Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.) is one of the most effective conservatives in the Senate. Republicans should remember that before joining the ridiculous pile-on over his questioning of Jack Smith last week.
Schmitt asked whether Smith had attended an Atlanta Hawks game. Smith said he had instead attended an Iowa women’s basketball game at Maryland. Better research would have avoided the exchange, and Schmitt should have established the facts first. These things happen in congressional hearings. However, what’s important about this is that every single Senate staffer will tell you that the same sort of thing has happened to their boss at some point.
At risk of overdwelling on the details, the claim that Schmitt confused the Hawks with the Hawkeyes, while entertaining, is not actually right. CNN reported that his team reviewed texts mentioning a “basketball game” and checked NBA and men’s college schedules, missing the women’s game. The texts named neither team. That supports a research mistake, although not the name confusion.
Even accepting everything the critics say, this rates a two or a three on a ten-point scale of bad Senate committee questions. And the blowback has been absurd.
Schmitt’s Judiciary Committee colleague Sen. Mazie Hirono (D., Hawaii.) regularly competes for the eights and nines. Remember her questions about whether a judicial nominee’s Knights of Columbus membership compromised his impartiality and whether he would leave the organization?
Then Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) had some doozies, too. She pressed Brett Kavanaugh about conversations concerning Robert Mueller’s investigation with anyone at the Kasowitz law firm, then prolonged the insinuation rather than identify whom she meant.
Schmitt’s other questions were solid. He pressed Smith on Justice Department consultations, the timing of an indictment and his prosecutorial record. He has been a leader in fighting lawfare, and conservatives need senators willing to demand accountability.
More importantly, Schmitt has delivered as a conservative star.
He led the fight to get the DOGE spending cuts codified into law and convinced the moderates to get on board. leading approximately $9 billion in rescissions through the Senate and into law.
He speaks to both the MAGA and establishment wings of the party. Conservatives know he will fight.
We are biased because we constantly work directly with Schmitt and his team. But their reputation as an extremely effective office is deserved.
He is also among the senators most willing to promote his colleagues. He backs their work, goes after the left, and pushes for shared wins.
Some of the attacks against him are just the nature of the game. Funny moments happen in Senate hearings and people laugh at them. But some of them are also by design to diminish one of our best senators. Don’t fall into that trap.
Eric Schmitt is a great senator. He may go on to be Judiciary Committee Chair, Majority Leader, Attorney General, a Supreme Court Justice, or even Vice President. His impact on conservatism is just getting started.
