You’ve got to admire the sheer gall it takes to block a wounded war hero’s appointment right before Memorial Day weekend — a time when the nation pauses to honor those who served and sacrificed. But that’s exactly what Senate Democrats, led by Richard Blumenthal and Ruben Gallego, are doing to Sam Brown — a decorated Army captain and Purple Heart recipient who was nearly burned alive for this country. His crime? Apparently, being nominated under a Republican administration and daring to want to clean up the bureaucratic mess that is today’s VA.
Sam Brown isn’t just another suit and tie looking for a desk job. The man bled for this country — literally. Burned over a third of his body in Afghanistan, he knows the meaning of service, sacrifice, and the kind of care veterans need when they come home broken. He was nominated to help lead the Department of Veterans Affairs’ memorial affairs division — you know, the one that handles 100,000 veteran burials a year. Honoring the dead with dignity should be the least controversial job on the planet, but not in today’s Senate circus.
Instead, Democrats like Blumenthal — the same guy Trump nicknamed “Da Nang Dick” for exaggerating his Vietnam service — are torpedoing Brown’s confirmation over “concerns” that sound more like something pulled from a Reddit thread than serious governance. One source even called them “DOGE-type” objections. The irony is delicious: a man who lied about being in Vietnam is now blocking an actual combat veteran from helping other veterans — right before Memorial Day. Try to wrap your head around that one.
Veterans’ groups are rightly livid. Twenty-four of them penned a letter urging the Senate to quit the partisan games and confirm Brown and two other nominees — Marine Lt. Col. James Baehr and Army vet Richard Topping — all of whom passed committee muster. Vietnam Veterans of America, Independence Fund, and others are essentially begging the Senate to just do its job. They’ve even offered to bring coffee and donuts if that’s what it takes to get a vote. Maybe that’s what we’ve come to — democracy powered by pastries.
But no, Senators Blumenthal and Gallego are too busy nursing their grudge against Trump-era policies to actually focus on what matters — competent leadership and care for veterans. Gallego says he’s worried about “mass firings” and wants to reverse “hack-job” layoffs. Apparently, he thinks the biggest threat to the VA isn’t decades of dysfunction but three appointees with military pedigrees and records of service.
Sam Brown is a combat-wounded Veteran President Trump nominated to lead @DeptVetAffairs cemeteries. Unfortunately, @SenBlumenthal and @SenRubenGallego are blocking his confirmation to score cheap political points. Awful behavior, senators. pic.twitter.com/p837Fp2Obp
— VA Secretary Doug Collins (@SecVetAffairs) May 19, 2025
And then there’s Senator Angus King, a so-called Independent who can’t pass up an opportunity to side with the obstructionist wing when it really counts. He’s now the third stooge in this anti-vet vendetta, blocking qualified candidates because… oversight? That’s rich coming from a Congress that rubber-stamped every spending bill under the sun for the last five years without reading the fine print.
What this really comes down to is that Democrats can’t stomach the idea of Republican leadership making the VA more efficient. Secretary Doug Collins put it bluntly: Blumenthal and Gallego are more concerned about political optics than actual outcomes. And he’s right. If these senators cared half as much about fixing the VA as they do about partisan posturing, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Veterans wouldn’t be waiting for appointments, benefits wouldn’t be stuck in bureaucratic quicksand, and we wouldn’t have to beg Congress to let heroes like Sam Brown serve again — this time in a suit instead of a uniform.
This isn’t about accountability. It’s about power, pettiness, and an absolute tone-deafness to what Memorial Day is supposed to stand for. Veterans deserve leaders who understand their pain and their sacrifice — not politicians too obsessed with settling old scores to get out of their own way.
When partisan politics delays a hero’s duty to support other heroes, it’s not just a Senate issue—it’s a national failure. Sam Brown’s VA nomination should be above delay. Honor our veterans by valuing their chosen leaders.
— Tiffany Gentry (@tgentry68) May 26, 2025
Confirm Sam Brown. Confirm the others. And for once, let common sense and respect for service outweigh Washington’s addiction to political theater.
