Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, has quite the resume.
He’s voiced strong opposition to removing the names of Confederate generals from US military bases, repeatedly saying the names should be changed back.
He’s been critical of allowing openly gay troops in the military – calling it part of a “Marxist agenda.”
He’s expressed opposition to women serving in combat roles, describing it as detrimental to military readiness.
He’s referred to the military’s characterization of climate change as a national threat “woke crap.”
During his hearing this week, he refused to acknowledge that sexual assault or domestic violence should disqualify a candidate for defense secretary.
This at least makes sense, given his history.
In 2017, Hegseth faced allegations of sexual assault and admitted to paying the woman not to file a complaint against him but maintains it was consensual sex. This came alongside a laundry list of sexual harassment complaints against him in every position he’s ever held.
However, even if the sex was consensual and absent any abuse or assault, this happened while he was married to his second wife, Samantha Deering, and two months before he had a child with his former Fox News colleague, Jennifer Rauchet, who would become his third wife.
He also led two veteran organizations into bankruptcy due to what independent accounting firms later described as “gross financial mismanagement.”
He’s also been reportedly drunk at work on multiple occasions while at several jobs, including while working for those veteran’s organizations and while at Fox News. In some accounts, he needed to be carried out of buildings and into cars by colleagues and employees after his drinking rendered him unable to walk.
In 2018, his mother wrote this to him:
“On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say … get some help and take an honest look at yourself. I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”
So this guy is a scumbag of the highest order:
A sexist, bigoted, womanizing adulterer with a drinking problem who is incapable of managing organizations or people and who once paid a woman to stop her from filing sexual assault allegations against him.
In a country of 335 million people, is this really the best person we could find to run the largest organization on the planet?
An organization with more employees than any other organization ever?
An organization tasked with protecting our nation?
Seriously, is this the best American for the job?
Republican Senators think so. Thanks to their utter and complete abdication of family values, personal responsibility, and basic decency, Pete Hegseth will likely be our next defense secretary.
I’m sure Trump voters are thrilled about this turn of events.
This is likely exactly what they wanted when they voted for a convicted felon and serial adulterer who was found liable for sexual assault, paid hush money to a porn star, did nothing to stop an assault on our nation’s Capitol for hours, and has a history of bankrupting a multitude of businesses.
Pete Hegseth — in the minds of Trump voters — is on brand:
A sexist and bigot with a history of adultery, paying off women for silence, and running businesses into the ground that is eerily similar to Trump’s personal history.
Cut from the same scumbag cloth.
Precisely the kind of guy Donald Trump would want working for him.
I’m sure that, in the minds of many Trump voters, Pete Hegseth is the best man for the job.
The kind of guy they could only dream of someday hiring for their organizations.
The kind of man they would love their children — and particularly their daughters — to be working alongside someday.
A real American role model.
