By The Editorial Board
Last week saw the Senate confirmation hearings of many of Donald Trump’s cabinet picks. Senators heard remarks from the likes of Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for defense secretary, and Pam Bondi, Matt Gaetz’s replacement for attorney general.
In many moments, the appointees were standoffish and answered very few questions. Any allegations made against them, such as the sexual assault allegations that Hegseth faces, were explained away as media smear campaigns rather than legitimate concerns to investigate further. It was a circus of finger-pointing and deflection, and coming to Hegseth’s defense was Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, who posited that Hegseth’s alleged drunkenness on the job would be OK, seeing as (apparently) some members of Congress show up to vote while intoxicated.
“How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night?” Mullin asked. “Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign for their job? And don’t tell me you haven’t seen it, because I know you have.”
Yikes.
Here’s a thought — perhaps none of that is OK. Both things can be true, that Hegseth is unqualified and unfit for the job, and some members of Congress probably fit that bill as well. But two wrongs don’t make a right, and just because some lawmakers show up to government proceedings after a couple of beers doesn’t make that acceptable for the leader of the Pentagon, either.
Anonymous tales of word-slurring senators and rowdy representatives only serve to distract from the real point of these confirmation hearings. Essentially, they are job interviews, wherein the senators stand in for the American people as the future employer of these appointees. They are elected representatives for the nearly 335 million Americans who ask the questions themselves. When asked by Sen. Tammy Duckworth — a disabled combat veteran — if he could name any of the countries in the Alliance of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an important union of U.S. allies, Hegseth said that he was aware that America is allied with Japan, South Korea and Australia.
None of those countries are among the 10 members of the alliance.
Let’s take a look at Hegseth’s extensive resume. This is, after all, a job interview. After graduating from Princeton University in 2003 in the Army ROTC program, Hegseth joined the Minnesota National Guard, then rose to the rank of major in the Army National Guard, the eighth-highest rank of 11 possible ranks for an officer. Hegseth deployed three times and served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. The Associated Press reports that in 2021, he was removed from the team of national guardsmen tasked to secure Joe Biden’s inauguration after a fellow service member tagged him as a possible “insider threat” due to his tattoos, which have historically white nationalist ties.
Rewind to 2012. Hegseth ran an unsuccessful Senate campaign and dropped out before the Republican primaries. Two years later, he became a contributor to Fox News, and in 2017, he became a co-host on Fox & Friends, a daytime television program. It was during his stint as a TV personality when he racked up allegations of on-set drunkenness. Also in 2017, Hegseth was accused of sexual assault by a woman who said he took her phone and blocked the door to a hotel room to prevent her from leaving. The woman was paid a settlement. Hegseth’s own mother once said he was “an abuser of women” in a 2018 email obtained by The New York Times.
“You are an abuser of women – that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego,” the email reads.
Though she has since recanted those statements, they’re hard words to unhear, no matter if they were written “in anger, with emotion.”
His less-than-stellar opinion of women is corroborated by the fact that in his book, “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” he said “dads push us to take risks. Moms put the training wheels on our bikes. We need moms. But not in the military, especially in combat units.” In an interview on Nov. 7, he made this statement:
“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated.”
Two months later, here we are. Hegseth took the stand to say he does, in fact, believe women belong in the military. But, what reason has he given anyone to believe that this is the truth? What might have changed between November and now? A sparkly promotion lies within his reach, and he knows he can have it if he just tells a little fib.
Knowing all of this, why on earth would Trump want this guy leading the Pentagon, a staff of 27,000 people, without one ounce of real managerial or senior military experience? The answer isn’t that Trump is a mastermind with a grand plan and that he sees something special in Hegseth that the American public can’t. Everyone can see what Trump sees in Hegseth. Blind loyalty. Unwavering faith in the president. Willingness to execute any and every order, no matter how cruel, no matter how illegal. Qualifications? Experience? All of that is secondary.
It matters very little if you like Hegseth’s politics or you don’t. We should all be able to recognize that a seasoned military leader with senior experience is desperately needed. Rhetoric isn’t enough. Words alone don’t win wars. Leadership qualities, knowledge of military tactic, and a high level of experience do. As it stands, Hegseth hasn’t shown that he has any of these traits, and defense secretary is too important a position to roll the dice on an outside hire.
