All in all, I have been delighted with the picks thus far offered up by President-Elect Donald Trump to staff his incoming administration. Whether it's Congressman Michael Waltz as National Security Advisor, Susie Wiles as his chief of staff, Florida Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, John Ratcliffe at CIA, Elise Stefanik at the UN, Mike Huckabee as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, there's lots of great choices to go around. 

So much so, in fact, that even some of the voices in regime media, ones that said this would be the last election ever if Hitler-Nazi-Trump and the Republicans won, have begrudgingly acknowledged that some of these nominations aren't too bad. Jonathan Lemire of MSNBC and Politico, who spent the runnup to Election Day calling Donald Trump's rhetoric dangerous and racist, going out of his way to change the transcript of President Joe Biden calling half the country garbage, had to admit that there might indeed be some grown-ups in the room with Trump.



It seemed at least for the last three or four days, there might not be the wall-to-wall contentious fights ahead we on the right anticipated. 

Then came the announcement from Donald Trump late Tuesday afternoon that he had chosen his nominee to be the next Secretary of Defense - Pete Hegseth. 

Once the texts started streaming in on my phone, I knew it was time to buckle up, because we were going to encounter unexpected turbulence. The Hegseth choice is certainly Donald Trump thinking outside of the box, which in and of itself is actually a good thing considering the sclerotic atmosphere at the Pentagon. But you can just hear what the complaints are going to be, right? He's a Fox News host. He's unqualified. He's too young. He hasn't run anything. He's not a thinker.

The confirmation hearings are going to be nothing short of spectacular. This nomination will be the one scalp the Democrats in the Senate are going to try to claim. You can just see it coming. After spending some time last night reviewing the record and recordings of Pete Hegseth, I've come to the conclusion that Pete is going to do just fine - both in his confirmation hearing, and on the job as SecDef.

The primary objection seems to be that he's a media guy, as though that's suddenly dispositive for not being qualified to go into government. I'm sure that same standard will be applied to the parade of Democrats that have established a conduit between government service and regime media. Here's just a few in recent years.

Jay Carney left Time Magazine to go be Barack Obama's press secretary. Linda Douglass left her Washington correspondent job for ABC News to go work in the White House communications shop. Doug Frantz left the Washington Post and conveniently wound up in the State Department. Symone Sanders left her MSNBC anchor job to go work for Joe Biden's administration. Jill Zuckman left the Chicago Tribune to go work for the Transportation Department during the Obama years. Stephen Barr, also with the Washington Post, joined the Department of Labor. Tony Snow left Fox News to go be George W. Bush's press secretary. This is not the first time this has happened, and these examples are only in the direction of media to government. If you count the people from government that wind up on media as talking heads or anchors, the number of examples explode. The only reason Democrats are going to try to make hay out of Hegseth's most recent job as co-anchor of Fox and Friends Weekends is because it's on Fox News. 

The sin of omission in this argument, though, is that nowhere among the left's baying at the Moon is his military service both on active duty and in the Minnesota National Guard, including tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, as well as his work as executive director of both Concerned Vets For America and Vets For Freedom. 

And in fact, what the left doesn't realize they're doing by flailing away at Hegseth is they're slitting the throats of their own credibility. How many anchors on MSNBC and CNN this week are trying to reestablish their brand after getting caught gaslighting the country last week? Virtually all of them. What is their skill set again? As far as anchors are concerned, it's to read a teleprompter. If they're criticizing Hegseth as being unqualified for the Defense job because he's doing, *checks notes*, what they do every night, that's not the ball spiking they think it is.

He's too young, regime media has already claimed. Even Donald Trump, according to Pete last week on the Shawn Ryan podcast, was concerned that Hegseth was too young for a cabinet job. Here he is talking about being the runner-up to Secretary of Veterans Affairs in Trump's first administration. 



Pete is 44-years-old. By comparison, the Late Donald Rumsfeld, veteran of two stints at DOD under Presidents Gerald Ford and George W. Bush, began his first tour at the age of 43. Age is not a factor here. 

As for allegedly not knowing anything, regime media and Democrats are overlooking a Bachelor's Hegseth he earned from Princeton, and a Master's from Harvard. He's also done think tank work in his past, affiliated with groups like Americans For Prosperity. He's no dummy. 

Hegseth, if confirmed, is going to be a disruptive force at the Department of Defense, something that building desperately needs. One of my close friends and colleagues on the radio is retired Army Col. Kurt Schlichter. He writes often over at our sister site, Townhall.com. Kurt and I have had conversations for years about what ails the Pentagon, and he has consistently told me that there's nothing that can't be fixed once you escort out all the flag officers and colonels in the building and start over. If you watch more of his interview with Shawn Ryan, you'll come to understand he is Kurt's brother from a different mother. 



On my Duane's World podcast, on my Aftershow podcasts I used to do for years in Hugh Hewitt's subscriber site, The Hughniverse, I've long pined for the next Republican administration, whomever was at the top of the ticket, to send people into all the federal agencies, but especially DOD, State, and the Department of Justice, with a scythe and clearcut the buildings like an old growth forest. Pete Hegseth promises to be the needed Grim Reaper for the Pentagon. 

Yeah, but what does Pete Hegseth know about the world? What are his thoughts on how to restructure the military? Is he an isolationist? Nope. He seems to see the world just as clearly as Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor nominee Michael Waltz, and CIA Director nominee John Ratcliffe. 



Sounds like he sees China as the biggest threat we face, and that it's high time we retool the Defense Department to meet that rising challenge. 

