Text of the Email That Pete Hegseth’s Mother Sent Him

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/29/us/politics/hegseth-email-text.html

42 comments

  2. He’s gotta withdraw his nomination. Let Trump slot Tom Cotton in, he’s a much better choice given the circumstances. He refused to take part in any attempt to overturn the 2020 election and frankly at this point that’s as much as can be asked for with this administration.

  5. Part of a concerning pattern of behavior but then again Trump that’s kind of Trump’s approach to women too. After all he originally wanted Gaetz at DOJ. In his first administration Rob Porter was accused of domestic abuse and Corey Lewandowski was stalking and harassing, and Jason Miller had his issues too. 

    On the congressional leadership side of things, Jim Jordan was implicated in covering up abuse at the wrestling program he worked at.  

     tl;dr This seems to distressingly common in the administration run by a sexual assailant. 

  6. Sexual assault accusations, children not talking to parents and now parents anti endorsing their own children. There seems to be a pattern for trumps nominees. And it’s opposite of a family of actual values

  8. From the article:

    “On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say … get some help and take an honest look at yourself,” Penelope Hegseth wrote, stating that she still loved him.

    She also wrote: “I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”

  9. Son,

    I have tried to keep quiet about your character and behavior, but after listening to the way you made Samantha feel today, I cannot stay silent. And as a woman and your mother I feel I must speak out..

    You are an abuser of women — that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.

    I am not a saint, far from it.. so don’t throw that in my face,. but your abuse over the years to women (dishonesty, sleeping around, betrayal, debasing, belittling) needs to be called out.

    Sam is a good mother and a good person (under the circumstances that you created) and I know deep down you know that. For you to try to label her as “unstable” for your own advantage is despicable and abusive. Is there any sense of decency left in you? She did not ask for or deserve any of what has come to her by your hand. Neither did Meredith.

    I know you think this is one big competition and that we have taken her side… bunk… we are on the side of good and that is not you. (Go ahead and call me self-righteous, I dont’ care)

    Don’t you dare run to her and cry foul that we shared with us… that’s what babies do. It’s time for someone (I wish it was a strong man) to stand up to your abusive behavior and call it out, especially against women

    We still love you, but we are broken by your behavior and lack of character. I don’t want to write emails like this and never thought I would. If it damages our relationship further, then so be it, but at least I have said my piece. [Redacted]

    And yes, we are praying for you (and you don’t deserve to know how we are praying, so skip the snarky reply)

    I don’t want an answer to this… I don’t want to debate with you. You twist and abuse everything I say anyway. But… On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say… get some help and take an honest look at yourself…

    Mom

  10. imagine your own parents find you a despicable human being yikes.

  12. This is honestly a tough read, hard to believe this guy is so despicable that even his mom rejected his behavior – that is really extreme.

  13. I look forward to all the excuses made about this so that Republicans have an excuse to make a weekend talk show host Secretary of Defense.

  14. Yeah – this guy is a perfect example of republican America… This is fox news, Trump’s inner circle, the GOP, it’s all of it – this is what Trump wants to give us all…

  15. mother knows best!

    Mother’s intuition!

    mother, Should I trust the government

  18. Wow, this guy is custom-made for the Trump administration!

  19. I have to ask how do you write something like this and walk it back because I doubt he has forgiven or forgotten.

  20. There. That makes him an instant hero to MAGA filth, incels, wife beaters, and the rapist-worshipping MAGA women. Nancy Mace approves!

    Edit: he’s now fully eligible to run for the next Presidency. GOP will adore him.

  22. Only the finest in the Trump administration. Yeehaw!

  25. If I ever received an email like this from my mother I would off myself in shame. 

    What a bastard. 

  26. Dang you got to do some fucked up shit for your own mother to get behind a computer and type that out.

  27. This is your party you voted for, Republicans. Full of trash. All the way down.

  28. This sounds like she has gotten help with narcissistic abuse recovery. She anticipates everything he might do and probably has done many times. This is a tour de force.

  29. This shit is just beyond fucked up at this point. The fucking worst of the worst in the highest levels of power. I’m so fucking sick of this shit

  30. The archetypal male Republican.

    They are all scum btw.

  33. I don’t think ANYBODY could be in a leadership position of any sort if their mother really thought this about them. How could anyone take orders from such a person?

  35. Both of my parents served as officers in the US military. A large part of my childhood was shaped by my mother facing sexism and sexual harassment in the US Army, leading to her early retirement. I’ve seen the damage it can do to a woman on a personal level…

    A man like Pete Hegseth has no role in leadership our armed forces. In an environment where sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape are already rampant, a person like Pete Hegseth will permit this sort of behavior as normal.

    I’m honestly terrified for my relatives who still serve in the military– they’re stuck in contracts that they can’t exactly easily get out of. Women in their 20s are going to have to face a new wave of intensely degrading sexual harassment, assault, and rape going unpunished. We’re already in a recruitment, morale, and suicide crisis in our military… How much worse will it be under a grotesque excuse for a man like Pete Hegseth?

  36. Dude is cooked. When your own momma calls you a woman abuser, you are done.

  37. Yet none of this will matter. The unqualified, abuser of women will be confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense. I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone.

  40. Conservative family values = abusing women

    There’s no debating it. His mom can apologize or go back on what she said all she wants. She said what she said and she’s a coward for continuing to support him and a party that has a history of abuse.

    If you voted Republican, you support the abuse of women. Being purposely ignorant is not an excuse.

  41. As a mother of sons, I hope I’ve done my part to make sure I never have to write an email like this OR walk it back. She should acknowledge that she didn’t raise him right.

  42. So, this will be read in his confirmation hearings right?

Comments are closed.