An internal GOP schism over President Trump’s nomination of Elbridge Colby to serve as the Pentagon’s undersecretary for policy is spilling out into the public, prompting an intervention from Vice President JD Vance.
Colby, 45, an alumnus of the first administration, has been a proponent of shifting US military focus away from the Middle East and toward China. But his history of suggesting that Iran obtaining nuclear weapons shouldn’t be a red line for the US has rattled some GOP lawmakers.
Republican defense hawks like Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), among others, have privately raised concerns about Colby’s nomination, which Trump announced in December.
A source familiar explained that the senators have “concerns with specific comments involving whether it is tolerable to live with a nuclear Iran.”
“Members are working to ensure all Defense nominees share Trump’s position that Iran must not get a nuke, and they’re working to resolve this with meetings and a hearing over next few weeks,” the source explained to The Post.
Another source told The Post that some of the critics opposed to the nom had started a whisper campaign against Colby — but none have been willing to step forward publicly.
“The effort to undermine President Trump continues in the US Senate @SenTomCotton is working behind the scenes to stop Trump’s pick, Elbridge Colby, from getting confirmed at DOD,” pundit Charlie Kirk raged on X Sunday.
“Colby is one of the most important pieces to stop the Bush/Cheney cabal at DOD.”
Cotton opted against publicly reacting to Kirk’s attacks and his office didn’t respond to inquiries from The Post.
Kirk’s excoriation prompted Tablet Magazine newsletter writer Park MacDougald to argue Colby could be perceived as having had roots in the “Obama Democratic Party” by starting out at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank where many former Obama administration officials landed.
Colby is a registered Republican who worked as the deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development during the first Trump administration.
“This is a very bad take from a normally thoughtful person,” Vance replied to MacDougald’s critique. “Bridge has consistently been correct about the big foreign policy debates of the last 20 years.”
Vance praised Colby’s adherence to foreign policy realism — a philosophy in which countries focus on their self-interests rather than values. The veep also underscored Colby’s opposition to the second Iraq War and ripped into accusations of him being a democrat as “sloppy BS.”
The vice president further lauded Colby as a “friend” who “should be easily confirmed.”
“Of course, no one who’s written as much as he has over the last 20 years is going to get everything right,” Vance added. “But what would you rather have in the government? A cautious bureaucrat who never has an original thought? Or a genuinely brilliant strategic thinker? Easy choice!”
Elsewhere, key conservative pundits have also fractured over Colby’s nomination, including radio host Mark Levin, who fired back at Kirk for dunking on Cotton.
“Sorry Charlie,” Levin rebutted on X. “It is the unequivocal position of President Trump and every sane person that Iran must not get nukes.”
“If this guy has no problem with it, he’s the problem not Cotton. He’s out of sync not Cotton. He’s undermining national security not Cotton.”
So far a confirmation hearing for Colby has not been scheduled.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) has acknowledged to multiple media outlets that “there are concerns” among members of the panel about Colby.
Still, several lawmakers such as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) have praised him.
“Bridge is one of the brightest defense minds in the country. He understands the China threat and will be an important America First ally for President Trump at the Pentagon,” Banks wrote on X last month.
Colby had asserted that it is “eminently plausible and practical” to constrain a nuclear-powered Iran, and has been critical of calls to target Tehran’s nuclear program.
Trump has generally been a hardliner against Iran, reinstituting his maximum-pressure campaign on the Shia regime earlier this month.
The 47th president has put forward a number of picks for his next administration that have drawn skepticism from some Republicans.
So far no pick has faltered. Notably, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) withdrew from consideration to become US attorney general and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth required a tiebreaker to clear the Senate.
