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© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Pete Hegseth vows a 'warrior culture' if confirmed as Trump's defense secretary, confronting critics
By LISA MASCARO, TARA COPP and MATT BROWN WASHINGTON©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
47 Comments
TaiwanIsNotChina
He couldn't even say he wouldn't follow an illegal order from the president. Rough times ahead.
Yrral
This man is unfit to work at McDonald's,he is was evasive and outright lying
Zaphod
Whatever is wrong with guy he can not possibly be worse than his predecessor.
TaiwanIsNotChina
His predecessor is a man who served his country with integrity. It can always get worse with someone who has no real regard for the Constitution.
geronimo2006
Trump picked him because he has no morals and will do whatever asked. And one the first orders will be to round up and deport illegal immigrants. It will be interesting to see if all the Republicans go along with a clearly incompetent and repugnant choice. Get what you vote for.
bass4funk
He shouldn’t have to because what would be an illegal order? Depends on the situation and how dire it would be, if we were attacked if there was a situation with no other recourse, not sure why Dems only care about hypotheticals when it involves Republicans only, Myorkas swore to uphold the Constitution and in the end he didn’t, you don’t hear the Dems excoriating him.
Not for Pete
asdfgtr
Hagseth apparently incurred the wrath of Trump's team after raping a woman and infecting her with an STD.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/pete-hegseths-secret-history
bass4funk
You are joking, right?
TaiwanIsNotChina
What has Austin done that is lacking in integrity? The worst you can say is that he didn't check that the person he phoned in sick to didn't also phone in sick.
Declaring the Insurrection Act is in effect because it is Wednesday would be an example. So would an unprovoked attack on Canada/Greenland/Panama.
Nobody had any reason to believe Democrats would try to rule by martial law. Trump has asked specifically about it.
TorafusuTorasan
@bass--were you joking about spending a month in jail? Do you make note of it on your temporary arrivals to Japan?
Bob Fosse
A person who sexually assaults someone them pays them off to keep quiet about it would fit the description. Also someone who is repeatedly drunk at work.
plasticmonkey
Nothing. Because everything Trump does will be called legal, even if it's not.
That's why Hegseth refused to answer the question.
He's unqualified. Trump picked him because he looks good and sounds tough on tee-vee, and will do whatever his master directs him to do.
Shameful how the GOP Senate kowtows to this joke of a person.
TorafusuTorasan
But of course a commenter with low regard for the law is eager to support fellow crims like Hegseth. Birds of a feather.
plasticmonkey
Look! I'm qualified! I'm a patriot "warrior"!
plasticmonkey
i.e. war crimes are OK. Because tough guy "warfighters".
JAG officers are doing their job. Hegseth characterizes them as opportunists.
Deeply dangerous pick.
Blacklabel
He crushed that hearing.
my reaction after seeing 4 hours of that was “these idiots on the Democrat side are Senators”?
Kaine, Warren and Hirono were really bad, to the point of being hysteric and nonsensical.
these low quality people questioning someone else about Qualifications?
Really?
plasticmonkey
He refused to answer important questions. Is that what qualifies as "crushing"?
Or was it his cosplaying "patriot warrior" wearing red, white, and blue with a little American flag in his pocket?
Blacklabel
Why you downplaying what actually happened?
this isn’t a shift at McDonalds. And he isn’t 15 years old.
Although I would fire someone even at that level if they did this. Accountability.
Bob Fosse
But you’d hire someone accused of sexual assault and being drunk in the workplace. Hardly boss material.
lincolnman
This wuss wouldn't know what a "warrior culture" is...he's a Fox News sissy - just like they all are...
Talk big, slink away in cowardice...
Military members would look at him as a walking joke...
If he wants to play soldier, make him the latrine NCO - considering what he "shoveled" on Fox, that's the job he's most qualified for...
Blacklabel
Accused of.
i would look for clear evidence any accusations were true out of a sense of justice and fairness.
wouldn’t you?
bass4funk
He absolutely did, couldn’t stop laughing all the way, Warren, Hirono and the screaming Duckworth were just the usual nonsense talkers.
Blacklabel
So that’s 2 leftists( who also unironically supported “military hero” Tim Walz) who have disparaged the service in combat of a military officer.
im curious:
how is he “cosplaying”?
he was “playing soldier”? How so?
Yrral
Collins, Murkowski, Cassidy are no Hagseth Republicans
Blacklabel
Will repeat the question:
How is Pete Hegseth “playing soldier” or “cosplaying”?
what part of his combat service deployments leads you to such a conclusion?
Preferably without any more multiple posts about my avatar or without mentioning Trump.
J101
A warrior as mighty as Mr. Bone spurs?
lincolnman
i wish they would have asked him a couple of additional questions....
If your lawyer came to you and said, the plan you are going to implement VIOLATES FEDERAL STATUTE, would you still implement it?
Once you're granted a Top Secret/SCI clearance, do you plan to take that information home and store it unsecured beside your toilet?
Is it OK to tell your aides to obstruct justice by directing them to destroy security tapes documenting a crime?
Of course, he would have flunked all these...because he's a typical MAGA miscreant and Loser...
bass4funk
And that’s ok, because now the Republicans have a comfortable majority and they don’t need “yes” votes from those political hacks, so he will be confirmed ultimately.
Peter Neil
an officer who only attains the rank of major (o-4) after 20 years - like him - is released because they are at the bottom of the bottom in performance. they is unsuitable for command.
think about that.
he is trump’s ultimate insult to the military and the nation.
Yrral
49 Republican votes
plasticmonkey
An obviously unqualified candidate who uses the silly word “warrior” to characterize military service while skirting all the most important questions and wears an American flag kerchief in his pocket to demonstrate his “anti woke” patriotism is cosplaying.
