Trump Nominating Fox Host Pete Hegseth to Run The Pentagon Means One Thing: He Wants to Politicize The Military

President-elect Donald Trump nominating Fox News morning show co-host Pete Hegseth to run the Department of Defense is a flashing red warning sign that the incoming president has no desire to keep the military out of politics and above partisan fights.

Hegseth, if confirmed, will replace retired U.S. Army Four-Star General Lloyd Austin who previously served as the 12th commander of United States Central Command and the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq during wartime. While Hegseth is a decorated Army veteran who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, he has never led a large organization or number of troops like Austin did or Trump’s first Pentagon chief, retired Gen. James Mattis did.

Mark Esper, Trump’s last secretary of defense in his first term, is a West Point graduate who had previously served as the secretary of the Army and has since spoken at length about breaking from Trump and shutting down the then-president’s desire to use the military to “shoot” social justice protestors in 2020.

All of which is simply to say, Hegseth clearly doesn’t have the same kind of independence, background, and experience his predecessors had; experience making life and death decisions for U.S. troops on the battlefield while weighing the heavy geopolitical and national security implications of every decision.

So what in Hegseth’s background convinced Trump to appoint him to one of the country’s most powerful unelected positions? The answer is simple, he has watched him for almost a decade on Fox News play the role of an angry partisan culture warrior and a loyal supporter.

“The Pentagon likes to say ‘Our diversity is our strength.’ What a bunch of garbage. In the military, our diversity is not our strength. Our unity is our strength, and we need a commander-in-chief that understands that. Donald Trump certainly does,” Hegseth told Fox News in June while promoting his recent book, titled The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.

Hegseth has long been an “anti-woke” crusader who has argued against having women in combat roles, criticized the NATO military alliance, and sent mixed signals about continued U.S. support for Ukraine. Some of his other more bombastic past statements are also certain to be discussed during his confirmation hearing, including a 2018 speech in which he dreamed of Israel building a Third Temple in Jerusalem atop the Temple Mount, one of the holiest sights in both Islam and Judaism and a major flashpoint in the conflict.

Hegseth’s long run on Fox News promoting a political point of view makes him a stark departure from most of his potential predecessors at the Pentagon. U.S. generals rarely take public political stances while serving and those that do, like General Stanley McChrystal, often quickly find themselves out of a job.

The Pentagon has, of course, been run by political leaders in the past like Sens. William Cohen (R-ME) or Chuck Hagel (R-NE), but in these cases, Democratic presidents chose Republicans for their cabinet to signal bipartisanship and a non-political approach to running the military – the exact opposite of what Trump is doing with Hegseth.

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and retired Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford wrote in Foreign Affairs in January 2023 about the importance of maintaining a non-partisan military and warned that leaders from “both parties have increasingly sought to exploit the public’s trust in the military.”

“Over the centuries, American political and military leaders ingrained in the U.S. military a nonpartisan commitment to support and defend not any person or party but the Constitution itself. This nonpartisan commitment, embodied in every officer’s solemn oath, makes the U.S. military unique. It also mitigates against the most extreme threats to the republic, from insurrection to civil war,” he wrote in the essay.

While Hegseth was no doubt an honorable soldier, having been awarded two Bronze Stars among many other medals, he has also spent his civilian career as a public face of one of the most partisan institutions in the country: Fox News. While Trump sees this as an asset and proof of loyalty, Hegseth’s past as a partisan talking head should in fact be disqualifying for the job.

Hegseth also left the military as a result of the culture wars. He wrote in his book that his National Guard orders to help secure President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 were rescinded because he was labeled an “extremist.”

Hegseth, clearly still peeved about the incident, said on Fox he “was going to guard the inauguration because I was in the D.C. guard… ultimately, members of my unit in leadership deemed that I was an extremist or a white nationalist because of a tattoo I have, which is a religious tattoo. It’s a Jerusalem cross. Everybody can look it up, but it was used as a premise to revoke my orders to guard the inauguration.”

Hegseth also has a Crusader-era “ Deus Vult” tattoo on his bicep, which has been linked to the alt-right in recent years. His exit from the military and tattoos are certainly going to come up in his confirmation hearing – only further raising the partisan rancor around him.

Looming over Hegseth’s nomination will also be Trump’s campaign promise to purge “woke generals” from the military, a task Hegseth would certainly help lead. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Trump’s team has drafted an executive order to create a “warrior board” to review the nation’s top generals and decide whether or not to keep them and their decades of experience in the military. Hegseth will also undoubtedly face questions over his aggressive role in lobbying Trump during his first term to pardon several service members accused of war crimes, most notoriously Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher.

Hegseth’s nomination, like his previous consideration to be run Veterans Affairs, will likely be opposed by many veterans groups. Paul Rieckhoff, the founder of Independent Veterans of America, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Hegseth is “a highly effective and ferocious media, culture and political warrior for MAGA. And beyond loyal to and trusted by Trump. I figured Trump would pick probably pick him for Chief of Staff or Press Secretary.”

“But this… Hegseth is undoubtedly the least qualified nominee for SecDef in American history. And the most overtly political. Brace yourself, America,” he warned.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.