This is the Cabinet??? (3)
/Hegseth for Defense: absolutely terrifying!
His selection for this leadership role makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? He’s talked a lot on television for the past ten years, and he’s been involved in conservative politics all his adult life. Oh, and he did serve in the National Guard, and he was executive director of two veteran-support organizations – uh... two political veterans organizations – sorry. This Trump cabinet pick, beyond all the others I’ve researched so far, is beyond ridiculous; this one will keep me awake at night.
Damn it! I served in the military more actively than Hegseth did! I was a US Army wife every single day for 16 consecutive years, moving my family 18 times, actually living military life. And I’d never expect to be Secretary of Defense. And, yes, I also used to be on TV regularly – every weekday, in fact. I produced and hosted a little daily show in Savannah, Georgia (because that’s where the Army told me to live), and, no, I didn’t get paid for it – it was a public service program. But it sure didn’t qualify me to be Secretary of Defense. Who is this guy?! Well, let’s find out. As always, I will try to calm down and report the facts as objectively as possible... (deep breath), starting, as usual, with Wikipedia.
As a National Guardsman Hegseth served in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan. He supported Trump’s 2016 candidacy and was “an occasional adviser” throughout the first Trump term. Originally from Minnesota, he graduated high school as class valedictorian. He earned his BA from Princeton, where he wrote for the Princeton Tory, including a 2002 declaration that he "strove to defend the pillars of Western civilization against the distractions of diversity." He has a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard. He joined the Minnesota National Guard after graduating from Princeton and volunteered for duty in Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan; he received several impressive medals of commendation and left active duty as a major.
Hegseth was a member of the National Guard when Joe Biden was inaugurated and one of the 12 guardsmen flagged as potential insider threats and removed from the inaugural security detail. He had volunteered for this duty. However, it was revealed that his bicep bears a tattoo widely considered white supremacist, and he was asked to stay home. Hegseth has, in his fourth book, re-interpreted this incident to be related to a Christian tattoo, and explains that is why he resigned from the Guard in disgust in March 2021. It appears to me that he served a total of about 13 years, some on active duty, some in the Individual Ready Reserve.
Once he returned from Iraq, Hegseth served diligently in conservative organizations, first a think tank, and then the Vets for Freedom, which has raised millions of dollars for Republican candidates. In 2012 he left the Vets organization and founded a political action committee (PAC). A report from American Public Media asserts that, as the leader of this nonprofit, Hegseth directed one-third of its budget to Christmas parties for families and friends (legal in Minnesota). The PAC is said to have spent less than half its funding on candidates, and it closed its account with the state board after six years.
Hegseth was also executive director of Concerned Veterans for America, funded by the Koch brothers. It advocated for greater privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs, an agency he was considered to lead during the first Trump administration. Hegseth hired his brother to work for the non-profit for a salary of $108,000. He ran for US Senate in 2012 but withdrew from the race.
Hegseth became a contributor to Fox News in 2014. In 2018 the network aired a telephone interview between him and Donald Trump.
In 2015 Hegseth participated in an axe throwing activity in honor of Flag Day and accidentally hit a West Point drummer. Three years later the drummer filed suit on the basis of his ongoing injuries and disfigurement.
It was reported by several sources in 2019 that Hegseth had been lobbying Trump to pardon several US service members who had been convicted of war crimes, including shooting indiscriminately at civilians (and hitting two) and fatally stabbing a teenage ISIS member who was receiving medical treatment. In his Fox News reporting, however, Hegseth discussed the cases at length without mentioning his own involvement in them. Shortly before Trump’s announcement of the pardons, though, Hegseth announced on Fox that “imminent action” in the cases was at hand.
Hegseth left Fox News shortly after his recent nomination for Secretary of Defense.
Just two years ago Hegseth published a book called American Crusade in which he discusses “internal enemies” and claims "irreconcilable differences between the Left and the Right in America leading to perpetual conflict that cannot be resolved through the political process,” and calling for a “holy war.” He has said in interviews about his book that our founders did not intend for us to be a democracy, and the conviction to be one is simply a leftist demand. Prior to the 2020 election, he predicted civil war if the Democrats won, and he called for conservatives to "mock, humiliate, intimidate, and crush our leftist opponents." He has described progressives as “enemies” of freedom, the US Constitution and America. He calls for the end of globalism and environmentalism, among other things, and promotes the border wall, tariffs, and the need for everyone to learn English.
