Pete Hegseth is unfit to lead the U.S. Department of Defense, but not for the reasons most liberals are highlighting.
Even if he’s a drunk misogynistic ass — which his critics contend — that’s not enough to get Republicans in the Senate to vote against him.
Listen to the words of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., defending the nominee at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee today: “How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign from their job?”
Fair point. As is well documented, the Senate remains an old-boys club that wouldn’t pass muster as a deacon body at any church in America.
Malignant views of women? Ditto in the Senate.
Prone to tell whoppers rather than the truth? These are the Republicans who bow down to Donald Trump, the king of political lies. Most of them pretend the 2020 election was stolen — not because they believe the lie but because Trump insists on them repeating the lie.
From a rationale point of view, all the allegations about Hegseth’s drunkenness, sexual assault history, view of women as inferior and his belligerent attitude should disqualify him from this extremely important post. But they will not.
What might disqualify him is that he is incompetent as a leader. Whether drunk or sober, his track record as a leader is not commendable. It’s not just that he would be the least qualified person ever to hold this role, it’s that he’s not shown himself qualified to lead much of anything.
“Hegseth has served in the military, although he lacks senior military or national security experience.”
First, Hegseth doesn’t actually have the military experience he portrays himself as having — the “dust on the boots,” as he said today. His military experience in the National Guard, while commendable, did not give him leadership over large numbers of people.
“Hegseth has served in the military, although he lacks senior military or national security experience,” according to Fox News. Yes, that Fox News. Not NPR. Not the Washington Post. Not Politico.
Fox News continues: “After graduating from Princeton University in 2003, Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry captain in the Army National Guard, serving overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantanamo Bay. He was awarded two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman Badge.”
And about that Bronze Star: The U.S. military issues two kinds of Bronze Stars — one with a “V” denoting valor in combat, the other for commendable job performance or “meritorious service,” including simply reenlisting.
What Hegseth has is the latter. He showed up and reupped.
Second, remember that even the veterans’ organization he once led didn’t go well — ending with “allegations of financial mismanagement, repeated intoxication and sexual misconduct.” Those are the words of Republicans, not Democrats. At Concerned Veterans of America, Hegseth ran the charity into the ground and got fired.
Third, his own peers flagged him as a threat to national security in 2021.
“Politics aside, Hegseth is not a ‘stable genius,’ to borrow one of Trump’s favorite descriptions of himself.”
Politics aside, Hegseth is not a “stable genius,” to borrow one of Trump’s favorite descriptions of himself.
Again, even Fox News admits: Trump’s decision likely weighed more on loyalty than experience.
For the Senate to confirm a secretary of defense is deadly serious business. And the kind of competency required for that job should be the focus of Senate deliberation. What conservative Republican senator wants to see the Pentagon mismanaged?
Remember, the Department of Defense is an $850 billion enterprise with about 3.4 million personnel. Its work spans 80 countries and includes maintaining the nuclear arsenal.
We sure don’t want a drunk in charge of that, but we absolutely do not want an incompetent leader in charge of that.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. He is the author of Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves and Why Churches Need to Talk About Sexuality. His latest book is Troubling the Truth and Other Tales from the News.
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