I can’t see a single thing that would qualify Pete Hegseth—”an American television host, author, and soon-to-be nominee for US Secretary of Defense”—to run a huge organization like DoD.
Larry Johnson suggests Trump choose Hegseth because he has no ties to the MIC. And that means Hegseth is answerable to Trump ONLY. Johnson wrote that he has a MIC neighbor that is "furious" at the appointment.
No doubt they are. However, the MIC has ties to Congress that Hegseth also lacks, and I doubt Trump's win and feckless appointments will overcome the combined opposition of the MIC and Congress to seriously reform. Trump will make some moves, probably via Executive Order, but the MIC and Congress will roll with the punches and adapt.
well, maybe this merely reflects the fact that only stupid and amoral degenerates go into politics. that would explain why the Zionists captured the USA so easily. and probably at wholesale! A bunch of whores who’ll pucker up once a shekel gets dropped before them.
Paul Gottfried — a great man — once wrote something about Hegseth having an affair, and wondered if that indicated a lack of qualification ti “serve.” Probably not. so long as he pledges gently to Israel, all will be forgiven.
damn, this country and its retard democracy is just embarrassing. the gap between its overweening narcissism and the squalid reality can only be measured in light years. maybe i’ll jump the Rio Grande. Oaxaca is a beautiful town. or better, work to get the fucking U.S. out of Mississippi. they’ve been here long enough.
He’s as qualified as Esper militarily and he’s not a DEI general like Austin. I hope he’s there strictly as a disrupter, his VA think tank came up with some decent reforms that were adopted but unfortunately barely implemented.
This is another indication he’s looking for loyalty first and foremost. He’s still burning inside from those previously put in cabinet positions who succumbed to outside pressures and threats and didn’t read his guidebook.
Either a home run, won’t get through senate confirmation, or won’t last long. Hopefully being called in to do mass firings of woke warriors. His focus may be on fixing the broken culture.
Gut feeling - Trump has identified culture as top issue for military. And once you get right people with right culture, then other issues will get fixed.
Bottom line - since Trump knows military culture is broken, he knows US military is not ready for any wars. War with Iran or Russia by Trump will be avoided. He sees the military as a turn around project.
Trump went into office believing the U.S. military was competent and a political and having huge trust in their expertise. Jan 6 was the straw that broke the camels back. Trump is aware of Miley and others insubordination on that day to get the national guard out. Plus Miley talking to China to deescalate any threats from Trump? And his experience with Kelly and Mattis. Trump is highly disillusioned with the U.S. military leadership.
Cdr salamander’s take is positive with the focus of nominee seems to be on the culture issue:
You must have a very low opinion of Trump's intelligence and maybe you're right. The MIC as a problem was recognized long ago by someone who was present at its creation--Ike. Long, decades, before DEI was a thing. Rooting DEI out of the DoD--which appears to be what Trump has in mind--while an excellent thing, wouldn't even begin to address the deep rooted and multi-faceted corruption of the MIC and Congressional complex. Nor would it begin to address the corruption of the entire personnel system. I understand that Trump plans some EOs, but nothing short of a major purge would begin to address the underlying problems. Hegseth has no organizational experience. Someone on the level of a Macgregor is what's needed. Moreover, the DoD is only one part of a bigger problem which is the Deep State. Few people have any clue as to the size of the IC, which is tied into the DoD problems. All of this will be obstructed at every step by Congress.
Past secretaries. Of note, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. Real winners. Actually almost every single one a neocon, tied to military complex and made millions on killing fields.
Yes I read up on this guy and we have another bad choice here. What about Bob Kennedy, Tulsi and Viveck, all helped get Trump elected. Kennedy may have made the difference in some of those swing states and this is the Thanks he gets? Kennedy and Tulsi have all sorts of qualifications for some of the top jobs, yet they will end up crumbs off the table.
Notice, other than Wiles and Stefanick no other women in any of the tops jobs. That makes Trump look bad and certainly not like the guy who has string women around him does it.
I wanted to take a wait and see look at what Trump might do for the next two months or so but in exactly one week he shown me he is not serious about tackling the serious problems we have, especially the out of control health care cost, the debt, deficit and creating a balanced budget.
I can see right now it's open the spending spigots for the Military and try and lick the can down the road one more time on everything else. I can easily see Trump adding at least another $5 to $10 Trillion to the National Debt and our interest expense heading to $2 Trillion annually. Get ready inflation is will be back and rates will have to go up to at least 10% or more.
