Of all the cabinet picks Donald Trump unveiled over the last few days, none has caused more consternation than Pete Hegseth’s appointment as Secretary of Defense. The announcement wasn’t five minutes old before the usual suspects started claiming that he was “unqualified” and “unserious,” gritting their teeth in quenched anger.
To his credit, conservative CNN analyst Scott Jennings faced off against that narrative on Tuesday evening and made short work of it.
That didn’t stop the big brains in the written press from rushing out their hit pieces, though. In what turned out to be an inadvertent endorsement of Hegseth, Politico published an article entitled “Who the f–k is this guy?’: Defense world reacts to Trump’s surprise Pentagon pick.”
One assessment was more blunt. “Who the fuck is this guy?” said a defense industry lobbyist who was granted anonymity to offer candid views. The lobbyist said they had hoped for “someone who actually has an extensive background in defense. That would be a good start.”
The pick will do little to quell fears inside the Pentagon and beyond that Trump, who jousted with his own defense secretaries, plans this time to install a loyalist who will unquestioningly carry out his policies. Trump’s campaign trail rhetoric has primed fears that his second term could see a swift and divisive overhaul at the Pentagon.
Trump’s return is expected to bring a collective rollback of Biden administration policies, likely reinstating a ban on transgender troops, ending abortion travel policies, reigniting battles over bases named for Confederate figures, slashing diversity programs and the use of troops on U.S. soil against civil unrest and his political enemies.