US President-elect Donald Trump has already made some interesting choices for his forthcoming government as he looks towards his second term in office starting in January next year.
The one that has captured the headlines, naturally, has been his appointment of Elon Musk, he of Tesla and X/Twitter fame, to head up his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Its remit has yet to be formalised but its intent has certainly raised a few eyebrows.
Yet possibly eyebrows have been raised even higher by his appointment of Pete Hegseth as his Defense (sic) Secretary. It’s fair to say world reaction has not been entirely positive.
One commentator ‘close to the UK Establishment’ has observed: “Hegseth was a low-level army officer who became convinced, whilst being a Fox News presenter, that the “woke agenda” was destroying America’s military. What he says he wants to do is seriously disturbing but still seems to be part of the MAGA-world culture wars, albeit at the extreme end of that.”
Hardly a ringing endorsement. So what exactly is Hesgeth on the record as saying in the recent past? He comes across as extremely anti-woke and right wing, as a few extracts from a podcast he reportedly recorded a few days ago illustrates.
On ‘wokeness’ in the American military establishment he says: “ … how did the military allow itself to go woke? How did our general class, how did our military academies? How did military leaders … The dumbest phrase on planet Earth, in the military, is our diversity is our strength.”
He adds: “The woke stuff is everywhere. I feel like I’m walking on eggshells. I heard that all the time…They’re afraid of one misstep on one gender…or racial…or trans thing…every single one of those distractions means we’re less good at our job…to close with and destroy the enemy.”
His suggested solution? ” … first of all you gotta fire the Chairman Joint Chiefs … any general that was involved, General, Admiral, whatever that was involved in, any of the DEI woke shit, has got to go. Either you’re in for war, fighting that, and that’s it. That’s the only litmus test we care about.”
He is equally forthright on women and transgenderism in the US forces, saying ” … everybody knows between bone density and lung capacity and muscle strength, men and women are just different … if there’s some, you know, hard charging female that meets that standard, great, cool, join the infantry battalion. But that is not what’s happened.”
And “ … there aren’t enough lesbians in San Francisco to man the 82nd Airborne [Division] and in trying to cater to that, they lost the boys from Tennessee and Kentucky and Oklahoma, the traditional dudes who did it because they wanted [to], they loved their country or … [for] the adventure:
His views on US involvement in supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia are equally robust. He is clearly unconvinced by the prevailing orthodoxy that if Putin isn’t stopped in Ukraine then it will be another country next, but thankfully he still seems to condone the present policy of sending arms to Kyiv as long as US troops don’t become involved directly.
But as for future US military involvement abroad he is deeply anti, observing that ” … we have burned two decades of money, our best and brightest, our good will, military capabilities… in Afghanistan and Iraq, and now we’re tempted to do it again in Ukraine — thankfully, so far, it hasn’t been troops—and we’ve got an even bigger threat in China…”.
There is much, much more that could be quoted from this particular podcast and indeed from other outbursts elsewhere, but I think that is sufficient to show the demeanour of the man.
What should we make of this appointment, which of course is still to be formally ratified? My view is that it spells danger for America, NATO, and democracies everywhere. It’s obvious his personal mission is to clear the American military of what he sees as woke individuals and practices which have weakened it.
He also hints at a return to American isolationism, which cannot be a good thing either for the US or the west. I would go further and say that I think he may be a slightly unhinged, single-issue fanatic, appointed by Trump for his loyalty rather than his ability. This is not a good look no matter where your political sympathies lie.
If he is duly appointed it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Better buckle up.
Lt Col Stuart Crawford is a political and defence commentator and former army officer. Sign up for his podcasts and newsletters at www.DefenceReview.uk
