On Tuesday, Nov. 12, soon-to-be President Donald Trump, who’s been announcing this week his nominees for various positions in his new administration, said he has chosen Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as secretary of defense for the United States.
Before taking a job as a Fox News host a decade ago, Hegseth served in the Army National Guard – with tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
He later joined Fox News, where, for the last decade, he has been best known for co-hosting “Fox & Friends Weekend” – the network’s weekend morning show.
Assuming his confirmation hits no hurdles, he will soon be running what many political experts consider one of the 10 most important jobs in the world, a department with an annual budget of about $850 billion.
Hegseth will take the place of current Secretary of Defense Lloyd James Austin III, who was named to that job in January of 2021.
Austin, a West Point graduate and four-star general, has four-plus decades of military service in the Army – including command positions at the corps, division, battalion and brigade levels; and Austin was awarded the Silver Star for actions he took leading the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division as part of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Austin later oversaw all combat operations in Iraq and he concluded his active military service as the Commander of US Central Command, which was responsible for all military operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan. In that capacity, he spearheaded America’s battle against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Like Austin, Hegseth soon will have a critical and central role: The safety, security, and defense of the United States of America – and he will have an enormous amount of managerial responsibility as well. As the Secretary of Defense, Hegseth will advise Trump on all aspects of the Department of Defense and on keeping America safe from foreign threats.
He will also serve on the National Security Council.
In addition to his military service, before joining Fox News, Hegseth was the CEO of Concerned Veterans for America – a veteran advocacy organization.
Hegseth, who graduated from Princeton before getting a master’s degree from Harvard, will soon oversee the department that employs nearly 3 million people – including 1.4 million active-duty service members – and the department that is thought to be the number 2 employer in the entire world.
In his new role, Hegseth will oversee the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force.
In addition, the agencies under him will be the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency – better known as “DARPA – the Defense Logistics Agency, the Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Health Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, the Space Development Agency and many other defense-related agencies.
The Secretary of Defense is also responsible for administering multi-billion dollar contracts for the Department of Defense.
In a statement on Truth Social, Trump praised Hegseth and explained how he chose him. Trump said that Hegseth, in his years of work on Fox News, used his “platform to fight for our Military and Veterans.”
Trump also stated that Hegseth was “tough, smart and a true believer in America First.”
“With Pete at the helm,” Trump posted, “America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”
Once Hegseth, 44, is confirmed, he will be the third youngest person to ever serve as Secretary of Defense. (Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld took the position when he was 43, and Robert McNamara was 44 when he took the job– just three days younger than Hegseth.
In a public statement, Fox News said Hegseth would be missed by Fox staff and viewers.
“Pete Hegseth has been an exceptional host on FOX & Friends and FOX Nation and a best-selling author for FOX News Books for nearly a decade,” a November 12 statement from the media outlet read.
“His insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers and made the program the major success that it is today. We are extremely proud of his work at Fox News Media and wish him the best of luck in Washington.”
What a joke. I guess if your plan is to isolate America, you don’t really need a strong Sec of Defense with actual military leadership experience. Besides, Trump likes to make buddies with our bigger threats such as Putin and Kim Jong Un.
Chris, didn’t you support Walz and back his “military experience”? Seems hypocritical to now question Hegseth’s. And if you bother to look it up, he has earned the following military honors: Bronze Star (x2), Army Commendation Medal (x2), National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Expert Infantryman Badge, Combat Infantryman Badge. He also served in Iraq and Afghanistan and has been an advocate for veteran health care post service. But sure, believe what you’re told. No, he’s not a high-ranking military official, but high rank doesn’t always mean smart.
Oh, off topic, but here’s that Fauci quote from the other article…you know, the one you ran away from after I posted it. Just want to make sure you see it again. Fauci speaking on the efficacy of the vaccine as one of Chris’ experts: “We know for sure it’s very, very good, 94%, 95% in protecting you against clinically recognizable disease, and almost 100% in protecting you for severe disease.” Maybe it’s not off-topic after all. Here’s a high-ranking official speaking out of his butt with no idea what he’s talking about. See, government rank and tenure don’t really mean much do they?
Don, you must remember you’re talking to someone whose total military experience (as far as I know since he never answered the question) is playing Call of Duty (I’m assuming here). How that compares to “…actual military leadership experience.” in his mind I couldn’t even begin to comprehend.
Pete DOES have military leadership experience but very little, if any, political pollution to stain it. He never reached the level of rank where you have to start playing politics, not war-fighting, to get ahead. That comment does not apply to all but there are too many who have.
Chris has a habit of expressing opinions like he is more knowledgeable on the subject then those who actually are. On this subject I’ll gladly put my knowledge and experience up against his with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back.
