“Fox & Friends Weekend” Host for SECDEF
No, I am not kidding.
The AP reports: Trump builds out national security team with picks of Hegseth for Pentagon, Noem for DHS.
Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show.
If confirmed by the Senate, he would inherit the top job during a series of global crises — ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies to the push for a cease-fire between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea.
Hegseth is also the author of “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” published earlier this year, and has been outspoken about rooting out what he has called “woke-ness” in the military.
The book, according to its promo, combines “his own war experiences, tales of outrage, and an incisive look at how the chain of command got so kinked,” and bills itself as “the key to saving our warriors — and winning future wars.”
Well, that certainly sounds like someone who should be in charge of the largest bureaucracy in Washington.
This is decidedly the type of appointee that I feared and screams #6 on my list, . He is utterly unqualified for the position, and it is a position of central importance.
Hegseth was an infantry captain in the Army National Guard and served overseas in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and he unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012.
He also championed the case of four former Blackwater contractors convicted in a 2007 shooting rampage in Baghdad that killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians. They were pardoned by Trump in one of his final acts in office.
That’s not comforting in the least.
“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,” Trump said in a statement. “Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.”
I would love for one of our Trump-supporting regulars to justify this appointment. This is literally one of the most important jobs in the world where the stakes could not be higher.
This a not the appointment of a serious and responsible administration.
Let me add that the NYT‘s response to this choice suggests they haven’t learned much: “The choice of Mr. Hegseth was outside the norm of the traditional defense secretary.”
I think that this calls for more than just classifying it as “outside the norm of the traditional defense secretary.”
If an NFL team hired a guy to be the head coach who played some college ball and was a weekend Sportscenter anchor, I think that the reportage would be more than just what an “outside the norm” of a choice it was.
More from their write-up:
A Minnesota native, Mr. Hegseth graduated from Princeton University, where he was the publisher of The Princeton Tory, a conservative magazine, for which he wrote about seeing the statue of Saddam Hussein toppled in Baghdad in 2003.
“Conservative ideas have worked, do work and will continue to work,” Mr. Hegseth wrote. “The list is long: A strong military is absolutely essential to bringing long-term peace and stability to the world.”
He holds a master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, according to Fox.
This is not what I would call comforting analysis.
Mr. Hegseth’s book, the New York Times best-seller “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” was published in June. “Our ‘elites’ are like the feckless drug-addled businessmen at Nakatomi Plaza, looking down on Bruce Willis’s John McClane in ‘Die Hard,’” Mr. Hegseth wrote in the book. “But there will come a day when they realize they need John McClane — that in fact their ability to live in peace and prosperity has always depended on guys like him being honorable, powerful and deadly.”
US national defense policy is not a Hollywood movie.
Trump despises the military.
The soldiers who voted for him are chumps.
Hesgeth, Noem, Musk, Rubio, Stefanik, Ramaswamy, Zeldin …. Trump only has “one move.” If you loved the 2016-2020 spectacle, stay tuned. Gearing up for s*** show 2.0.
Comment deleted for being unserious and nothing more than an attempt to derail the discussion. If you want to engage, engage. But no thread derailing.
Excuse us, the adults are talking here. Why don’t you go back and wait for Tucker to give you something more substantial to say?
Hesgeth has been married three times, cheating on at least one of them. He’s a failure at being a man, just like the guy who nominated him.
The only positive thing I can say is that at least he has actual combat deployments. At 44, he would just be a bit older than Rumsfeld, who has kept the crown as the youngest SECDEF in the history of the position, but he doesn’t have the resume Rumsfeld had.
Not a good pick. Even with the GoP advantage in the Senate, I would not be surprised if he can’t get confirmed.
@Andy: Do you actually believe there is a single Republican who will defy Trump?
This is not as reassuring as you imagine. The Republicans are breaking in a new Senate Majority Leader and are not yet committed to Speaker Johnson continuing. The caucus apparently wants the same deal for him that they got from his predecessor. Good times!
John F Kennedy appointed his 35-year-old brother, who had never argued a case in court before, attorney general.
@bonchieredstate
Joe Biden appointed Pete Buttigieg as Secretary of Transportation because he likes choo choos. Spare me the hand-wringing.
@Paul L.:
You don’t seem to understand how Right and Wrong work. Here’s the thing: the fact that some other person did a thing, does not justify other people doing the thing. For example, the fact that Jeffrey Dahmer killed guys, cut off their dicks and ate them, does not mean it will be okay when Trump kills a guy, cuts off his dick and eats it.
And the Department of Transportation is not the fucking Defense Department.
What more could anyone want in a Defense Secretary?
This is the type of bold, forward thinking nomination that puts our global adversaries on notice, and makes sure they know that we’re a country of unserious dipshits.
Also, it’s a terrible snub of Tucker Carlson.
I could stretch his qualifications to say he was a reasonable pick for a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense position, but it would be hard. He’s not even remotely qualified for SECDEF.
