If you’ve been following the circus that is President-elect Donald Trump’s picking of his cabinet members, then you are probably at least a little familiar with Pete Hegseth, Trump’s presumptive nominee for defense secretary. The news of Hegseth’s potential nomination sent shockwaves through Washington, and it didn’t take long for rumors to emerge that Trump was backing away from Hegseth and moving toward Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Now Hegseth is pushing back.
In case you’re not familiar with Hegseth, he’s a 44-year-old former Fox News host and combat veteran who wrote a book about how “woke” generals left the American military weak and “effeminate.” Immediately after he was announced, allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced. Then for some reason his mom came to his defense, blaming everyone but herself.
He’s now fighting for his political future at the capitol, taking closed door meetings with members of Congress to drum up support for his nomination, something all the more necessary after he lost momentum with the DeSantis rumors. Hegseth, by the way, has denied any wrongdoing, and no criminal charges were ever filed against him.
Despite the DeSantis reports, Hegseth claims he still has Trump’s favor. He didn’t address those claims directly, but he did say that Trump told him to “keep going, keep fighting.”
He told the BBC he spoke to Trump and the President-elect supports him fully. “We’re not going anywhere,” he said. Later he took to X to say the “Left” was spreading “fake” stories to smear him. He’s also been battling a second wave of negative stories regarding his drinking.
According to a report by NBC News, Hegseth’s breath often smelled of alcohol when he was a co-host on Fox & Friends Weekend. The report also said he would talk about being hungover a lot.
“Everyone would be talking about it behind the scenes before he went on the air,” a former Fox employees said. The New Yorker wrote a deep dive on the embattled nominee, which included stories about his drinking during his time as the president of Concerned Veterans for America, from 2013 until 2016.
That report said he was sometimes so intoxicated during official duties that he had to be “carried out” of events. Hegseth’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, defended his client over the story:
“We’re not going to comment on outlandish claims laundered through The New Yorker by a petty and jealous disgruntled former associate of Mr. Hegseth’s. Get back to us when you try your first attempt at actual journalism.”
Ah, the ol’ deflect and insult technique. Wonder where they got that from? During an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show, Hegseth called the potential opportunity to serve as defense secretary as “the biggest deployment of my life… and there won’t be a drop of alcohol on my lips while I’m doing it.”
Some officials are having fun with the whole thing. Democrat Sen. John Fetterman quipped that he would consider voting for DeSantis if the governor “finally admits that he has lifts in his boots. … I’m sure he does. Maybe three inches, four inches at least.”
Published: Dec 5, 2024 01:34 pm