Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead a dysfunctional and seemingly incompetent Defense Department, starts his confirmation hearing at 9:30 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday (Pete Hegseth Nominated to be Secretary of Defense). While not as controversial as Tulsi Gabbard, the nominee for Director of National Intelligence, Hegseth’s lack of relevant experience and the stories about questionable conduct involving alcohol and women, combined with his documented hostility to DEI and women in close combat roles, made him an early target for the left.
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A lot has changed since the early days. Hegseth’s interviews with GOP Senators seem to have locked in enough partisan support to put his nomination on the Senate floor. The vote is expected to be close, with perhaps as many as three GOP senators voting against the nomination. On the other hand, he could pick up a handful of Democrat votes, Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman among them.
These are the major lines of attack to expect during the hearing.
Hegseth doesn’t have the experience to lead the Department of Defense.
Hegseth has not led a large or complex organization. He doesn’t have experience in government. Expect to hear this refrain over and over. This is a fairly flimsy attack. It is true, but it is meaningless. Expect to see his resume contrasted to those of Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, Mark Esper, or Ashton Carter. If you just said, “Who the hell are they when they are up and dressed?” you would be with the vast majority of Americans and members of the Armed Forces. The idea is that Hegseth will not have the credibility to move the Pentagon, and his confirmation will send a signal to our enemies that we are weak and vulnerable. What no one will mention is the record of Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star general, who will be remembered as the most inept and bumbling person ever to be named Secretary of Defense.
Hegseth doesn’t have to be the master of the Byzantine practices in the Pentagon. He has deputies for that. He needs to set the cultural tone that will get the US military back in the business of fighting wars and out of the business of being a jobs program for sexual deviants and a prep school for up-and-coming Marxists. He needs to fire a truckload of weak and woke generals and admirals and replace them with warfighters. He needs to purge our military academies of professors pushing racial and class grievances into the classrooms (YES! Pete Hegseth Takes Aim at Gender Ideology in Service Academies. – RedState). He needs to ensure our weapons systems increase lethality and not just the prospect of a seven-figure job on the board of a Defense contractor for some bureaucrat.
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Hegseth led men in combat. He can do the same in the Pentagon.
Hegseth doesn’t have the character to lead the Department of Defense.
The critique here will be that Hegeth’s opposition to women in direct combat roles and lack of support for DEI (The Pentagon’s DEI Mafia Has Set Their Sights on Saving Themselves From Pete Hegseth – RedState) combined with his former reputation as a womanizer and rowdy drunk will damage the morale in the Armed Forces. Also, expect to hear doubts about his “Christian nationalist” leanings (HOT TAKES: AP Tries a ‘Breathtaking,’ Anti-Catholic Attack on Pete Hegseth, and People Aren’t Having It – RedState) and his support of American servicemen accused of war crimes.
These sins will hurt feelings in some quarters of the military, but he will be a breath of fresh air to most.
Hegseth’s focus on cultural battles will distract Defense from its mission.
Nations come back from lost wars and economic disasters. They don’t come back from cultural collapse. I would contend that the primary challenge facing the US military is that the military ethos and warrior spirit needed to prevail in combat is being eroded at a staggering rate. Unless Hegseth can stop that and get back to first things, nothing else matters.
Elisabeth Warren.
Elizabeth Warren is on the warpath and out to collect Hegeseth’s scalp. In her words:
“Pete Hegseth is the least qualified nominee for Secretary of Defense we’ve ever had. How can we let a guy with a track record of being drunk at work events and harassing his female employees be in charge of the military? We’re also going to make him answer to the thousands of highly qualified women in our military who he believes should be barred from combat – that belief alone should disqualify him from the job.”
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Expect her to lead the Democrat war dance.
BACKGROUND:
Elizabeth Warren Gets Demolished After She Blasts Trump’s SecDef Pick – RedState
His FBI background investigation came back clean, so any hope of major skeleton in his closet seems to have evaporated though the danger of a Kavanaugh-esqe mystery guest is always possible.
Expect fireworks, but in the end, expect Pete Hegseth to do what needs to be done to get a majority vote from the Senate Armed Services Committee.