I have a habit of reading experts’ opinions. I try to use multiple when I can. Unlike Alan, I don’t believe my own opinion is always right. I love to engage on topics and using facts, expert sources, and data as much as possible. You will notice Alan never uses any of those factors in pushing his opinions and labeling of people that disagree with him.
But you be you.
Thanks for sharing! I actually did look into his background. Hegseth has served in the military, although he lacks senior military or national security experience. This is a huge gap given the size of the defense budget and the complexity of the organization he will be leading. For example, I worked in Finance as an sr. analyst for many years. Doesn’t make me qualified to be CEO of a Bank.
I am not familiar with the Fauci quote. Timing matters as the virus evolved several times as did the effectiveness of the vaccine. Happy to engage if you can provide a source of when he made this quote.
I did in the other article that you disappeared from as soon as the comment dropped. The one where you said no “experts” said that the vaccine kept you from getting sick. I provided clear proof that Fauci absolutely did. ….And nothing. You disappeared as usual. Interesting. Anyway, it’s from one of his interviews with Cuomo. You can look it up yourself. I’m not doing your legwork for you.
Reading Hegseth’s latest book would give you the best insight into what the man is like and why he’s qualified to be Sec. of Defense. Any biographies of him seem politically biased or truncated for the back of book covers. Here’s one from his website but it’s not in-depth enough to explain his military background. His book, The War on Warriors, even the introduction, is why I think he will do a great job of helping improve our military and bring it back to the defense level it needs to be.
The Pentagon is full of brass to guide Pete. Under Austin we have the lowest recruiting for all branches of service because he turning the military woke. Austin helped Orchestrated a stalemate in the Ukraine and told Israel how to fight a war. The Biden administration with Austin botch the Afghan withdrawal costing seven American lives, and left billions of military hardware on the ground. Austin went in for surgery was gone for six days because of complications and the president knew nothing about it. The undersecretary was vacationing in the Bahamas. That records going to be hard to beat.
Somebody is still upset about the election. Wait until he hears Matt Gates is up for attorney general
That one did make me throw up in mouth a bit. lol
Oh Chris, let’s readdress that pesky FEMA issue. Remember when you insisted that FEMA wasn’t ignoring conservative areas in their Helene response? Might want to read the news on that. We will be glad to accept your apology and acknowledgement that you were wrong. I believe you keep saying that you will gladly fess up if you are proven wrong. Well, the new administration hasn’t even started yet and here’s your first chance.
That woman was fired as she clearly didn’t represent FEMA’s policy. Nor is there any evidence that anyone acted on his misguided advice to FEMA reps. So, I stand by my backing of the quality of FEMA’s response to the disaster based on the feedback from emergency officials, and family & Friend personally impacted by the disaster that have had to go through the FEMA funding request process.
Always cracks me up how the ‘fake news’ crowd loves to jump on overblown news stories that feed their personal bias and ignore quality media that doesn’t support their personal bias. LOL The Mark Robinson story being a great example. A quality article that outlined with great detail how they validated their findings versus an article that find one woman fired for her actions as an example of those actions representing FEMA. No wonder Trumpers are so easy to con.
But you be you.
What a joke. I knew you couldn’t manage a simple acknowledgement of being wrong. She was fired because the issue came to light and they had no other choice. You could be on fire and if a Trumper tried to warn you about it, you would dispute the truth of it. The terminated employee is on the record saying this was a practice of the agency. The state of Florida has filed suit against FEMA.
https://www.npr.org/2024/11/14/g-s1-34188/florida-discrimination-lawsuit-fema-trump-supporters
https://www.foxnews.com/media/fema-official-fired-telling-staff-helping-trump-supporters-agency-scapegoating-her
Get your national news here. Certainly not the 4-page fishwrap.
Poor Chris looks like you got your a$$ handed to you again. Looking like that Richard Gere trip is looking pretty good for you
Nope. Stand by my statement. But you be you.
FYI who were you replying to? Weird
I was replying to anyone talking to you you’re always wrong but I posted after your initial exchange with Don.
What should concern Veterans is his comments on auditing VA Claims and possible reductions. He made a statement about too many playing the system. I hope he does. He stated he will start with 100% rating reviews. For the record Im am a retired veteran. But a lot vets pointing fingers on others getting paid, and now it’s coming back to haunt them.
A surprising out-of-the box choice. Let’s see if he is confirmed.
After president-elect Trump nominated the likes of Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr. Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth to cabinet positions, the usual crowd of neocons, warmongers and screechy leftists are unhappy.
Good.
So you’d rather piss off leftists than have a country run by qualified individuals and reality tv celebs….ok, got it!