issues like sexual assault, is deciding that these accusations against him might be disqualifying. And she's saying so on of all networks, Fox News, which she and everyone else in the Republican Party know that the President elect watches so closely.

[Jonathan Swan]

Correct. And what Ernst is expressing is something that a lot of people in the GOP are starting to feel and worry about. And aides start to whisper that you know, this nomination might just be dead already because if Joni Ernst can't get to yes, how can other people cross her? She's been such a moral leader on these issues that are of concern to Hegseth. And so that's trickling up to the Trump team. And there's this general sense that if they can't get Ernst on board, then Hegseth really doesn't have a path to being confirmed.

[Michael Barrow]

After the break, my colleague Jonathan Swan on how Ernst's resistance triggered a MAGA swarm that has brought Hegseth back from the brink. We'll be right back.

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[Karin Demersian]

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[Karin Demersian]

So, Jonathan, as Hegseth's path becomes messier and messier and he's kind of just flapping in the wind there with senators like Joni Ernst saying she can't get behind him. What's happening inside Trump world?

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Well, Trump himself is starting to have second thoughts about Hegseth. I was actually in Palm beach two weeks ago when this is all happening, meeting with Trump officials, talking to advisors of his. And I can't overstate to you how universal the view was in Trump's inner circle that Hegseth was done.

[Karin Demersian]

Hmm.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Donald Trump was criticizing him behind his back, saying, you know, he could have told me about all this stuff. You know, he was seeing the negative stories. He wasn't happy about them. And so Trump actually starts to think about picking a replacement for Hegseth.

[Karin Demersian]

The ultimate sign that he's done with you.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Totally. And he started to court Ron DeSantis.

[Karin Demersian]

And we should just say that is surprising, not just because it means Trump is writing off Pete Hegseth, but because he has hated desantis. I mean, desantis ran against him. They destroyed him in that campaign. That is a very unexpected alternative.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

They didn't only defeat him. It was personal, as you say. And for many people on Trump's team, it's deeply personal. They used to. Susie Wiles, who's going to come in as Trump's chief of staff, used to work for Ron DeSantis, left on very bad terms with him. There are others on the team who used to work for him, none of them like Ron DeSantis. So as soon as Trump's advisors realize that he's actually serious about the DeSantis idea, there is a panic. Many people go into gear of, how do we kill this? At the same time, there are others in Trump's orbit, some of the same people, but different people like Steve Bannon and others, who thought that there was actually something larger at play, that if he allowed Pete Hegseth to be blocked by Senate Republicans, that would set the tone for the rest of his administration. That was the argument that they were making to Trump indirectly, in some cases directly. But basically what they were saying was, you already let one person go.

[Karin Demersian]

Matt Gaetz.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Matt Gaetz, right. Trump put up Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, which horrified Republicans. And within period of time, it became clear that he wasn't going to have the votes, and he quit. People like Steve Bannon and others in Trump's orbit thought that was a really bad message. They thought, at a minimum, strategically, they should have kept Matt Gaetz in, because him soaking up all the media attention and controversy actually is useful because Trump has a whole bunch of other controversial picks, and they can slide through with less media attention. But also, letting him quit was a bad idea in terms of setting the terms of Trump's return to Washington, in terms of the power template, in terms of Trump saying, I'm the king around here. So what they wanted to do with Hegseth, they decided very quickly, like, within 24 hours, was, we're gonna turn him into a cause. We're gonna make him sort of a Brett Kavanaugh type figure, and we are gonna make this a litmus test for Republicans defying Donald Trump. And if you dare step out of line, the mob is going to come for you. The online mob, the pressure, the constituents. We are going to make you toxic with the Republican base.

[Karin Demersian]

So what might have begun as a bunch of people around Trump kind of revolting against the idea of Ron DeSantis as the next Secretary of Defense morphs into this larger objection to the idea that Trump would back down again on one of his picks for the Cabinet and show weakness in a way that might completely shape his presidency.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Exactly.

[Karin Demersian]

So what does it actually look like once Team Trump decides we are not gonna back down and actually we're gonna go on the offense here?

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Well, two things happened. One, Pete Hegseth and his team decide they're gonna abandon the sort of traditional Washington playbook of keeping talking to senators but not making this a huge spectacle. Trump wanted to see a spectacle. He picked Hegseth in the first place because he liked watching him on Fox News. So Trump encouraged Hegseth to get out there.

[Pete Hegseth]

What you're seeing right now with me is the art of the smear. It is the classic art of the smear.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Hegseth does these sort of defiant interviews.

[Pete Hegseth]

And performances take whatever tiny kernels of truth and there are tiny, tiny ones in there, and blow them up into a masquerade of a narrative about somebody that I am definitely not and what they never.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

And Pete's mother, Penelope Hegseth, joins us live on the set to tell us what she wanted to tell us. You called us yesterday and you said you wanted to come on.

