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    • Trump picks Fox host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary
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    Trump picks Fox host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary

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    US President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had picked Pete Hegseth, a Fox News commentator and veteran who has expressed disdain for the so-called “woke” policies of Pentagon leaders, including his top military officer, as defense secretary.

    Hegseth, if confirmed by US Senatecould fulfill Trump’s campaign promises to rid the US military of generals he accuses of pursuing progressive diversity policies in the ranks that conservatives have rallied against.

    It could also set up a collision course between Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, a former fighter pilot with command experience in the Pacific and Middle East, whom Hegseth accused of “following the positions radical”. of left-wing politicians”.

    The 44-year-old nato-skeptic is perhaps Trump’s most surprising pick as he fills out his cabinet ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration, and the decision drew swift condemnation from some of Trump’s opponents.

    “The job of secretary of defense should not be an entry-level position,” Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told X.

    Pete Hegseth has been selected by President-elect Trump to serve as Secretary of Defense. (credit: ROY ROCHLIN/GETTY IMAGES)

    Trump, in announcing his decision, praised Hegseth, who is an Army National Guard veteran and, according to his website, has served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

    “Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” Trump said. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – our Military will be great again, and America will not back down.”

    While Hegseth has articulated only limited policy positions in the past, he has criticized NATO allies for being weak and said China is on the verge of dominating its neighbors.

    Hegseth said he left the military in 2021 after being kicked out because of his political and religious views by an army that no longer wanted him.

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    “The feeling was mutual – I didn’t want this army anymore either,” Hegseth said in his book The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.

    There is already anxiety in the Pentagon that Trump is aiming to remove military officers and career civil servants he perceives to be disloyal.

    Trump told Fox News in June that he would fire generals he described as “woke,” a term for those focused on racial and social justice but used by conservatives to denigrate progressive policies.

    Hegseth could be an advocate for such layoffs.

    “The next president of the United States must radically overhaul the leadership of the Pentagon to prepare us to defend our nation and defeat our enemies. Many people need to be fired,” he wrote in his book.

    Trump’s former generals and defense secretaries are among his fiercest critics, with some declaring him unfit for office. Trump suggested that his former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, could be executed for treason.

    Hegseth also criticized Milley for not dutifully executing Trump’s policies while in office and accused him of being “a partisan through and through” to help Democrats.

    “Unrighteous and impotent” allies.

    Hegseth has been strongly critical of America’s European allies, and his selection could fuel even greater anxiety in NATO about what a Trump administration would mean for the alliance.

    “Obsolete, outdated, overrun and impotent. Why should America, Europe’s emergency “hotline” for the last century, listen to self-righteous and impotent nations who demand that we honor outdated and unilateral defense arrangements that they no longer respect? at?” Hegseth wrote in his book.

    “Maybe if NATO countries really committed to their own defense – but they don’t. They just scream about the rules as they point out their armies and cry to America for help.”

    In podcast and television appearances, he has said China is building a military “specifically dedicated to defeating the United States of America.”

    “They have a complete long-term view of not just regional but global dominance, and we have our heads up,” Hegseth said in a podcast last week.

    During the same appearance, Hegseth said Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine appeared to be “Putin’s war to get my shit back.”

    Trump has criticized President Joe Biden’s assistance to Ukraine, fueling concern about the future of support for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government under a Republican-controlled White House, Senate and possibly House of Representatives.

    “If Ukraine can defend itself … great, but I don’t want the American intervention to reach deep into Europe and make (Putin) feel that he’s on his heels,” Hegseth said.



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