Communist pig RF Kennedy Jr took votes away from Trump, he and his mafia of lifelong Progressive Parasites hijacked Trump’s campaign. Trump lost votes because of this parasite, look up the numbers🤦♀️
So the 600k votes that Kennedy received aren't votes that he took away from Trump? He's on video mentioning that he was taking votes away from Trump, of course that was before he and his gang of lifelong Progressive Parasites infiltrated the Trump campaign.
You disagree that Kennedy is a Communist pig just like his mother? He absolutely is as are all the Kennedys. They were very cozy with Fidel, I have the receipts.
What is the embarrassment? Should I show you a photo of over boosted and jabbed Lloyd Austin with a mask and plastic shield…afghanistan disaster is his. He went woke.
You’re not going to get me to defend Austin. Total joke. But I don’t see how the absurdity of his tenure cancels out the absurdity of Hesgeth’s appointment.
But Austin was an expert? Americans are so fucking tired of being told who the experts are. Name one “expert” over the last 4 years got it right. Fauci? Blinken? Nuland? Powell? Harris? Biden? Do you think elon and vivek are expert enough to run The Dept of Govt Efficiency? Its a new day.
Not the point. There are any number of eminently qualified candidates out there to whom Trump could have turned. Instead he turned to someone who is completely unqualified.
I recall Trump being told he was unqualified…how did that work out. Defense needs a total shakedown. Lloyd Austin was qualified like a rat. We need a complete upheaval of everything. Next is deleting the Dept of Education…and HHS, CDC, NIH. And no more funding of NGOs. Thats just in January.
Why is Trump the object of derision for his private life? When do JFK and Bill Clinton get their due as poor examples of a life lived morally? Who cares who they hump and how often. I want honesty and competence for the task at hand.
Supplying money and arms to Ukraine only weakens the US at this point, and in significant ways. Nor can it solve the Ukrainian manpower deficit and will to continue. Putin isn't looking for concessions in a quid pro quo situation. He has a bottom line--repeatedly stated publicly--which involves Russia winning. That's what he has sold to the Russian people--to whom he answers, not to Trump. I expect major Russian successes in the more near term.
Trump will find out that the war of attrition underway in the Middle East will involve the US military withdrawal from the region. That will be longer term than what will happen in Ukraine. The US military is now present more to stymie BRICS than to preserve Israel--in a strategic sense, and in spite of the Zionist component in the US. Putin understands all that and knows that a continued US military threat in the Middle East is an existential threat to BRICS, so he won't be making concessions there, either, except in a very temporary sense. China and Iran will back him up. Trumps team of misfits will be no match for them on the world geopolitical stage.
"I see no reason why Trump (whether or not assisted by misfits) can't pull this off...at least as I've outlined it."
What you didn't outline is that most of his NS picks owe their loyalty to the Israel Lobby--which will fund them long after Trump is out of office. Once they're in place, Trump will have great difficulty--may find it totally impossible--to fire and replace them. Cf. Trump 1.0.
Problem: The "many Jews and Israelis" who oppose genocide aren't the ones giving big bucks to US politicians. Given Netanyahu's approval ratings, which put to shame any US politician, I don't think there are than many Israelis who oppose genocide. To the contrary. And all the political alternatives in Israeli are equally--and often more--genocidal than Netanyahu.
Melinda, there is no place for sensitivity or hurt feelings when it's vital that Trump choose the right people. Did you think things were going to get magically easier? That the election resolved the past 8 years? Absolutely not. You're in a real life struggle. Trump does not get a free pass from his base. There's no room for self congratulatory echo chambers.
You saw how bad it was during Trump's first term. Many of his picks ended up backstabbing him. Failing him through the lawfare waged on him, the kangaroo courts, cemented in by a corrupt and evil establishment and bureaucracy. The When the election coup of 2020 occurred, who among the Republicans pressed back hard? Too few. Then the coup was signed off by the falsity of J6 psyop they essentially went along with it. Or were tokenistic. Every one of his picks must be heavily scrutinized and in this way, will hopefully mitigate against the burrowing in of parasites and backstabbers.
As for Hegseth, he does have a zipper problem. He does have links to special interests (Koch brothers). These facilitators to Trump's vision do need to be grilled and purity tested. If they are going to backstab him, best they are weeded out early.
