President-elect Donald Trump nominated Army veteran and Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon on Tuesday — and as you’d expect, all the worst people are livid.
Shortly after the announcement, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., took a break from smoking her peace pipe to shoot off a tweet complaining that the “Fox & Friends Weekend” co-host “is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense.”
“Donald Trump’s pick will make us less safe and must be rejected,” wrote Warren, who’s never served in the military but felt compelled to attack a two-time Bronze Star recipient who deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, has publicly advocated for reforms at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and holds degrees from Princeton and Harvard Universities.
The message from the Democrat senator’s smoke signal was quickly received by America’s irreparably broken corporate media. Within hours, so-called “journalists” denigrated the pick while omitting mention of Hegseth’s military service.
“In a sign he has been making his cabinet selections while watching TV, Trump picks Fox anchor Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense,” CNN’s Jim Acosta wrote on X.
MSNBC’s Joy Reid took her degeneracy a step further, ignoring Hegseth’s military record and asserting that Trump “is moving quickly to fill” what she called his “clown car” cabinet.
“Moments ago, Trump announced that he has selected Fox weekend morning show host — you can’t make this up — Pete Hegseth to serve as secretary of defense, ’cause why not?” Reid said.
Why the seemingly coordinated effort to delegitimize Hegseth and his service? While the left’s hatred for Trump and anyone associated with him is certainly part of it, the best answer was unintentionally revealed by the Democrat Party mouthpiece known as Politico.
In its Tuesday night hit piece on Hegseth, authors Joe Gould, Robbie Gramer, Paul McLeary, Connor O’Brien, and Jack Detsch published critical remarks from an anonymous defense lobbyist, who gave the game away by lamenting how the Trump nominee isn’t embedded in D.C.’s military-industrial complex.
“Who the f-ck is this guy?” the source reportedly said. The lobbyist wanted “someone who actually has an extensive background in defense. That would be a good start.”
The authors went on to fearmonger that Hegseth’s nomination “will do little to quell fears inside the Pentagon” that the former president will select a defense secretary who agrees with his agenda — something presidents have been doing for centuries. They also noted, “Trump’s campaign trail rhetoric has primed fears that his second term could see a swift and divisive overhaul at the Pentagon.”
Got that? The left’s problem with Hegseth isn’t that he’s a Fox News commentator. It’s that he’s someone from outside the incestuous government-defense contractor system who actually cares about the men and women in uniform.
For years, the left-wing bureaucracy running the Pentagon has created an unchecked apparatus that’s destroyed the effectiveness of America’s armed forces. Meritocracy and efficiency have been replaced with overzealous obsessions with neo-Marxist ideologies and racist DEI policies. Ensuring peace and completing obtainable missions have similarly been sidelined in favor of never-ending military adventurism and decisions that line the pocketbooks of the defense lobby.
For all of their unhinged outrage about his nomination, Hegseth understands the biggest problems plaguing the military better than the Democrats and media hacks calling him “unqualified.”
During his recent interview with fellow veteran Shawn Ryan, the Army veteran eloquently explained how the sole purpose of the military should be winning wars — not conducting left-wing social experiments. He further chastised the Pentagon bureaucracy for its ineptitude and detailed the ongoing threat that Red China poses to the United States and the global security environment.
“I know there were mistakes made on our tours all over the place. But I, at least for the most part, had a sense that my senior leaders were committed to the completion of the mission for the right reasons, and maybe there were strategic differences and all that other stuff,” Hegseth said. “And it wasn’t always perfect, but … that trust is broken. And you have to reestablish that trust by putting in no-nonsense warfighters in those positions who aren’t going to cater to the socially correct garbage.”
For the left, Hegseth’s biggest crime is his willingness to buck the corrupt system that’s been allowed to fester in D.C. for decades. Unlike many of his predecessors, he understands that the men and women who wear the uniform are devoted human beings and not pawns in a geopolitical chess match that can be cast aside to fulfill the wants of the Pentagon blob that’s shepherded Washington’s failed foreign policy for decades.
His outsider status makes him a threat to the bureaucratic rot infecting the highest levels of the military. And that’s the reason he’s the perfect man for the job.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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