FLORIDA USA - American President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of selecting Pete Hegseth, born 1980, a host at Fox News as Secretary of Defense has stirred controversies in mass media, among politicians and military members because Pete’s highest ranking is a major and he has never been working in the Pentagon. In his statement, Trump emphasized some qualities of Pete as being “a warrior for the troops”, a combat veteran, a Harvard and Princeton graduate, and a holder of two Bronze Stars. Trump’s selection may originate in the goals of transforming the Department rather than just running it.
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| Pete Hegseth |
At first, it’s obvious that the current top commands at the Pentagon are not winning the trust of Trump because, besides the partisan context if any, Trump may see them as the reasons for the present weakened and depleted military of the USA. In an Agenda47 video in Jan 2023, Trump said “We rebuild the entire military—once again. I will work with Congress and our great military leaders. Not the ones you see on television, I don’t consider them leaders”.
“We need to take a long, hard look at defense procurement and our defense industrial base, because it's been withered down to nothing. Given all the money we spend on the Pentagon, it's unacceptable that we would ever run out of ammunition or be unable to quickly produce the weapons needed”, Trump said in the video.
A Pentagon outsider like Pete, who has little or even zero relations with military industrial giants or foreign players (and then not get trapped in such relations), would provide more objective perspectives and have enough determination and courage to cut wasteful expenditures and fight against corrupt and fraud.
Pete’s masculinity, battlefield experience, conservative approaches and advocacy for veterans also fit Trump’s agenda to “restore the proud culture and honor traditions of America's armed forces” and address the military recruitment crisis. Trump may want to build someone into a role model for the future American warriors.
Pete is the author of “The War on Warriors" which reveals the leftwing betrayal of American warriors, and how it is necessary to “return American military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability, and excellence”.
A lot of challenges would be waiting for Pete in this rolem however. It’s not an easy task to grasp the details of and run a gigantic machine of over 1.3 million active duty service members, more than 811,000 National Guard and Reserve service members, 747,000 civilian employees and over 600,000 private sector employees. His rank of major would possibly undermine his voice and mandate when dealing with personnel of higher military ranking.
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Pete Hegseth, nominee for Trump Secretary of Defense: “I’m straight up just saying — we should NOT have women in combat roles…”
— Suburban Black Man 🇺🇸 (@niceblackdude) November 13, 2024
100% Correct. Unless you’re a “woman” on the Left. In that case, there’s no way you’re a biological woman, so you don’t count.pic.twitter.com/zYfkDbfBFr