So why did Donald Trump pick Hegseth? Why not someone with a little more executive experience? The reason Trump picked him became crystal clear when I went back and watched part of his address to CPAC in 2021. 



He understands clearly the problems most people concerned with Defense recognize - the sclerosis, the crumbled industrial base, the lack of readiness, the infection of wokeism, and he's bringing a 20-year warrior mentality to bear on those problems to eradicate it like the enemy it is. 

Hegseth is an exceptional communicator. Any problems we have currently with recruitment and/or retainment of military personnel will end when he assumes the office. He resonates the American military ethos that is so attractive to our country's best and brightest. 

As a good, good friend of mine in the national security world told me last night, the Hegseth pick will be one or the other. It'll either be absolutely brilliant, or it'll be a train wreck. I'm optimistic that it'll be the former, and I'll give you three reasons why. 

Andrew C. McCarthy, former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, a staple on Fox News as one of their legal affairs contributors, and a go-to source for all things legal at National Review, offered up this endorsement of Pete Hegseth. 

Pete Hegseth is a friend of mine. He’s a great American patriot and whip smart. And he believes our military is a national defense force, not a sociology experiment. He will be a great SECDEF.

— Andy McCarthy (@AndrewCMcCarthy) November 13, 2024

McCarthy has never been counted in the Donald Trump fan club. Neither is his colleague at National Review, Noah Rothman. Here's what Noah wrote. 

He’s also a Princeton & Harvard grad and a think tanker, briefly. He’s got a pedigree and a record that suits him to the role, even though he’s also on tv. Given the less desirable alternatives floating around, this is hard to object to. https://t.co/GWpCQn7hUv

— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) November 13, 2024

Conservative pundit Avik Roy, who in 2016 backed Marco Rubio, advised Mitt Romney before that, and also cannot be counted in the MAGA camp, said this about the Hegseth pick. 

Wow. @PeteHegseth is an inspired pick for Defense Secretary. Pete and I have worked together on veterans’ health reform for a decade, and he will provide imaginative leadership to an institution that desperately needs it. https://t.co/j591hM4kSI

— Avik Roy (@Avik) November 13, 2024

Here's a few final thoughts to consider as this nomination moves towards Senate confirmation. Massachusetts' Elizabeth Warren is up in arms.

A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense.

I lead the Senate military personnel panel. All three of my brothers served in uniform. I respect every one of our servicemembers.

Donald Trump’s pick will make us less safe and must be rejected. https://t.co/6ADUJSm8x6

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 13, 2024

So let me get this straight. The Democrats, who have systematically chipped away at the Pentagon's budget every time they can and poisoned it with DEI and CRP programs to socialize it into a shell of the fighting force it used to be, all of a sudden want to stake out the ground that they're now the great protectors of the military from the likes of a, *checks notes again*, 20-year veteran who earned two Bronze Stars? Please, Lord, bring me that fight.

As for the newfound respect and care for the American military, here's what the current head of the Democratic Party, President Joe Biden, offered up for Veterans Day. 

The Biden admin just posted a Chinese plane to honor Veterans Day...

The JPO is the official Joint Strike Fighter office...

aka responsible for the the F-35...

The pic is of a Chinese stealth fighter... the knockoff of the F-35. pic.twitter.com/wBf5KcOXo8

— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) November 11, 2024

I guess all these planes look alike to the Biden administration. China, U.S., what's the difference? 

In Politico, another case of inadvertent self-own, they complained about the Hegseth nomination by quoting an anonymous Defense lobbyist obviously concerned that all that money spent to grease the skids may have been for naught if, as Hegseth is signaling, much of the procurement wing of the Pentagon is headed to the exits. 

This piece from Politico on Hesgeth is so revealing.

THE JOB OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE IS TO CARRY OUT THE PRESIDENT'S POLICIES.

Nobody elected anyone inside the Pentagon. pic.twitter.com/gbJxKB7qsU

— Jeremy Carl (@realJeremyCarl) November 13, 2024

Imagine that. A federal agency that actually is ruled by civilian command implementing the orders of the duly-elected president of the United States. Why, that's positively authoritarian.

If you still aren't convinced, let me drop one more piece of Kurt Schlichter porn on you. This is from an interview Hegseth did with our friend Ben Shapiro over at the Daily Wire.

"If your Social Security number ends in 7, 4, 2, or 6, you're fired. I don't care who you are. I don't care what you do. We can fill your slot. You're replaceable."@BenShapiro spoke with newly appointed secretary of defense @PeteHegseth on his advice to Trump on reshaping the… pic.twitter.com/1PO8zOkTGR

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) November 13, 2024

I'm in. I love what I hear. He'll have to deliver, though, if nominated, which I am confident he will be with a 53-seat Republican majority in the Senate. It's hard to imagine who would be the four members of the GOP conference voting no. 

The Wall Street Journal yesterday ran a piece reporting that senior officers in the Pentagon are terrified of what is coming with the looming Trump II administration. This story dropped a couple hours before the Hegseth announcement was made. You've got to think resumes and retirement plans are being made all over the Beltway, but especially in Pentagon City. 

Kamala Harris and regime media may have gaslit the country for the last three months about the joy campaign, but from my perspective, it's hard to be more joyful than about the team that's being assembled to take the United States into the second half of this decade. The House Freedom Caucus is abandoning their attempt to mount a Speaker fight. The caucus is unifying. The Senate conference will hold their leadership votes later today, and then they will unify. 

There are still a lot of important picks left to make, but thus far, if you're part of the administrative state, the Grim Reaper cometh, and that's a very, very good thing.