Pete Hedgseth for Secretary of Defense

[Anonymous]

The question being asked is why is he qualified. What experience and capacity does he have to indicate why he will be successful at managing that hundreds of billions of dollars and millions of personnel organization?

There are very few people that can successfully do that. No one seems to be able to explain why he is one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, John Ratcliff, and Elise Stefanik are all fairly professional, competent, and reasonably good picks.

I wonder why the Trump administration chose to put such a lightweight as SecDef. It's the biggest, most powerful, most bureaucratic, most lethal organization in the history of humanity. And they put the weekend host of an entertainment show as the head of it? There has to be a secondary intent for having such weak leadership, because the undersecretaries and the generals are going to walk all over him. At this moment in time, if Hedgseth were to walk into the Pentagon in his National Guard uniform he'd be saluting roughly three quarters of the people he'd encounter in the hallways.

Let’s see who he puts at energy, the agency controlling the nukes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, John Ratcliff, and Elise Stefanik are all fairly professional, competent, and reasonably good picks.

I wonder why the Trump administration chose to put such a lightweight as SecDef. It's the biggest, most powerful, most bureaucratic, most lethal organization in the history of humanity. And they put the weekend host of an entertainment show as the head of it? There has to be a secondary intent for having such weak leadership, because the undersecretaries and the generals are going to walk all over him. At this moment in time, if Hedgseth were to walk into the Pentagon in his National Guard uniform he'd be saluting roughly three quarters of the people he'd encounter in the hallways.

Because he just wants loyalists. He needs someone at the top who will help him purge the ones with ethics, professionalism, and loyalty to the constitution. This is how democracy dies, and fascism replaces it.

WHO was not a loyalist in the Biden administration?

Many of Biden's top people are career professionals who served in both Republican and Democrat administrations - unlike Trump's.

MAGA doesn’t believe these people exist because they don’t know anything about government and government jobs.

There are plenty of federal government workers who are Magats they absolutely worship Trump. He’s a bro

[Anonymous]

If a reality TV star can be president, why can’t a Fox News personality be defense secretary? After all, the important thing is how they look on TV. Performance is everything. Appearances matter more than substance. He will yell on TV and act tough and MAGA will think they’re protected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, John Ratcliff, and Elise Stefanik are all fairly professional, competent, and reasonably good picks.

I wonder why the Trump administration chose to put such a lightweight as SecDef. It's the biggest, most powerful, most bureaucratic, most lethal organization in the history of humanity. And they put the weekend host of an entertainment show as the head of it? There has to be a secondary intent for having such weak leadership, because the undersecretaries and the generals are going to walk all over him. At this moment in time, if Hedgseth were to walk into the Pentagon in his National Guard uniform he'd be saluting roughly three quarters of the people he'd encounter in the hallways.

Because he just wants loyalists. He needs someone at the top who will help him purge the ones with ethics, professionalism, and loyalty to the constitution. This is how democracy dies, and fascism replaces it.

At least he won’t send the fbi after people like Biden did to Mayor Adams. Loyalist is more of a Biden admin obsession.

Trump doesn’t care about folks who don’t like him or criticize him. It’s the Dems who are thin skinned

It’s sweet you think politicians need not be ethical and bribery is acceptable. You should know that it was the NYC firefighters who first reported Adam’s trickery. You people are scum.

[Anonymous]

The risks of picking Peter Hegseth to head the Pentagon are too great.

I mean, we could end up with spy balloons flying over the country, disastrous pull-outs from warzones, Russia invading Europe, Iran expanding, and a recruitment crisis.

Best go with another DoD insider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pete Buttigieg’s “qualifications” for Transportation Secretary:

1. Likes trains
2. Gay

Trump’s “qualifications” for president:

1. “Businessman” with a history of 26 business failures and 6 bankruptcies.

2. Reality TV star.

3. Likes playing president on TV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The SecDef’s job is to manage a massive bureaucracy, not to say stupid shit on tv. There are at least a million people in the U.S. who are more qualified and better suited to the job than Hegseth. Nothing about him is qualifying. It is amazing that after all of his dumbassery, Trump can still prove that he is even stupider than we thought.