Hegseth has expressed a preference for colleges to teach about a real threat, such as Islamic extremism, rather than about environmentalism. He now refers to his alma mater, Harvard, as a “critical theory” institution that poisons young peoples’ minds, making them believe America is an evil place. He appears to share Trump’s disgust for our NATO allies, which he calls “impotent.” As for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he said it “pales in comparison to ‘wokeness,’” and he has criticized US aid to Ukraine.
This man completely supports Israel, calling Israelis “God’s chosen people,” and opposes a two-state solution on the West Bank. He has said he expects that Israel can help the US defeat its domestic enemies: leftists, progressives, and Democrats. It seems clear, in American Crusade, that Hegseth has absolutely no respect for Muslims, perhaps for any non-Christian, suggesting that Islamists intend to “wipe American and Israel off the map.”
And his take on other contemporary issues is absolutely terrifying. In February 2020, as Covid was spreading, he charged that Democrats were “rooting for Coronavirus to spread. They're rooting for it to grow. They're rooting for the problem to get worse." A few weeks later he urged people to contract the virus to build immunity. When the Omicron variant surfaced, he said it was created by Democrats to help win the 2022 midterms.
And his position on the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol? He called the attackers patriots who were “re-awoken to the reality of what the left has done" to our country.
Soon after Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense was announced, an allegation surfaced of a payoff from him to a woman who says he raped her, a new issue that has not, as of this writing, been fully reconciled. Apparently she did report the assault to police in Monterey, California, in 2017, but there was no prosecution, and Hegseth paid for her silence. Reports of the 2017 incident, which took place at a gathering of Republican women at which Hegseth was a guest speaker, suggest he behaved inappropriately with several women. This particular woman who filed the police complaint offered evidence that she had been drugged at the hotel bar where she and a group of women joined Hegseth. He acknowledges that they had sex, but claims it was consensual. His attorney claims the payoff was to save his career from “blackmail”
Finally, if this man is going to become Secretary of Defense, what is his attitude toward the American military? He has said he wants to fire the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and purge the military of “woke” leadership, claiming anyone “that was involved in any of the DEI, woke shit has got to go.” He calls the slogan of the US military – “our diversity is our strength” – the “dumbest phrase on planet Earth.” He is widely known for opposing women in combat roles, and he also apparently is opposed to any transgender troops in the military.
Finally, a quick look at the books Hegseth has authored:
American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free (2020). The promo says “learn how to protect our nation from the leftist agenda,” from those “who demand socialism, globalism, secularism, and politically-correct elitism.” It goes on to call him an “old-school patriot.”
In the Arena (2016). Said to be a “roadmap for rejecting decline and forging another American century,” it explains how we can renew our imperiled American experiment and save the free world.
Modern Warriors (2020). A collection of 15 stories about “highly decorated Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, marines, Purple Heart recipients, combat pilots, a Medal of Honor recipient, and more—based on FOX Nation’s hit show of the same name.”
Battle for the American Mind (with David Goodwin) (2022). “A revolutionary road map to saving our children from leftist indoctrination. Behind a smokescreen of ‘preparing students for the new industrial economy,’ early progressives had political control in mind.” (an attack on the public schools of the US, a quick look suggests)
The War on Warriors (2024). “The military Pete joined twenty years ago was fiercely focused on lethality, competency, and color blindness. Today our brass are following the rest of our country off the cliff of cultural chaos and weakness.” The book “uncovers the deep roots of our dysfunction... dangers that the Left pretends don’t exist... We have only one Pentagon. Either we take it back or surrender it altogether.”
And now, knowing all that, how should I feel about the possibility this man will soon hold one of the highest leadership roles in the federal government? I am terrified. As much as I try to be objective and fair, I cannot believe that any American of sound mind would want this hate-filled man in a position of power, especially at the helm of our military. Even conservatives who voted for Donald Trump in the recent election can surely see that Pete Hegseth is irrational, not at all committed to democracy, unable to tolerate (much less cooperate with) anyone who sees the world any differently than he does. I am alarmed.