Rude?!? The guy has done nothing relevant to the job of SecDef since being in the National Guard. No one is denigrating his service, but merely serving in the military does not qualify one to be Sec of Defense — ESPECIALLY in light of the fact that there are several eminently qualified alternatives (see, for example, just about any retired officer on Judge Napolitano’s channel.)
I spent 28 years as a Special Agent of the FBI--a lot longer than Hegseth spent in the military. I would be utterly unqualified to be Director FBI. Hegseth never rose higher than captain. He is completely unqualified for the position.
OK, I can see that. They say that Tulsi was pushing hard for the job, so maybe she can have one of those staff positions--Congressional experience, media presence, campaign experience. I'm sure there are many, many more with greater organizational savvy.
hegseth’s incredibly poor choices w/his crypto investments don’t exactly make him look more qualified to do much of anything much less run DoD.
https://substack.com/@cryptadamus/note/c-77060678
Hegseth is a crypto bro who chose to put his money in one of the biggest and most obvious crypto frauds that collapsed in 2022.
https://substack.com/profile/96801203-michel-de-cryptadamus/note/c-77060678
Larry Johnson suggests Trump choose Hegseth because he has no ties to the MIC. And that means Hegseth is answerable to Trump ONLY. Johnson wrote that he has a MIC neighbor that is "furious" at the appointment.
No doubt they are. However, the MIC has ties to Congress that Hegseth also lacks, and I doubt Trump's win and feckless appointments will overcome the combined opposition of the MIC and Congress to seriously reform. Trump will make some moves, probably via Executive Order, but the MIC and Congress will roll with the punches and adapt.
Your choice would have been...?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-pick-of-pete-hegseth-to-lead-pentagon-signals-turmoil-ahead/ar-AA1tYWCR
well, maybe this merely reflects the fact that only stupid and amoral degenerates go into politics. that would explain why the Zionists captured the USA so easily. and probably at wholesale! A bunch of whores who’ll pucker up once a shekel gets dropped before them.
Paul Gottfried — a great man — once wrote something about Hegseth having an affair, and wondered if that indicated a lack of qualification ti “serve.” Probably not. so long as he pledges gently to Israel, all will be forgiven.
damn, this country and its retard democracy is just embarrassing. the gap between its overweening narcissism and the squalid reality can only be measured in light years. maybe i’ll jump the Rio Grande. Oaxaca is a beautiful town. or better, work to get the fucking U.S. out of Mississippi. they’ve been here long enough.
He’s as qualified as Esper militarily and he’s not a DEI general like Austin. I hope he’s there strictly as a disrupter, his VA think tank came up with some decent reforms that were adopted but unfortunately barely implemented.
You don't get it.
Pete is set for the future MAGA Crew 4 years from now.
He's what they called 15 years ago a "disruptor"
Hegseth is at the Pentagon to F ck Sh t Up.
Sundance sees a path forward. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/11/12/president-trump-announces-nomination-of-pete-hegseth-for-defense-secretary/#more-266208
This is another indication he’s looking for loyalty first and foremost. He’s still burning inside from those previously put in cabinet positions who succumbed to outside pressures and threats and didn’t read his guidebook.
Either a home run, won’t get through senate confirmation, or won’t last long. Hopefully being called in to do mass firings of woke warriors. His focus may be on fixing the broken culture.
That's a curious choice to fix a broken culture.
Gut feeling - Trump has identified culture as top issue for military. And once you get right people with right culture, then other issues will get fixed.
Bottom line - since Trump knows military culture is broken, he knows US military is not ready for any wars. War with Iran or Russia by Trump will be avoided. He sees the military as a turn around project.
Trump went into office believing the U.S. military was competent and a political and having huge trust in their expertise. Jan 6 was the straw that broke the camels back. Trump is aware of Miley and others insubordination on that day to get the national guard out. Plus Miley talking to China to deescalate any threats from Trump? And his experience with Kelly and Mattis. Trump is highly disillusioned with the U.S. military leadership.
Cdr salamander’s take is positive with the focus of nominee seems to be on the culture issue:
https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/diversity-thursday-bbb/comments?
Interesting post from comments that expands on issues:
https://www.polemology.net/p/can-trump-fix-the-recruiting-crisis?
And Trump has proposed a board to review each general / admiral for wokeness.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4987537-trump-draft-executive-order-would-set-up-board-to-oust-generals-report/
Military top issues:
- Obama purged the military of leaders that were warriors.
