Trump faces backlash to Hegseth pick for Pentagon chief

President-elect Trump’s surprise choice of Pete Hegseth, a conservative Fox News host, to serve as Defense secretary has enraged Democrats and left even some Republicans scratching their heads.

The Tuesday evening announcement of Hegseth, a decorated Army veteran, confounded those who had expected a nominee with far more defense policy experience or foreign policy chops.

“Wow,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) replied when asked about the freshly announced choice Tuesday evening. “I’m just surprised, because the names that I’ve heard for secretary of Defense have not included him.”

Former national security adviser John Bolton called Hegseth’s selection “a loyalty choice” but said he didn’t know him well enough to say whether he would sign off on Trump’s oft-repeated campaign threats to use U.S. troops against Americans.

“I think he clearly is a loyalty choice. I think that's what Trump is after. As I've said before, I don't think loyalty is really the right word — I think it's fealty. I think what Trump wants from his appointees is subservience,” Bolton said Wednesday on CNN.

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) was far more blunt.

“Obviously, it‘s weird, and there‘s only one reason he‘s doing it: because he‘s on Fox News,” Kinzinger told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday night.

But some key figures on the right were also quick to defend Hegseth.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called Hegseth a “great choice,” while Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), whose name was floated for the role, said, “I think he is going to be a very strong secretary of Defense,” according to NBC News.

And Senate Veterans Affairs Committee ranking member Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said he had worked with Hegseth in the past on veterans' issues “and he's been very helpful.”

“We have a good relationship, and so I'm very pleased to what I know about him,” Moran told The Hill Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack at a Veterans Voices event Wednesday.

Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), a former Trump Cabinet official, told CNN that the prospective Pentagon leader was “a pretty good choice,” pointing to his military background.

“He understands it from a soldier’s point of view. He is absolutely going to need some — some deputies around him that understand the institution ... giving him good advice,” Zinke said.

“And I think he will stand up against the president, when the president — if the president has an unlawful order," he added.

Hegseth is a former captain in the Army National Guard and served overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.

Since leaving the service, he has taken on several roles as an executive director for Vets For Freedom and former CEO of Concerned Veterans for America. The group, funded by the Koch brothers, advocates for outsourcing veterans' health care.

Hegseth is also known for publicly and privately lobbying Trump to pardon service members accused of war crimes, which he did in 2019, despite warnings that it would damage the integrity of the military justice system.

As a Fox News host and conservative commentator, Hegseth has outlined a number of policy positions that would roll back decades of efforts to promote diversity and expand opportunities for women and LGBTQ service members.

He has specifically called for the firing of Joint Chiefs Chair CQ Brown, along with any other generals involved in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, and has said women should not serve in combat roles.

“Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First," Trump said in a statement. "With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice Jerry Moran Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down."

If installed at the Pentagon, Hegseth would be tasked with carrying out Trump’s campaign against “wokeness” in the military, which will likely include banning transgender troops, slashing DEI initiatives and placing new restrictions on compensation for traveling to receive abortions.

The president-elect at multiple points on the campaign trail also suggested using U.S. troops to quell domestic protests or help carry out mass deportations.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a former Marine Corps officer, said he believes Hegseth is “going to try very hard to politicize the military.”

“That's been his MO at Fox News and in his variety of positions since he got out of the National Guard as well, and so that's not going to be a good influence,” Moulton told The Hill.

Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Independent Veterans of America, said he thought Hegseth might have been in the mix for press secretary, not running the Pentagon’s sprawling bureaucracy.

Rieckhoff wrote on social media that Hegseth is "a highly effective and ferocious media, culture and political warrior for MAGA. And beyond loyal to and trusted by Trump.”

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

Whether Hegseth is confirmed to the post will almost entirely depend on Republican senators, who will have a slight majority in the next Congress. Apart from expressing surprise at the pick, it’s unclear if any GOP senators are willing to block it.

“I don’t know anything about him,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said Tuesday night.

Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) predicted to Fox News’s Laura Ingraham on Tuesday night that Hegseth would be “easily confirmed.”

“I dare any Republican senator to vote against him,” he said. “That is not in their best interest.”