[Penelope Hegseth]

I did.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

His mother goes on Fox and Friends.

[Penelope Hegseth]

I am here to tell the truth to the American people and tell the truth to the senators on the Hill, especially our female senators in this highly unusual performance. I wrote that in haste. I wrote that with deep emotions. I wrote that as a parent, where.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

She renounces a letter she sent him in 2018 where she took him to task for his treatment of women.

[Penelope Hegseth]

I don't believe any of that is true. Any of it. And I'm here. I wouldn't be sitting in this chair today if I didn't believe that about my son.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Right. How's the family? And then the second part is basically, you know, it's an intimidation strategy. It's. We need to get our most powerful allies in terms of who has the biggest following with the Republican base, who are most effective at whipping up anger and emotion in the base and set them onto the wavering senators. And Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa became their number one target. She was seen as the biggest problem, so all pressure was focused on her. Obviously others, too, but she was the focal point.

[Karin Demersian]

And what does it look like for Senator Ernst to be the focus of this campaign?

[Senator Joni Ernst]

You are in for another Tea Party revolution. We're getting tired of this shit. You had influential MAGA figures with huge audiences. I mean, these people have millions and, you know, millions of followers between them.

[Karin Demersian]

Senator Ernst just got to understand. I mean, you got to get with the program here.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

People like Steve Bannon, this is the red line. This is not. This is not a joke. Everybody, the funding, the radio host Charlie Cook. And look, I get it, that senators got their various processes that they got to go through. That's fine. That's all well and good, but eventually they got to get to the point where they can say yes. And the Breitbart report on that. Boyle, Senator Ernst is the big one here. Joni Ernst from Iowa, all of these people, they all start going after her. You go up against Pete Hegseth, the President, repeatedly, then don't be surprised. Joni Ernst, all of a sudden, you got a primary challenge in Iowa. Don't be surprised. People like Kirk were threatening to recruit a primary challenger against Ernst. Remember, she's going to be running again in 2026. So this carries real weight. The funding has already been put together. Donors are calling like crazy. Primaries are going to be launched. I mean, it's feral. Nothing is off the table.

[Karin Demersian]

Get on the phone and start tweeting at Joni Ernst.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

They sent threatening posts on social media. They urged their listeners on their radio shows to pressure Ernst and to call her congressional office. Get on the phone, folks.

[Karin Demersian]

This stuff matters.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

And that then kicks off this whole movement and it gets really personal and close to home. You had people online scraping up information about her, ostensibly from her divorce and making it public. This is what I mean by feral. You know, Brenna Bird, who's the popular Attorney General of Iowa, she writes this opinion column in Breitbart News saying that Washington politicians are trying to obstruct Trump's administration. And she didn't mention Ernst, but her message was very clear. I mean, coming from someone of her stature in the state, that was a really big deal. And then you had the money side.

[Gilda Charles]

America needs a defense secretary who knows.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

What it means to fight. So you have this dark money group that Elon Musk has used for political spending. That group Starts running digital ads in Iowa.

[Gilda Charles]

Call your senator today and urge them.

[Michael Barrow]

To confirm Pete Hegseth, her Secretary of.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Defense, calling on people to urge their senator to vote for Hegseth. And no prizes for guessing which senator the ads were referring to.

[Karin Demersian]

Right.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

So it's all of the above. It's the threat of big money coming in against you with Musk and his billionaire friends. It's people in the state that have real power. Brenna Bird. And then it's the most influential figures on the right who have real followings and have the ability to activate the most intense faction within the Trump base. Very unpleasant. It makes your life miserable if you're a sitting senator. And that's what comes down on you.

[Karin Demersian]

Right. And the message that they're sending her via this onslaught from all sides seems to be, Senator Ernst, if you like being in the U.S. senate as a Republican from Iowa, if you don't want us to find someone to run against you, if you don't want your phones ringing off the hook and our Trump MAGA base turning against you, you should probably just find a way to get behind Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, because then all this will probably go away.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

That's right. And none of these people would say this, but it's absolutely a fact that when pressure campaigns like this happen, there's the fear of some crazy supporter committing an act of violence or coming up to you and harassing you in person. I mean, it's a factor. It's a factor in this era.

[Karin Demersian]

So how does Ernst respond to all of this?