The least-qualified people, in terms of CV, who have served since I’ve been paying close attention are Chuck Hagel (two terms in the Senate with modest accomplishments but service on both the Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees), Leon Panetta (long service in the House but a domestic policy specialist but then White House Chief of Staff and a short stint as CIA Director), Dick Cheney (White House Chief of Staff, a decade in the House doing mostly domestic policy), and Cap Weinberger (OMB Director, HEW Secretary). Hegseth is far, far less qualified than any of them. It’s an absurdity.
Assuming for the moment that this isn’t a case of float someone unqualified to get some else through as “not as bad in comparison” this is an example of why Trump may be focusing on recess appointments as I noted in my other post.
To @Andy’s point I think there are*just* enough Republicans who would object to this to make it difficult to get it through.
“Let me add that the NYT‘s response to this choice suggests they haven’t learned much: “The choice of Mr. Hegseth was outside the norm of the traditional defense secretary.””
There’s a fascinating pattern with the Times — when they used to write about Biden’s policy or personnel proposals, they always included several paragraphs on the reasons they might not work or the objections from Republicans. They’re reporting Trump’s like they’re just printing the press release.
@Michael Reynolds: “Do you actually believe there is a single Republican who will defy Trump?”
I know you were asking Andy, but my answer is that there will be one: Lisa Murkowski. And of course Susan Collins will issue all sorts of concerned utterances before giving in to him entirely.
@James Joyner: Isn’t a position like SecDef primarily a managerial position? Now being given to a man who has absolutely zero experience managing anything more than a chatshow conversation?
@Matt Bernius:
Really. Lindsay Graham is going to fight Trump. Uh huh, sure. If Graham ever seriously opposes Trump, Trump will call him a queer. Graham won’t even try.
Trump has nothing but contempt for the military. He’ll slap sanctions on China, but I do not believe he will fight. Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and maybe Australia need to start building nukes. Anyone who trusts in the US as an ally is a fool.
So half a dozen total between the House and Senate? Not as reassuring as one might hope. Still, the margin between Trump and Harris has narrowed, too. We may well enter an era of Murkan brinksmanship that rivals that of Kim Jong-il and his son. THAT might be quite an achievement.
@wr:
Yep. Murkowski. And that’s it.
@Andy:
I’d be equally surprised if Republican senators defy Trump this early on. They’ve seen and/or already experienced what results from that.
@Michael Reynolds:
Directly… maybe, maybe not. And yes, I’m sure that the divine miss G is on her fainting couch right now.
That said, I think Graham can do a lot to jank this up. And if push comes to shove this might be the case of a bridge too far.
Still I don’t see how this one will get the 60 votes (which require some Democrat support) to make it through the process.
@Paul L.
But, it all comes down to the competence of the person, the competence of the administrative oversight, the competence of the Administration’s policies, and the ideology of the leadership.
Trump loses on all accounts.
“Burning down the house” in a world of turmoil that requires split second intelligent responses while playing into the hands of your adversaries is more than dumb, it’s criminally malfeasant.
Comparing shambolic Trump to previous Administrations is purely absurd.
@Michael Reynolds:
Susan Collins will be concerned.
@wr: In most cases, yes, but it’s not really true of SECDEF. Because DOD is so big, the Deputy Secretary (currently the quite capable Kath Hicks) runs the Department while SECDEF carries the water on policy and is the go-between the Combatant Commanders (CENTCOM, EUCOM, INDOPACOM, etc.) and the Joint Chiefs and the President.
@Matt Bernius:
I don’t believe filibuster will survive.
@Michael Reynolds:
So long as we can kill the entire damn thing and not this death by 1000 cuts, I’m fine with that.
The filibuster as it’s presently implemented (post-1974 reform) is fundamentally undemocratic and one of the key things that have accelerated the growth of the Imperial Presidency.
It’s something I want to see undone (or significantly reworked) regardless of which party is in power.
@Paul L.:
While the AG doesn’t argue cases in court (that’s the Solicitor General and various US Attorneys and Assistant US Attorneys), Congress actually changed the law in reaction to this.
Aside from DOT being the minor leagues compared to DOD, often used to stash a member of the opposition party in a token show of bipartisanship, Buttigieg had spent eight years running a small city—sufficient executive experience to run a small cabinet department—during which he actually launched significant transportation initiatives—giving him some actual functional experience.
@Michael Reynolds:
That’s one small bright spot in all of this. Either the filibuster is going officially go away or it will just be ignored. That’s one small good thing.
The one thing we seem to be forgetting is Trump doesn’t give a shit if the Senate confirms any of them. He’ll just name them acting and move on.
I am happier than I have been on any day since November 5. Trump is pulling nominations out of his posterior and he will learn (or not) that there are serious consequences for doing that. Of course, the nation will suffer. Perhaps we deserve it.
