Why a Fox News Host Isn’t a Bad Choice to Lead the Pentagon

The announcement that Trump had wiretapped Hegseth, a decorated Army National Guard veteran who served multiple tours in the Middle East, was met with shock and skepticism by even some of Trump’s own supporters. The idea that a TV morning show host could lead the federal government’s most important agency and its $800 billion budget seemed absurd at first glance, despite his prior military service.

But Trump was elected to disrupt the status quo. His election victory last week was a sweeping mandate to change the way the federal government, including the Pentagon, operates. And in Hegseth, Trump found someone who shares his vision of disrupting Washington’s day-to-day operations.

Hegseth may have made a name for himself on television as the energetic host of a morning news program, but he cut his teeth in the Army National Guard after attending Princeton University. He later also received a master’s degree from Harvard.

Most importantly, Hegseth has already built a healthy skepticism of the Pentagon’s modus operandi in recent years, criticizing the Pentagon for prioritizing a progressive political agenda over military readiness and lethality. Last summer he released his latest book, ‘The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free”, which satirizes the politicization of the US military and calls for its reform.

Solving the problem Hegseth diagnosed is a key part of Trump’s agenda. In a campaign policy video, the president-elect blamed the military’s embrace of progressive politics under the Biden administration for recruitment shortages currently plaguing multiple branches of the military.

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“Joe Biden’s woke policies and political purges have prevented many great patriots from serving,” Trump said. “They don’t want to serve in our military. Frankly, they have no respect for our president. That’s a big factor. I will restore the proud culture and honor the traditions of the American Armed Forces. And there will be no more Marxism allowed, no communism allowed, and we will get rid of the fascists.”

In selecting a secretary of defense, Trump was looking for someone who would help him carry out that agenda. In Hegseth, he found someone who not only understands the problem of politicization in the military, but is committed to ending it and making the U.S. military once again the most formidable fighting force in the world.