War Fighter: Hegseth Stuns Democrats At Confirmation Hearing

Democrats thought they were going to be able to get Pete Hegseth in the crosshairs and then do serious damage to him and to Republicans for having nominated him.

Boy, were they wrong.

Hegseth was great. Not just good — but great. Iconically great.

Yesterday, in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Democrat after Democrat lined up to attack him, particularly on his personal life. And Hegseth weathered it like a champ. He came back at them when they made particularly stupid statements, and he said some things that needed to be said.

This is a very different Secretary of Defense nominee. Not only did Hegseth actually serve in the infantry, not only is he a graduate of Harvard and Princeton who is quite bright, but Hegseth also has the perspective of the guy on the ground doing the fighting. He is not a political general who’s elevated through the ranks for being able to get along with his superiors.

That’s not who Hegseth is. He’s an outsider who’s being brought in to shake things up, because guess what? The Department of Defense needs a good shaking-up. 

He said a lot of things yesterday. Many of them were quite wonderful.

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He was questioned about his adherence, for example, to the Geneva Conventions and questioned about his comments that American war fighters have to be given the ability to actually win. He stated, “We are a country that fights by the rule of law and our men and women always do,” he said. “And yet we have too many people here in air-conditioned offices that like to point fingers at the guys in dark and dangerous places, the gals in helicopters in enemy territory who are doing things that people in Washington, D.C. would never dare to do.”

That is exactly right. The Department of Defense should be about destroying the enemy. The attempt of so many on the Left to hamstring our ability to win wars — using every tool at their disposal, including warfare — is awful, and Hegseth is going to put an end to it.

Hegseth talked about diversity, equity, and inclusion, about the lowering of standards in order to “diversify” the American military.

He said that being good at your job should matter. These are basic notions. The fact the Democratic Party abandoned all this is why they just got shellacked in the elections.

He stated, “In those ground combat roles, what is true is that the weight of the ruck on your back doesn’t change; the weight of the 155 round that you have to carry doesn’t change; the weight of the 240 Bravo machine gun you might have to carry doesn’t change.

And so whether it’s a man or a woman, they have to meet the same high standards. And senator, in any place where those things have been eroded or in courses [where] criteria have been changed in order to meet quotas, racial quotas or gender quotas, that is putting a focus on something other than readiness, standards, meritocracy, and lethality.”

This is such common sense. That is why he’s going to make an excellent Secretary of Defense. We are no longer going to have General Mark Milley talking about the problems of white rage and how diversity is our greatest strength. It turns out the greatest strength of the military is effectiveness and lethality, its ability to kill the bad guys and pursue American interests.

That also means thinning out the ranks of the political generals. Asked about the staff numbers exploding, Hegseth responded:

We’re going to address that. We won World War II with seven four-star generals. Today we have 44 four-star generals. There’s an inverse relationship between the size of staffs and victory on the battlefield. We don’t need more bureaucracy at the top. We need more warfighters empowered at the bottom. So it’s going to be my job working with those that we hire and those inside the administration to identify those places where fat can be cut so it can go toward lethality. 

Of course he’s right. He also said that you don’t get to lose wars and keep your job. “Everybody in this room knows if you’re a rifleman and you lose your rifle, they’re throwing the book at you,” he stated. “But if you’re a general who loses a war, you get a promotion. That’s not going to happen in Donald Trump’s Pentagon. There will be real standards for success. Everyone from the top, from the most senior general to the most lowly private — we’ll ensure that they’re treated fairly.”

Totally correct.

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One of the things Hegseth has going for him is not only his military background and the fact he’s very bright, but he also happens to be incredibly telegenic. He was a TV star, which means he is great on TV and knows how to speak in front of a crowd.

“Unlike the current administration, politics should play no part in military matters,” he declared. “We are not Republicans. We are not Democrats. We are American warriors. Our standards will be high and they will be equal, not equitable. That’s a very different word.”

This is all great. He was asked about foreign policy and said, “I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas.”

Right again.

This is the right man for the job.

You couldn’t find anyone who understands what is needed better than Pete Hegseth.