@James Joyner: I have more military qualifications and know the DoD and Pentagon more than Hegseth as do many who write here and I would not consider myself the least bit qualified to run a trillion dollar enterprise like DoD.
Well, better than Kyle Rittenhouse, I suppose.
@James Joyner:
“But other than all those facts and context differences, they are totally and exactly the same” is the motto of most bothsiderists.
@joe: Adios, dude.
@James Joyner:
Maybe such a position in Veteran’s Affairs because I guess he has done some advocacy work in that area. I would have still thought it absurd, but not cosmic level absurd.
@JimJude: Adios RyGuy.
Why can’t you quit us?
@James Joyner: The SECDEF also spends a lot of time calling and visiting defense ministers (and not just treaty allies) around the world. It has a large diplomatic component also.
And BTW, I am at the point wherein I am not convinced that the Senate GOP won’t go along, although if I had to bet, I would bet that this nomination gets derailed. It is so batshit crazy that part of me thinks there is just no way.
But it clearly underscores the mentality of Trump and, yet again, demonstrates why he shouldn’t be POTUS. And yet, here we are.
And another observation.
Bobby Kennedy shouldn’t have been AG, at a minimum, because he was the president’s brother. But if one has to go back to the early 1960s for an example, one perhaps doesn’t have the strength of argument that one thinks they have. There have been hundreds of cabinet-level appointments since then. It is as if one isn’t really arguing in good faith, but instead is just pulling stuff out of one’s posterior.
And James is correct about Buttigieg. But I will underscore that DOD is simply another universe from DOT. I mean, if you want to be taken seriously, be serious.
Only politically correct officers need apply.
Trump Draft Executive Order Would Create Board to Purge Generals
Since the Senate approves officer promotions, will we be seeing a lot of actions like Tuberville pulled during the Biden administration?
It seems regarding sadism and war crimes Hegspeth is a man after Trump’s own heart:
“Don Moynihan”
snip
@CSK: Given what we’ve seen so far, Rittenhouse will likely be tapped to run ATF.
@Scott:
The only requirement will be, ‘Will you follow orders to shoot Americans?’ And he’ll find plenty of takers. He’s laying the groundwork for a state of emergency that will be extended indefinitely and enforced by a corrupted military.
@Michael Reynolds: Let me guess. Such a board would not include actual warriors like Admiral McRaven or Gen McChrystal who support Harris. But a religious nutcase like Michael Flynn….
@Birdflyte
On thing appears certain at this point: Trump and Company haven’t upgraded personnal qualitatively. But we can anticipate an “upgrade” in cruelty quantitatively.
@Michael Reynolds:
Obviously I don’t know for certain, but I’d be surprised if Collins and Murkowski would be on board. But Democrats did poorly enough this cycle that even without those two, the GoP would still have enough votes, so you’d need two more defections. This pick is bad enough that I think some additional opposition is possible.
@Michael Reynolds:
Hypocrisy. Being outraged with those who you disagree with doing something while you had no problem when the side you agree with did the same thing.
Apples and Oranges. I know you believe that Trump as done the same and far worst than the most vile of serial killers but I have not since any evidence that Trump murdered people before becoming President.
Charlie Sheen had relations with porn stars , does not mean it will be okay when Trump had relations with porn stars.
@Scott
Given what is unfolding before us, don’t sell yourself short.
I’m certain I have vastly less qualification than yourself, but I do know Russia represents a real security threat to our existence and that we must strategically leverage our resources against that. I’m not too bad with budgets either. But we know from experience that Trump is a total fail for our national interests. The complexity of these things was beyond the voters.
Just read his Wikipedia page, he’s a perfect Trump pick. In addition to being unqualified, he’s a liar, he’s amoral in his personal life (he had a child with another woman while married). Intolerant asshole who backed a murderer for a pardon from Trump, and then reported on the story without disclosing that he was advising Trump on the matter. He’s a journalist like Tuvker Carlson is a journalist.
Trump put Ben Carson in charge of HUD, an area where he had no expertise or experience. However, it’s a minor office and his advisors could run everything for him. SecDef is a much different job. Hesgeth actually spent much less time on active duty than I did so he doesnt have much depth of experience and certainly not at managing large scale budgets and personnel decisions. His unique qualifications are that he looks good on camera and sucks up to Trump.
Steve
@Tony W:
That was my guess last night.
@steve:
Whataboutism “Command Sergeant Major” Tim Walz 25+ years of reserve duty was touted as the absolute pinnacle of Military experience. At least Hesgeth went when he was deployed.
@Paul L.:
Dude, you are just too obtuse for me to waste time on.
Waltz had many more years of experience but I don’t remember anyone here saying it was some kind of pinnacle. That would be more like a Mattis. Waltz also had executive experience as a governor. So Hesgeth had a few years in active duty and ten years as a TV host. Not seeing much of a comparison. If Walz had been nominated for Sec Def he would have been far from ideal but would have at least been marginally qualified.
Steve