The Senate Must Reject Scandal-Plagued Pete Hegseth
And then it must keep rejecting Trump’s cabinet picks.
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, on Capitol Hill to discuss his nomination with senators.
(Samuel Corum / Getty Images)
Democrats got slightly lucky last month when accused sex trafficker Matt Gaetz took himself out of the running for attorney general. Under the pro-GOP rules that prevail in the media, the assumption seemed to be that Democrats couldn’t take out every unqualified nominee for the cabinet. They had to choose one. At most two. So Gaetz was a gimme.
Unqualified degenerate Fox weekend host Pete Hegseth must be booted next—but Democrats cannot stop there. Hegseth can never run the Department of Defense. There was already a disturbing story out about his being accused of rape by a colleague at a GOP event—he denies it, though he paid for the woman’s silence. But it took The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer to tell the fuller story of Hegseth’s predatory and reckless conduct throughout his career. He is, by Mayer’s account, a serial sexual abuser, harasser, and adulterer, and a habitual drunk who’s been carried out of public events routinely. He tried to join a group of dancing strippers on stage at a company event; on the same night, he tried to sexually assault a colleague. He ran into the ground two organizations dedicated to helping veterans. Then he got a job at Fox!
Related Articles
Just before Mayer’s story came out, The New York Times revealed that Hegseth’s own mother once excoriated her son via e-mail for his treatment of women.
“On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say… get some help and take an honest look at yourself,” Penelope Hegseth wrote, stating that she still loved him.
She also wrote: “I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”
She told the Times this week that she’d retracted the e-mail and regretted sending it. It has the ring of utter truth, however.
There is nothing to recommend Hegseth to take this job, running the nation’s military and weapons strategy and supervising a force of 2.1 military service members and more than a million civilian employers or contractors. (Does Hegseth even supervise his Fox producers? One or two?) Trump has his pick of qualified people, among them talented if loathsome conservatives. Hegseth is not one of them.
There are two conjoined theories about what Trump is up to with this and other picks—RFK Jr. for Health and Human Services, Kash Patel for the FBI, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence. He wants absolute loyalty from his cabinet. And he also enjoys sending a hearty “Fuck you,” not so much to Nation readers or writers but to the types of Republicans who actually staffed his first term as president, and who gradually saw their way to the door.
But Hegseth is getting to be another gimme for Democrats and decent Republicans. I can’t imagine him surviving this round of stories. I know, Trump himself has survived all kinds of sexual assault and abuse claims. But rumor has it the Trump administration didn’t even know about the rape accuser he paid off; it’s unlikely that Meyer’s sources tipped them off first. This story keeps getting worse.
Still, it must be said: These first two appointees have shown themselves to be utterly morally and legally unqualified for their posts. As we make our way down the list, we may find comparable problems with others. (RFK Jr. has already said there could be more women he assaulted out there. Hey, he was an addict—he doesn’t know.)
But Democrats (and decent Republicans; a few told Gaetz he had to go) have to also pay attention to the way some of these candidates also threaten the Constitution. Patel has promised to come after Trump’s critics. “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media,” Patel told Steve Bannon one year ago this week. “Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections—we’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.”
This is no time for bipartisanship or decorum (although I’m sure Biden can’t help himself). Make every one of these nominees sweat. And make Kash Patel history.
Support independent journalism that does not fall in line
Even before February 28, the reasons for Donald Trump’s imploding approval rating were abundantly clear: untrammeled corruption and personal enrichment to the tune of billions of dollars during an affordability crisis, a foreign policy guided only by his own derelict sense of morality, and the deployment of a murderous campaign of occupation, detention, and deportation on American streets.
Now an undeclared, unauthorized, unpopular, and unconstitutional war of aggression against Iran has spread like wildfire through the region and into Europe. A new “forever war”—with an ever-increasing likelihood of American troops on the ground—may very well be upon us.
As we’ve seen over and over, this administration uses lies, misdirection, and attempts to flood the zone to justify its abuses of power at home and abroad. Just as Trump, Marco Rubio, and Pete Hegseth offer erratic and contradictory rationales for the attacks on Iran, the administration is also spreading the lie that the upcoming midterm elections are under threat from noncitizens on voter rolls. When these lies go unchecked, they become the basis for further authoritarian encroachment and war.
In these dark times, independent journalism is uniquely able to uncover the falsehoods that threaten our republic—and civilians around the world—and shine a bright light on the truth.
The Nation’s experienced team of writers, editors, and fact-checkers understands the scale of what we’re up against and the urgency with which we have to act. That’s why we’re publishing critical reporting and analysis of the war on Iran, ICE violence at home, new forms of voter suppression emerging in the courts, and much more.
But this journalism is possible only with your support.
This March, The Nation needs to raise $50,000 to ensure that we have the resources for reporting and analysis that sets the record straight and empowers people of conscience to organize. Will you donate today?
More from The Nation
Celebrate Kristi Noem’s Firing. But Keep Protesting ICE. Celebrate Kristi Noem’s Firing. But Keep Protesting ICE.
Finally, someone in the administration is paying for their cruelty and incompetence.
We Don’t Need an Autopsy to Tell Us the Democrats Failed on Gaza We Don’t Need an Autopsy to Tell Us the Democrats Failed on Gaza
The DNC is allegedly hiding a report showing that Kamala Harris’s Gaza policy helped cost her the 2024 election. But that report won’t tell us anything we don’t already know.
Texas’s Senate Primary Has Already Made History—and It’s Not Over Yet Texas’s Senate Primary Has Already Made History—and It’s Not Over Yet
Democratic nominee James Talarico is getting national media attention, but the real story is sky-high voter turnout, even amid GOP bids to suppress balloting
Quilted Messages Quilted Messages
Sunbonnets carrying not-so-sunny truths.
How the Theatrics of Mamdani’s Trump Meeting Backfired How the Theatrics of Mamdani’s Trump Meeting Backfired
By pandering to the president’s vanity, the New York mayor reinforced Trump’s image as a strongman commanding deference—an especially bad look on the eve of Trump’s war with Iran
Students in New York Are Going Hungry. How Can Mamdani Help? Students in New York Are Going Hungry. How Can Mamdani Help?
With plans for city-owned grocery stores and a focus on affordability, the new mayoral administration offers fresh hopes of successfully confronting the food crisis among students...
