(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



NEWSMAX Host Shoots Down Trump's Defense Secretary Nominee, Pete Hegseth - Has Hell Frozen Over? [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-01-15

The parade of nominees for Donald Trump's reoccupation of the White House is in progress on Capitol Hill. Confirmation hearings are being held by the Republican controlled Senate that is almost certainly going to rubber stamp every last one of Trump's choices to serve in his Politburo...er...Cabinet. And once in place they will swear their allegiance to Trump, rather than to the Constitution.

Click here to Tweet this article

Among those being questioned by the senators is Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense. He is a standout among the roster of Trump's ultra-loyalist, but dangerously unqualified nominees for being particularly unfit for the post to which he aspires. Not only has he never had any experience managing anything on the scale of the Pentagon, his personal history is one replete with sexual misconduct, drunkenness, financial mismanagement, and general ethical and moral bankruptcy.

SEE THIS: Fox News Buries Reports of Trump’s Unsavory, Unqualified Defense Secretary Pick, Pete Hegseth

Despite Hegseth's dreadful resume, he is being lauded by MAGA World and fawned over by GOP politicians and press. However, there is one notable exception to this lock-step march to Grandmaster of the Military. Greg Kelly, a host on the Trump-fluffing Newsmax network, has come out in opposition to Hegseth. And he has some pretty well thought out reasons. Media Matters reports his reservations delivered on his primetime program. He prefaced his commentary saying that...

"I love President Trump, but he has sometimes gotten it wrong when it comes to the military. Who remembers General Milley? General Milley was Donald Trump's pick for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And what happened? He turned around and called him fascist to the core and basically waged a coup against Donald Trump while he was in office."

For the record, there was no coup against Trump, and all Milley did was tell the truth about him. But Kelly was just getting started. He also noted that one of Trump's defense secretaries during his first term, Mark Esper, was "a bad call, a guy who was totally beholden to the swamp and turned around and called him a threat to democracy." And then there was "General Mattis [another Defense Secretary]. He turned on President Trump big time."

Maybe there were good reasons that all of these faithful, heroic, military officers were repulsed by Trump once they got to know him. Kelly then offered some detailed arguments against Hegeth's nomination...

"I think the regulations suggest that since he paid money in a confidential settlement to a woman who accused him of assault — I — it's akin to blackmail. And when you're when you pay blackmail, I don't think you're eligible. [...] We have all kinds of regulations that say if you're vulnerable to blackmail, you shouldn't be in a high level national security position. And that's what his own attorney has called it - blackmail and extortion.



[And that...]



"[Hegseth] went on The Megyn Kelly Show and he made a case that he didn't have a problem drinking." [And also that] "he told [Fox News host] Will Cain in 2021 that, yeah, he had a problem."

MORE HERE: Pete Hegseth’s Fox News Co-Host Admits He Had a Drinking Problem, But It’s Now ‘Under Control’

Kelly's arguments for nixing Hegseth are compelling and ought to taken seriously by the senators considering his confirmation. His vulnerability to blackmail and/or extortion would create an existential threat to the nation's national security. Add that to his moral vacancy and glaring inexperience, and you have a portrait of someone who should never be in charge of the U.S. military.

The question is, will enough senators have the integrity and patriotism to vote "NO"? Or will the Republican majority kowtow to Dear Leader Trump out of cultish devotion and/or fear?

RELATED STORIES:

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/15/2297153/-NEWSMAX-Host-Shoots-Down-Trump-s-Defense-Secretary-Nominee-Pete-Hegseth-Has-Hell-Frozen-Over?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/