Trump’s agenda is to dismantle the federal government and burn it all down. He has always made this clear. Hiring loyal clowns is intentional. Competency is not required.

Everyone who voted for Trump, voted to destroy their country.

Or rebuild. Depending on your view

What has Trump ever built?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The risks of picking Peter Hegseth to head the Pentagon are too great.

I mean, we could end up with spy balloons flying over the country, disastrous pull-outs from warzones, Russia invading Europe, Iran expanding, and a recruitment crisis.

Best go with another DoD insider.

Blah blah blah. Just list his experience to do this job. The American public doesn't understand what it is so what is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The risks of picking Peter Hegseth to head the Pentagon are too great.

I mean, we could end up with spy balloons flying over the country, disastrous pull-outs from warzones, Russia invading Europe, Iran expanding, and a recruitment crisis.

Best go with another DoD insider.

A beyond simple-minded reply. We’re not in campaign season any more. Your side is supposed to be getting serious about governance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pete Buttigieg’s “qualifications” for Transportation Secretary:

1. Likes trains
2. Gay

Another stinking Republican homophobe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pete Buttigieg’s “qualifications” for Transportation Secretary:

1. Likes trains
2. Gay

Um no. Do you think gay people are inherently unequal because of their sexual preferences.

Pete B. Was the mayor of a city population of 900k people and a municipal budget of 1.6 billion dollars. I think he could handle DOT with a workforce of a little over 56k. It wasn’t Treasury or Defense.

[Anonymous]

In his book, "Hegseth talks of how he was one of 12 Nat'l Guard members Kept from Biden's inauguration due to extremism. He says it was due to his Jerusalem Cross tattoo, but I'm betting it was his tattoo of Deus Vult, the rallying cry of the 1st Crusade in 1099 - and White Supremacists today."

https://bsky.app/profile/dlj.bsky.social/post/3lasbdrmgqs2x

[Anonymous]

Look whatever - but this does seem to be the first pick getting significant blowback. I don't think anyone thinks he's actually qualified. Weird choice.

Anyway, guess we'll FO!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, John Ratcliff, and Elise Stefanik are all fairly professional, competent, and reasonably good picks.

I wonder why the Trump administration chose to put such a lightweight as SecDef. It's the biggest, most powerful, most bureaucratic, most lethal organization in the history of humanity. And they put the weekend host of an entertainment show as the head of it? There has to be a secondary intent for having such weak leadership, because the undersecretaries and the generals are going to walk all over him. At this moment in time, if Hedgseth were to walk into the Pentagon in his National Guard uniform he'd be saluting roughly three quarters of the people he'd encounter in the hallways.

Because he just wants loyalists. He needs someone at the top who will help him purge the ones with ethics, professionalism, and loyalty to the constitution. This is how democracy dies, and fascism replaces it.

I don't think so. I think it's the policy positions Hedgseth has articulated which resonated. Eliminating the focus on diversity instead of on capability, for example.

It would not be that hard to find an actually qualified appointee who advocated for that position.

Also the idiotic thing about this is that traditionally the military's focus on capability and earning rank and position has been WHY it is such a diverse organization. I remember listening to Colin Powell discuss this eloquently in a speech -- the military offers minorities an opportunity for a career path where advancement (in all but the uppermost levels where yes politics come into play) is extremely transparent. The requirements for joining and for moving up in rank or joining certain divisions are extremely clear and generally very rigid. That's a relief for people who often can never know if they weren't selected for a job or promotion for reasons of race.

If Hegseth maxed out at major it is because he failed to meet the requirement to move higher (if that's what he wanted). He either chose not to pursue higher rank or he was told clearly "this is what you need to do" and didn't do it. That's how the military works.

Trump has elevated this guy to SecDef because of how he looks and the idea that he's loyal to Trump. It's directly contrary to the fundamental idea within the military that you most PROVE your competency before moving into a role, because the stakes are too high for something like good looks or connections to be the deciding factor. That stuff can help you within the military (if for instance you are applying to a public facing role or need an academy recommendation or whatever) but as a general matter you are expected to prove competency first. Even the nepo babies in the military are good at their jobs -- connections opened doors but that's it.

This guy hasn't done that. He will be hated and resented.