[Senator Joni Ernst]

I mean, I've seen these pressure campaigns before from Trump's movement, and this might be the fastest effect that I've ever seen. Met with Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth for a second time. Within 72 hours after this campaign really kicked off, she meets with him again, and she puts out this statement. And her language was unrecognizable. Quote. Following our encouraging conversations, Pete committed to completing a full audit of the Pentagon and selecting a senior official who will uphold the roles and value of our servicemen and women. He will continue, she says, to support the roles of both servicemen and women as I support Pete through this process and as I support Pete through this process. So that's, I mean, very different. She's now saying she's supporting him through this process. The second half of the statement was even more remarkable. I look forward to a fair hearing.

[Gilda Charles]

Based on truth, not anonymous sources.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

I look forward to a hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources. So that those last three words, those are the talking points of the Trump team. I mean, to say a hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources. You're essentially setting up two categories. You're saying there are statements that are true, and there are statements or accusations made by anonymous sources that are therefore false. And so by doing that, given that the accusations against Pete Hegseth are from anonymous sources, you are invalidating on its face the accusations against Pete Hegseth.

[Pete Hegseth]

The fact that she's willing to support me through this process means a lot.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

And pretty quickly, we saw Hegseth make some comments that indicate that he seems to believe he's got her vote.

[Pete Hegseth]

And I also want an opportunity here to clarify comments that have been misconstrued that I somehow don't support women in the military.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Now, it's worth noting, in this statement, Hegseth also seemed to back off his earlier position about not supporting women in the military.

[Pete Hegseth]

Some of our greatest warriors, our best warriors out there, are women.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

And Ernst says this is based on a pledge he made to her in that second meeting. It's all a little vague, but essentially, this is why she claims she's softening her position on him, that he's made concessions on issues that matter to her. And to be clear, she's still not coming right out and saying he absolutely has her vote. But she certainly seems to have reversed course and put herself in a situation where, at this point, it's very hard to imagine her backing out. She would, if she did that, be a pariah with the MAGA base. They would make sure of that. And just from her actions so far, it seems pretty clear that she wants to stay on the right side of the Trump movement.

[Karin Demersian]

So this ends up becoming a pretty extraordinary demonstration of the President elect's power.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Absolutely. And when I talk to people close to President Elect Trump and people who work for him, people on the outside, allies, they already see this as a resounding success. You know, they will say, look, who knows? Maybe more accusations will come out against Pete Hexeth. Maybe we end up losing four senators and he goes down. But even if that happens, they see this as a cautionary tale for Republicans. They are putting Republicans on notice that they're not going to tolerate dissent, they're not going to tolerate opposition to Donald Trump during his return to Washington. And by making such a fight of this, by publicly forcing these senators to bend the knee, they are creating a template for what we're likely to see next year as Trump tries to pass legislation, as he inevitably does controversial things that will make some senators squeamish The Trump team is sending out the message now. There will be a very steep cost if you go against Donald Trump.

[Karin Demersian]

Well, Jonathan, thank you very much.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Thanks for having me.

[Michael Barrow]

On Sunday, the Republican campaign to rally support for Pete Hegseth continued. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, said that Hegseth has agreed to release the woman who accused him of sexual assault from a confidential legal settlement. Gentlemen, that Graham told NBC News would allow his accuser to come forward publicly with her allegations and let senators evaluate whether or not they are true.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

He's given me his side of the story. It makes sense to me. I believe him. Unless somebody's willing to come forward, I think he's going to get through.

[Michael Barrow]

We'll be right back.

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[Michael Barrow]

Need to Another day Over the weekend, South Korea's legislature voted to impeach the country's leader, President Yoon Suk Yeol, as punishment for his decision to impose martial law on the country. The vote, which immediately strips Yoon of his presidential powers, was met with cheers in the streets of South Korea's capital. Yoon's martial law decree issuing ensued on December 3 lasted only six hours, but it threw South Korea's democracy into chaos and triggered massive public protests. Yoon's fate now rests with South Korea's Constitutional Court, which will decide within the next six months whether to reinstate or formally remove him from office. Today's episode was produced by Rob Sip, Luke Vanderblug and Asta Chaturvedi, with help from Nina Feldman. It was edited by Rachel Quester and Devin Taylor, contains original music by Dan Powell, Pat McCusker and Marion Lozano, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsfurk of Wonderly. That's it for the Daily I'm Michael Balbaro. See you tomorrow.

[Instagram Representative]

Support for this podcast comes from Instagram.

[General Hyten]

My name's John and I'm a dad.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

We all use social media at home. However, I worry about it taking too.

[Jonathan Swan]

Much time, especially when the kids are.

[Senator Joni Ernst]

Trying to go to sleep.

[Instagram Representative]

Encouraging your teen to wind down at the end of the day can be tough, so parents should know that Instagram's new teen accounts automatically place teens in sleep mode. On Instagram teen accounts, Sleep mode will Turn on between 10pm and 7am which will mute notifications and send auto replies to DMs. Learn more at instagram.com teenaccounts.