Witness at confirmation hearing says longstanding institutions face a "purposeful attack"

A witness told members of the 2025 Confirmation Hearings Collection that longstanding social institutions have been "under attack" and characterized those attacks as deliberate efforts to undermine Western culture.

The witness said "these institutions in society, the institutions that have been built for over 1000 years have been under attack... They've been under a purposeful attack," and accused "radicals and revolutionaries" of publishing works aimed at subverting American values. The speaker named business, government, family and church as core institutions and said the individual is the "ultimate part" those institutions protect.

The witness tied collectivist ideologies to historical violence, saying, "What this is what happens and what resulted in over 100000000 deaths across the world," a numeric claim offered by the speaker without a source in the record. The speaker also called the church "the bulwark against that, the bastion against that," framing religious institutions as central defenders of social order.

The remarks appeared as part of testimony delivered in the hearing record; the speaker did not cite specific studies or sources to substantiate the historical casualty figure or the list of authors they referenced. The exchange consisted of a single extended statement by the witness and did not include direct rebuttal or supporting evidence in the transcript.