Trump nominates TV host for Secretary of Defense

by  • 

Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth | Photo: Pete Hegseth

Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth | Photo: Pete Hegseth

President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, has nominated a television host for the cabinet position of Secretary of Defense.

Pete Hegseth is a co-host of the program Fox and Friends Weekends on Fox News.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Trump said:

I am honored to announce that I have nominated Pete Hegseth to serve in my Cabinet as The Secretary of Defense. Pete has spent his entire life as Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country. Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down. Pete is a graduate of Princeton University, and has a Graduate Degree from Harvard University. He is an Army Combat Veteran who did tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan. For his actions on the battlefield, he was decorated with two Bronze Stars, as well as Combat Infantryman’s Badge. Pete has been a host at FOX News for eight years, where he used that platform to fight for our Military and Veterans. Pete’s recent book, “The War on Warriors,” spent nine weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE. The Book reveals the leftwing betrayal of our Warriors, and how we must return our Military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability, and excellence. Pete has also led two Veterans Advocacy organizations, leading the fight for our Warriors, and our great Veterans. Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our “Peace through Strength” policy.

The nomination of the television host has elicited mixed reactions on social media.

A few days back, Hegseth said on television, “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. We’ve all served with women and they’re great. It’s just — our institutions don’t have to incentivise that in places where, traditionally — not traditionally — over human history, men in those positions are more capable.” The U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, happens to be a woman.

Perhaps as a joke, Hegseth said on his television program in 2019, “I don’t think I’ve washed my hands for ten years. Really. I don’t really wash my hands ever. I inoculate myself. It’s just not — germs are not a real thing. I can’t see them, therefore they’re not real.

Hegseth, an Army National Guard captain, also published a video in which he is apparently promoting a brand of soap to the military-minded.

Hegseth is being seen as surprisingly lightweight for the office for which has been nominated, with few credentials required for serving in senior government leadership positions.

Trump was widely reported to have complained in his first term, “”I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.” Trump had also posted on his social media network Truth Social in September 2023 about a telephone call made by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Mark Milley, to his Chinese counterpart to reassure their government after the January 06, 2021 insurrection in Washington D.C.

Trump posted:

“This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH! A war between China and the United States could have been the result of this treasonous act.”

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Trump’s transition team is apparently planning a ‘Warrior Board’ of retired officers to review the performance of serving three and four-star officers and spot those that are lacking the ‘requisite leadership qualities.’

During his campaign, Trump had said he would get rid of ‘woke’ military officers. “I would fire them. You can’t have woke military, ” he said in response to questions in June about whether he would dismiss senior officers who are ‘woke.’ Presumably, a lightweight Secretary of Defense would make the removal or side-lining of such officers easier.

Hegseth said recently, “First of all you’ve got to fire the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Obviously you’ve got to bring a new Secretary of Defense, but any general that was involved — general, admiral whatever — that was involved in any of the DEI, woke shit has got to go. Either you’re in for warfighting and that’s it — and that’s the only litmus test we care about. You got to get DEI, CRT out of military academies. You’re not training young officers to be baptised in this type of thinking.”

The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee is former fighter pilot, General C.Q. Brown of the U.S. Air Force. An African-American, General Brown has consistently advocated diversity in the armed forces.

Discover more from StratPost

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

So what do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.