Last Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump announced he would be selecting Pete Hegseth to serve as his Secretary of Defense. As Townhall has been covering, the reaction was swift and, in many cases, severe. Many sought to go after Hegseth's priority of making the military less woke. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who was just elected to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, was asked about the pick during her appearance on ABC News' "This Week."
Before even speaking to Slotkin, host Martha Raddatz promoted a narrative that Democratic critics and their allies in the mainstream media have used, noting that Trump is "sparking alarm with controversial Cabinet nominees, including a firebrand Fox TV host to lead the Department of Defense." This talking point leaves out how Hegseth is also a veteran.
Throughout the segment discussing Hegseth, Raddatz came off as hysterical. The sense of panic only further continued, specifically, as Raddatz lamented woke and incompetent generals getting fired.
"Hegseth has also said that any general that was involved in any of the DEI woke crap has got to go," Raddatz mentioned at one point. "Do you expect Donald Trump to fire top generals who he considers woke or those close to former Chairman Mark Milley?"
As Slotkin tried to share her concern, Raddatz spoke over her to further emphasize the hysteria that he would "fire" these generals.
"Yeah, I don't think you have to interpret anything," Slotkin continued. "I think they've been very clear that they're putting together some sort of panel that's going to look at generals, people who have served their nation the--their entire lives over multiple administrations Democrat and Republican in combat, they are now openly talking about dismissing them like some sort of kangaroo court." From there, she continued to speak about "stress," just as she did earlier in the segment.
"You can imagine the stress in the Pentagon about that, but also on the future of who we are as a military, right? Our military and the role of the military is in the Constitution for a reason and I think we're really at risk of politicizing the military in a way that we can't put the genie back in the bottle," Slotkin offered.
🚨Democrats and the Propaganda Press are hyperventilating over the idea of Pete Hegseth clearing out the DEI regime in the US military.
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) November 17, 2024
Sen.-elect Slotkin: “I think we're really at risk of politicizing the military in a way that we can't put the genie back in the bottle."
Pure… pic.twitter.com/685fxYnTUo
This clip has received considerable attention on social media, especially as the military has already been politicized, and thanks to the "DEI woke crap" that has infected our military. It's not just Hegseth saying so, but also Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who laid out their concerns in a report from November 2022.
The risk is also already here, Hegseth has warned before. In his May interview with Townhall about his new book, "The War on Warriors," Hegseth made clear how we need to "save" the Pentagon. Servicemembers, under aliases, are quoted in his book taking issue with woke policies, such as sessions on pronoun usage, at the expense of actual training sessions. There's even a chapter on how "Supporting DEI Means Soldiers DIE."
"It's more than one general, it's a commander in chief, and then a Secretary of Defense and then a Chairman of Joint Chiefs who are gonna say, we're done with this DEI garbage we're done with lowering standards, we're done with obsessions with electric tanks, some green garbage we're pursuing. We're done with these things," Hegseth explained to Townhall. "We're going to reorient back to how we used to do business on a lot of levels, and then fire any generals underneath them who are involved in the implementation and promote people who are warfighters and let them do their work."
Hegseth noted that it sounds easier than it would actually be to execute, but that the right people are out there.
It's also particularly rich for a Democrat to talk about a "kangaroo court" given how much the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ) has been weaponized and engaging in such a style of justice against Trump and everyday Americans who are deemed political opponents.
Raddatz and Slotkin are not the only ones focused on these silly concerns. Back in June, when the Kamala HQ X account went by Biden HQ, there was a clip shared of an interview between Trump and "Fox & Friends Weekend" hosts, including Hegseth.
Trump says he will “fire” America’s military generals and replace them with MAGA loyalists, echoing Project 2025 pic.twitter.com/kbEfzkllzQ
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) June 2, 2024
As we covered at the time:
Towards the end of the interview, and just a few moments before the 15-second clip from the Biden HQ, Trump was promoting how he "rebuilt the military." He went on to discuss how "there's woke at the top," with co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy chiming in to ask "are you going to fire those woke generals, the woke generals at the top," noting "Pete's been talking about it," referring to co-host Pete Hegseth.
"Yes, I would get rid of them, yeah," Trump confirmed, explaining now he knows who they actually are, unlike when he first came into office. "But see, now I know 'em, I didn't know 'em before. You know, I came in, what do I know, I was a New York real estate person," he reminded. "But no, I'd fire 'em, I would fire them," Trump continued, making clear "you can't have a woke military."
Conveniently, the clip ended before Trump brought the conversation back to points made earlier, about how "you need people that want to win, they want to win wars," as he reminded "that's what their purpose is, to win wars, not to be woke!"
Hegseth was abundantly clear during that interview, and in his book, about needing to get back to having a more competent military, and that "with a new commander, Trump in the White House, and with patriots joining the military, you can change the ethos of that place."
Raddatz then actually made a fair point in response to Slotkin. "But there have been issues with recruiting of late and Hegseth talks about that," she pointed out, which the lawmaker acknowledged, but also did so in a dismissive manner, as she went on to promote the misplaced priorities that the military has been focusing on by prioritizing diversity about all else.
"Sure, I mean, there--there's issues with recruiting," Slotkin said. "I think you talk to any business leader, there's issues with recruiting as well. There's just a high demand signal but I don't think that showing that you can be summarily fired in this system is a way to increase recruiting..."
Raddatz cut Slotkin off to raise another objective point about Hegseth, that "he said it would attract normal males," prompting the lawmaker to respond, "Well, his idea of normal may be different." When it comes to "normal," the military used to consider traditional values to be what they stood for, before labeling them as an "extremist."
"Well, not believing in [CRT or DEI] things used to be what the military stood for, so now we're turning against guys and gals who have traditional values and say, 'Well, if you don't accept this new radical policy, then you're an extremist,'" Hegseth also explained to Townhall during his interview.
Slotkin came off as more ridiculous from there with her point that "we want a diverse force," touting how "right now, the military is one of the most diverse institutions in the world" and that "the officer corps should reflect that diversity," though that's not saying anything about competence. She didn't indicate who she was speaking of when referring to "we."
Hegseth would certainly disagree. During his interview with Townhall, he emphasized that a slogan such as "diversity is our strength" is "the dumbest phrase anyone in uniform ever said."
"So, for eight years [under Obama]--and now for four more years under Biden--the pipelines of future military leaders have been primed with social justice, politically correct parrots. Parrots who love 'firsts' instead of fighters. Puppets who will spout 'our diversity is our strength' when they know damn well that it's the opposite in the military: our unity is our strength. They are dangerous idiots, and they are in charge," Hegseth warns in his book.