{"id":1050036,"date":"2024-12-03T19:57:18","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T00:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1050036"},"modified":"2024-12-03T19:57:19","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T00:57:19","slug":"new-trumps-scandal-ridden-defense-pick-pete-hegseth-facing-disturbing-allegations-as-regressive-views-surface","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/new-trumps-scandal-ridden-defense-pick-pete-hegseth-facing-disturbing-allegations-as-regressive-views-surface\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW: Trump\u2019s Scandal-Ridden Defense Pick Pete Hegseth Facing \u201cDisturbing\u201d Allegations As \u201cRegressive\u201d Views Surface"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump\u2019s unqualified pick for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is facing blowback \u2014 even from members<\/a> of his own party \u2014 for his scandal-ridden history of \u201cdisturbing<\/a>\u201d allegations and \u201cregressive<\/a>\u201d views. From his extreme rhetoric \u201cjoking\u201d about taking away women\u2019s voting rights and reproductive freedoms to his lack of basic qualifications for the job, Hegseth\u2019s record shows just how unfit he is to lead our military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEW: Pete Hegseth has \u201c<\/strong>regressive<\/strong><\/a>\u201d views on women\u2019s freedoms, including \u201cjoking that women shouldn\u2019t have the right to vote\u201d and opposing women serving in combat.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanity Fair<\/a>: <\/strong>\u201cBut Hegseth also displayed his hard-right politics. \u2018We would argue about women\u2019s reproductive rights. He had some regressive views on birth control. His position was basically, if you got pregnant it was your fault.<\/strong>\u2019 Another person close to Hegseth recalled him joking that women shouldn\u2019t have the right to vote. <\/strong>[…]\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Hegseth<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth has never led a government agency or any organization \u201clarger than a small nonprofit,\u201d raising doubts from Republicans and our military leaders alike about his lack of experience to run the Pentagon.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politico<\/a>: \u201cHegseth, if confirmed by the Senate, would lead 1.3 million active-duty troops in uniform and more than 750,000 civilians, hold contentious meetings with U.S. allies and develop strike options against the Islamic State and Iranian proxies. And while Hegseth has military experience, he has never run an organization larger than a small nonprofit.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Would you trust him to run Walmart?\u2019 said a former DOD official. \u2018Because that\u2019s how many employees we have.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Folks are shocked,\u2019 said a current DOD official. \u2018He\u2019s just a Fox News personality that\u2019s never worked in the government.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018It is a massive bureaucracy, you have to understand how that works to support national security around the globe,\u2019 the official added. \u2018It is tedious and challenging and it is not at all related to getting on Fox News and pontificating.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wall Street Journal<\/a>: \u201cRepublican senators said that they want closer scrutiny of President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s pick for defense secretary. […] The former Fox News host was an unconventional choice for the top Pentagon job, as he has never led a large government agency<\/strong>, but the debate about his qualifications has been overshadowed by allegations related to his personal life.<\/strong> A 2017 sexual-assault allegation, which he later paid his accuser to keep secret, blindsided Trump transition officials. Other allegations continued to bubble up, further raising questions about his fitness for the post. […]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHegseth is now seen as the most vulnerable of Trump\u2019s picks<\/strong>. […]\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even members of Trump\u2019s own party are calling the allegations against Hegseth \u201c<\/strong>disturbing<\/strong><\/a>\u201d and raising doubts about his lack of experience, making a confirmation \u201c<\/strong>difficult<\/strong><\/a>.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newsweek<\/a>: \u201cSouth Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said Tuesday that it will be \u2018difficult\u2019 for Pete Hegseth, <\/strong>President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, to defend himself against an allegation of sexual assault.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGraham called the allegation \u2018disturbing,\u2019 telling CBS News, \u2018I think some of these articles are very disturbing. He obviously has a chance to defend himself here, but some of this stuff is it\u2019s going to be difficult\u2026<\/strong>\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cSince being tapped to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host who has never run a large government agency, has faced allegations of sexual misconduct and mismanagement. <\/strong>He denies the charges and is now meeting with Senate Republicans to build support for his confirmation. […]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn interviews this week, several GOP senators opted not to disclose whether they would vote for Hegseth,<\/strong> even as some Senate aides privately questioned whether he\u2019d make it through the confirmation process.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NBC News<\/a>: \u201cAs many as six Senate Republicans, perhaps more, are currently not comfortable supporting Hegseth’s bid to lead the Pentagon<\/strong> as new revelations about the former Fox News anchor’s past continue to be made public, three Republican sources with direct knowledge of his nomination process tell NBC News.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump\u2019s unqualified pick for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is facing blowback \u2014 even from members of his own party \u2014 for his scandal-ridden history of \u201cdisturbing\u201d allegations and \u201cregressive\u201d views. From his extreme rhetoric \u201cjoking\u201d about taking away women\u2019s voting rights and reproductive freedoms to his lack of basic qualifications for the job, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":297,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1050036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNEW: Trump\u2019s Scandal-Ridden Defense Pick Pete Hegseth Facing \u201cDisturbing\u201d Allegations As \u201cRegressive\u201d Views Surface - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/new-trumps-scandal-ridden-defense-pick-pete-hegseth-facing-disturbing-allegations-as-regressive-views-surface\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-04T00:57:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-04T00:57:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kate Sosland\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kate Sosland\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/new-trumps-scandal-ridden-defense-pick-pete-hegseth-facing-disturbing-allegations-as-regressive-views-surface\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/new-trumps-scandal-ridden-defense-pick-pete-hegseth-facing-disturbing-allegations-as-regressive-views-surface\/\",\"name\":\"NEW: Trump\u2019s Scandal-Ridden Defense Pick Pete Hegseth Facing \u201cDisturbing\u201d Allegations As \u201cRegressive\u201d Views Surface - 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