Víctor Davis Hanson
Pete Hegseth/Secretary of Defense
A final area of criticism is the lie that Hegseth is an intolerant Christian zealot or racist white supremacist. No one who has worked for him has lodged such complaints; they come instead from a soldier or two who did not like his tattoos.
Nor did those who poured over his lengthy publications ever make the case that he was an extremist. Instead, a soldier—one soldier—claimed that his tattoos—specifically two, one a large “Jerusalem Cross” (the official banner of the brief Kingdom of Jerusalem) and the other, the motto “Deus vult” (“God wishes/wills”)—are proof he is racist, xenophobic, prejudiced, illiberal and so on. (Any reader of the Latin vulgate remembers the phrase as part of the larger quote, “God does not wish the soul to die.”)
Both the insignia and the Latin phrase “God wishes/wills” do have historical roots but they are not racist but rather medieval Christian emblems from the Crusades. Again, at worst the tattoos might suggest that at one time in his life Hegseth, perhaps following 9/11, felt we in the West were in an existential struggle (“the long war”) against radical Islam and so emblazoned himself with emblems of the most famous East/West struggle—the two-centuries-long Crusades.
I would make the argument there is far less evidence that Hegseth is a Christian chauvinist than there is evidence that John Brennan while running the CIA was an Islamic apologist or had been as a youth a communist party voter.
So finally, we return to the questions of past criteria and qualifications for DOD secretary. What might Hegseth not do?
He will not be coming in rich from past work for a large defense contractor and so he will likely not leave office returning to his former employer as was the case of two recent DOD secretaries.
He will likely not disappear for a week for an unannounced medical procedure without apprising the President that there was no one in charge of the Pentagon, as did Lloyd Austin.
I doubt Hegseth would call up his Chinese communist counterpart to warn him that he would be forewarned should the president issue an order deemed unwise—in the manner Gen. Mark Milley as head of JCS did and as DOD secretary Lloyd Austin approved when told of the crazy gambit.
I doubt Hegseth will unproperly and routinely fly home and back with a private DOD jet in the manner former secretary Leon Panetta unethically did in 2012, who also was a later signee of the false letter of “51 intelligence authorities,” and thus who knowingly lied that the Hunter Biden laptop was likely Russian spawned.
I doubt Hegseth will work for an administration—as did former DOD secretary and Republican senator Hagel—that serially downplayed any threat from ISIS. Hagel was fired de facto by Obama for supposedly being too worried about that Islamic death cult—when he was not worried enough.
Add it all up and this controversial nominee is not all that controversial. What would be controversial? Nominating one of the past ten or so secretaries to radically reform the Pentagon.
Discussion (5)
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I emphatically hope the President will stand by Hegseth, even if at this moment the prospects are bleak, or even nil. The political and philosophical infiltration of the military has been going on for a period long enough to dull the senses of many many among us who just since 2008 would never have believed what it could come to. But the formalized developments of the Biden era, with DEI and other mandated implementations that are ultimately political and socio-political more than anything else, were blatant. They have nothing to do with effective defense of the US and all that entails, and everything to do with ideological preemption. and indoctrination. The need for reform is extremely pressing.
Perhaps the best fix to the borking of Trump nominees is to demand equal application of acceptable behaviors for both the Executive and Legislative Branch public servants. This would include assuming Congressmen are also guilty until proven innocent of all accusations. Have the Democrats decided whether Hegseth isn’t Christian enough or is too Christian for their taste? If Hegseth’s behavior 7 years ago makes him unworthy of a DoD job, then why do Dems want DoD to fund abortions for unwed servicewoman? One could assume such sexual behavior would be equally disqualifying. At least nothing Hegseth did led to the killing of an unborn baby. He is raising all his children.
I hope someone in the oncoming administration is already and forever assigned to provide Victor Davis Hanson’s context and counsel to the appropriate cabinet and administrative heads. He is “sober and judicious” and at the same time bold and courageous in a way President Trump should treasure and use to measure the reformation that is so badly needed. His articulations are clear and inspiring. They are daggers to the progressive’s ideology and fantasies both for our leaders and Everyman. They are founded on true principles and a wonderful use of irrefutable, inductive logic based on ancient to contemporary history, both autobiographical and universal. Very inspiring for whoever has the sense in our nation’s capitol to use the thinking and tools he provides.
Right on! Giv' em hell, Harry (er, Victor)!
Of course this makes too much sense for the pin heads in the Senate to consider