- Clinton added lots of lawyers into military making it hard to win
- Clinton forced mergers in defense industry so only few suppliers
- broken procurement process resulting in overpriced junk. F-35 is poster child. And behind in hypersonic missiles
- Biden treated military as social experiment to push trans and gender ideologies
- golden parachutes after service for top military leadership into military industrial complex
- U.S. military is over extended worldwide
- U.S. navy keeps shrinking, resulting in over use and sailor and equipment burn out.
You must have a very low opinion of Trump's intelligence and maybe you're right. The MIC as a problem was recognized long ago by someone who was present at its creation--Ike. Long, decades, before DEI was a thing. Rooting DEI out of the DoD--which appears to be what Trump has in mind--while an excellent thing, wouldn't even begin to address the deep rooted and multi-faceted corruption of the MIC and Congressional complex. Nor would it begin to address the corruption of the entire personnel system. I understand that Trump plans some EOs, but nothing short of a major purge would begin to address the underlying problems. Hegseth has no organizational experience. Someone on the level of a Macgregor is what's needed. Moreover, the DoD is only one part of a bigger problem which is the Deep State. Few people have any clue as to the size of the IC, which is tied into the DoD problems. All of this will be obstructed at every step by Congress.
I believe Trump was very naive about the U.S. military in 2016.
And about generals in particular.
Musk might be able to make a dent, but Hegseth?
How about Trump starting by rooting out this pathological ideology:
“Zionism and Americanism are the FRONT LINES of Western Civilization and Freedom in our World Today”
- Pete Hegseth
Maybe Trump could frankly acknowledge the corrupt ideology that rules America. That would be a start.
This should make his confirmation a done deal then with the power of aipac in congress.
Gut feeling - Trump knows the us military is broken so he is not going to be using the U.S. military against Iran, China, Russia, etc
I looked up
Past secretaries. Of note, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. Real winners. Actually almost every single one a neocon, tied to military complex and made millions on killing fields.
Yes I read up on this guy and we have another bad choice here. What about Bob Kennedy, Tulsi and Viveck, all helped get Trump elected. Kennedy may have made the difference in some of those swing states and this is the Thanks he gets? Kennedy and Tulsi have all sorts of qualifications for some of the top jobs, yet they will end up crumbs off the table.
Notice, other than Wiles and Stefanick no other women in any of the tops jobs. That makes Trump look bad and certainly not like the guy who has string women around him does it.
I wanted to take a wait and see look at what Trump might do for the next two months or so but in exactly one week he shown me he is not serious about tackling the serious problems we have, especially the out of control health care cost, the debt, deficit and creating a balanced budget.
I can see right now it's open the spending spigots for the Military and try and lick the can down the road one more time on everything else. I can easily see Trump adding at least another $5 to $10 Trillion to the National Debt and our interest expense heading to $2 Trillion annually. Get ready inflation is will be back and rates will have to go up to at least 10% or more.
We didn't vote for Trump so that he would implement DEI goals. We want qualified individuals, not DEI candidates.
Who is the DEI hire you speak of?
Any woman or ethnic Minority hired based on being a woman or ethnic Minority
Who are the dei hires or candidates you speak of?
As I've clearly stated, any woman or ethnic Minority hired based on being a woman or ethnic Minority. I haven't mentioned anyone specific.
Communist pig RF Kennedy Jr took votes away from Trump, he and his mafia of lifelong Progressive Parasites hijacked Trump’s campaign. Trump lost votes because of this parasite, look up the numbers🤦♀️
I would have to disagree with you, vehemently on that
So the 600k votes that Kennedy received aren't votes that he took away from Trump? He's on video mentioning that he was taking votes away from Trump, of course that was before he and his gang of lifelong Progressive Parasites infiltrated the Trump campaign.
You disagree that Kennedy is a Communist pig just like his mother? He absolutely is as are all the Kennedys. They were very cozy with Fidel, I have the receipts.
What an embarrassment. I now expect very little from this administration. Our political, cultural and economic decline will likely continue apace.
What is the embarrassment? Should I show you a photo of over boosted and jabbed Lloyd Austin with a mask and plastic shield…afghanistan disaster is his. He went woke.
You’re not going to get me to defend Austin. Total joke. But I don’t see how the absurdity of his tenure cancels out the absurdity of Hesgeth’s appointment.
But Austin was an expert? Americans are so fucking tired of being told who the experts are. Name one “expert” over the last 4 years got it right. Fauci? Blinken? Nuland? Powell? Harris? Biden? Do you think elon and vivek are expert enough to run The Dept of Govt Efficiency? Its a new day.