He’s a weekend TV cohost with no managerial experience. And a workplace drunk. He thinks cosplaying anti woke patriot warrior will cover that up.
u_s__reamer
With this Hegseth hearing the rotating door of 47's administration I can hear it already starting to turn. Time to buckle up for a rough ride back to the furure!
TokyoLiving
Just MAGA gang..
lincolnman
Sen Jack Reed, one of the more serious Senators, ripped Hegseth to pieces today...
“Mr. Hegseth, I do not believe that you are qualified to meet the overwhelming demands of this job,” he said. “We must acknowledge the concerning public reports against you. A variety of sources, including your own writings, implicate you with disregarding the laws of war, financial mismanagement, racist and sexist remarks about men and women in uniform, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, and other troubling issues. I have reviewed many of these allegations and find them extremely alarming. You would lead an organization that, like the country it represents, is composed of Democrats and Republicans, yet your language suggests that you will regard many of these men women as foes. Unfortunately, you lack the character of closure and confidence the whole position of separate defense. Thank you.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sneering-pete-hegseth-immediately-torn-apart-in-confirmation-showdown/ar-BB1rrjSC?ocid=windirect&cvid=48c080b7e65d41a8acf6d520ff30eb01&ei=57
BINGO!
geronimo2006
It's not that Republicans don't know that Hegseth is massively unqualified. They know he has zero management experience of running large organisations let alone the DoD. They know about him running two small veteran orginizations into the ground through financial mismanagement. They will vote for him because they are afraid of Trump. And this should really worry people because that is exactly how authoritarian leadership operates - like in China and Russia. People get picked out of loyalty through fear. As for him being a change agent, warrior culture, wokeness ... and all the other stuff from right wing media distracts from the truth that he is hugely unqualified and Trump's stooge.
lincolnman
And so we find out today the one "job qualification" all Trump appointees must have....
"In 2017, a woman told police that Hegseth sexually assaulted her, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing and told police at the time that the encounter at a Republican women's event in California was consensual. He later paid the woman a confidential settlement to head off a potential lawsuit."
That's qualification #1 - you have to have sexually assaulted a women, then paid her off...
Only thing Trump may criticize him about is he failed to fraudulently hide the payoff on his business records...
The Trump cabinet - Felons, Pervs, and Worm-Brains...
plasticmonkey
Isn’t that what the founding fathers had in mind for the legislative branch?
/s
bass4funk
Yes, we have had 4 long disastrous years to dwell on that.
I think Austin and Milley were the ones that disgraced our military, it’s not a social experiment, and I was nearly in tears thinking that this nightmare administration is coming to an end, the nightmare of these woke crazies is over.
I think on valor alone Hegseth is more qualified than the woke military whatever you want to call them were, anyway, I’m just glad a lot of them will be going into retirement
wallace
Is he the best Trump could come up with?
JJE
Ultimate immediate reality is the guy did a good job at the hearing, swatting off certain inquisitors with decent answers. Stands a good chance at confirmation IMO.
And everyone knows the DoD needs the equivalent of open-heart surgery to correct the woke mess that Biden unleashed.
Eat the left
Lordy! Have we got to hear this whining for the next 4 years?
GuruMick
Mr Magoo in uniform.
Insult to serving military.
JJE
The democratic senators came across as really pathetic and annoying whiners worthy of contempt. So no wonder that party is going down the gurgler permanently.
bass4funk
They said that about Reagan as well
He can learn, Kamala was a lawyer, she learned how to do politics
Actually, there was testimony from many of the vets that praised him, on the record.
And? That goes for every President and their nominee, Trump is no different
No, it’s always been like that, but since it’s Trump, libs have a meltdown. Eric Holder admitted he was Obama’s wingman and loyal to the end.
Pelosi
Well, you might think that, but dozens of people with a lot of military experience think differently. Anyway, can’t wait until he’s confirmed.
Sven Asai
Yes, a big theoretical budget at hand and some loudly propagated ambitions, but in reality? Where will this illusion full dreamer take all his warriors from? Baking them himself in his kitchen oven? There's no one left for massive warfare or defense. Neither the few remaining old white men nor the precarious Latinos without much patriotism and sometimes not even capable of spelling USA will fill the fighter rows for him significantly. Afghanistan was the last possible attempt, and already that failed miserably, only as a reminder.
Desert Tortoise
This guy is a phony. Warrior culter? WTF is he talking about? What we have in our military, and I know it because I am still part of it, are professionals. No yahoos. They are professionals, highly trained and disciplined, almost clinical. We joke that if you want to chill your beer hold it next to a fighter pilot's heart. Everyone I know on the pointy end knows their job, knows the mission and executes smartly. But most don't have patience for people who blow off orders and free lance. Those are the ones that cause missions to fail and bring discredit, even shame, to the uniform.
If there is a problem it is lack of clear direction from the civilian political leadership. If you deploy military forces given them a clear objective and the means to achieve it. Then get out of their way. I know from experience that our soldiers, sailors and airmen will achieve the objective. I was out there once. Now I support them from behind but I still have the privilege of working with the uniformed side. They don't need warrior culture bullcrap. You want hard nosed professionals who know their job and don't need an officer standing over them to get the job done. We have that now. It is the political leaders who can't make up their minds what they want the military to accomplish that is the problem, specifically Congress.
Desert Tortoise
So what are your military bona fides? A few years as an enlisted guy? Lloyd Austin led a Brigade, a Division and a whole joint force in combat abroad. What do you know? Not much. They never disgraced our military. It is free lancers like Mr. Hegseth who kill needlessly and who ignore orders who cause mission failure and often bring shame to the uniform. They are no credit to the US military.