Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth will be sitting before a Senate committee to face questions about everything that has passed over his lips: alcohol use or abuse, sexual abuse, and his views on woke military policies. Also expect to hear about his views on international and domestic roles of the military, and his failing managerial experience that would extend to a nearly $850 billion, nuclear capable enterprise.
Have your coffee and popcorn ready for the hearing to begin at 9:30amET.
From a guest essay in this morning’s New York Times, Ben Rhodes, who served as a security advisor under Barack Obama and author of the book After The Fall: The Rise of Authoritarianism in the World We’ve Made, writes about why Trump wants Hegseth.
Rhodes says Trump’s anti-establishment choice is borne out of right wing grievances about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the feeling of betrayal and dishonesty of the Pentagon’s leadership during these periods.
Trump used this broad disappointment to channel anger and jingoism, and Hegseth as a media personality amplified Trump’s messages, and inspired Trump to pardon U.S. troops who had committed war crimes.
As Trump doesn’t like to follow laws, he is also against international laws of war that developed over two world wars. His threats to expand U.S. territory and his threats to domestic enemies foreshadow a MAGA military agenda.
Rhodes writes that Trump’s hostility and blustering toward Greenland and Panama “has the feel of a declining superpower looking for someone smaller to intimidate. It’s not hard to envision Pete Hegseth using a threat of military force to advance these ambitions.”