We know the score on "experts" they are generally not experts in anything beyond self promotion.
With Hegseth incoming, apparently the new day is not yet here
So….he has ex wives and children. Vs Lloyd Austin a frickin woke weirdo
Not the point. There are any number of eminently qualified candidates out there to whom Trump could have turned. Instead he turned to someone who is completely unqualified.
I recall Trump being told he was unqualified…how did that work out. Defense needs a total shakedown. Lloyd Austin was qualified like a rat. We need a complete upheaval of everything. Next is deleting the Dept of Education…and HHS, CDC, NIH. And no more funding of NGOs. Thats just in January.
Austin was the classic check list pick .....DEI all the way. He rose to the level of his incompetence for all the world to see.
Why is Trump the object of derision for his private life? When do JFK and Bill Clinton get their due as poor examples of a life lived morally? Who cares who they hump and how often. I want honesty and competence for the task at hand.
Yes.
Supplying money and arms to Ukraine only weakens the US at this point, and in significant ways. Nor can it solve the Ukrainian manpower deficit and will to continue. Putin isn't looking for concessions in a quid pro quo situation. He has a bottom line--repeatedly stated publicly--which involves Russia winning. That's what he has sold to the Russian people--to whom he answers, not to Trump. I expect major Russian successes in the more near term.
Trump will find out that the war of attrition underway in the Middle East will involve the US military withdrawal from the region. That will be longer term than what will happen in Ukraine. The US military is now present more to stymie BRICS than to preserve Israel--in a strategic sense, and in spite of the Zionist component in the US. Putin understands all that and knows that a continued US military threat in the Middle East is an existential threat to BRICS, so he won't be making concessions there, either, except in a very temporary sense. China and Iran will back him up. Trumps team of misfits will be no match for them on the world geopolitical stage.
"I see no reason why Trump (whether or not assisted by misfits) can't pull this off...at least as I've outlined it."
What you didn't outline is that most of his NS picks owe their loyalty to the Israel Lobby--which will fund them long after Trump is out of office. Once they're in place, Trump will have great difficulty--may find it totally impossible--to fire and replace them. Cf. Trump 1.0.
Problem: The "many Jews and Israelis" who oppose genocide aren't the ones giving big bucks to US politicians. Given Netanyahu's approval ratings, which put to shame any US politician, I don't think there are than many Israelis who oppose genocide. To the contrary. And all the political alternatives in Israeli are equally--and often more--genocidal than Netanyahu.
Melinda, there is no place for sensitivity or hurt feelings when it's vital that Trump choose the right people. Did you think things were going to get magically easier? That the election resolved the past 8 years? Absolutely not. You're in a real life struggle. Trump does not get a free pass from his base. There's no room for self congratulatory echo chambers.
You saw how bad it was during Trump's first term. Many of his picks ended up backstabbing him. Failing him through the lawfare waged on him, the kangaroo courts, cemented in by a corrupt and evil establishment and bureaucracy. The When the election coup of 2020 occurred, who among the Republicans pressed back hard? Too few. Then the coup was signed off by the falsity of J6 psyop they essentially went along with it. Or were tokenistic. Every one of his picks must be heavily scrutinized and in this way, will hopefully mitigate against the burrowing in of parasites and backstabbers.
As for Hegseth, he does have a zipper problem. He does have links to special interests (Koch brothers). These facilitators to Trump's vision do need to be grilled and purity tested. If they are going to backstab him, best they are weeded out early.
Rude?!? The guy has done nothing relevant to the job of SecDef since being in the National Guard. No one is denigrating his service, but merely serving in the military does not qualify one to be Sec of Defense — ESPECIALLY in light of the fact that there are several eminently qualified alternatives (see, for example, just about any retired officer on Judge Napolitano’s channel.)
Im curious what qualifications besides serving in military Austin had?
Do you think Austin is the bar for “good choice”?
I spent 28 years as a Special Agent of the FBI--a lot longer than Hegseth spent in the military. I would be utterly unqualified to be Director FBI. Hegseth never rose higher than captain. He is completely unqualified for the position.
OK, I can see that. They say that Tulsi was pushing hard for the job, so maybe she can have one of those staff positions--Congressional experience, media presence, campaign experience. I'm sure there are many, many more with greater organizational savvy.
RFK. Hmmm. Does Big Pharma do injections--of money into the political system?