America Is Now Counting on You, Pete Hegseth

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/01/america-is-counting-on-you-pete-hegseth/681469/?gift=PuJI8UoXLICBz-F02KxvQAne8Ac-A8xz6fTi45NPx3w&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

Posted by HighFlight51

15 comments

  1. That’s a title. I mean, if the 14 tenants of a certain ideology can dictate what the globe can expect from a certain unnamed party, then we can’t really hold out much hope for Mr. Hegseth.

  3. I’d rather count on the DOD to be more inefficient than usual

    thankfully he’s not particularly adept at the job he’s going into so that’s not just possible, it’s likely

  4. Hegseth and his background aside, still just wild that he was picked by the President to lead the Pentagon because Trump saw him on Fox News…

    Looking at Hegseth’s background, it is pretty clear what his time at DoD will look like. Between his comments at confirmation about not letting lawyers dictate the rules of engagement is and his unwavering support for American troops who broke the law and were prosecuted by the military itself, the ideology is apparent. A strongman military for a strongman President that will wage war with American boots on the ground and with little to no regard for the rules of engagement or civilian casualties.

    Would honestly love to see someone push back here, curious as to what other conclusion one can even draw from this situation.

  5. The author’s bio (via The Atlantic):

    Tom Nichols is a staff writer at *The Atlantic* and an author of the [*Atlantic* Daily newsletter](https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/sign-up/atlantic-daily/). He is a professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, where he taught for 25 years, and an instructor at the Harvard Extension School. He has served as a legislative aide in the Massachusetts House and the U.S. Senate. He writes about international security, nuclear weapons, Russia, and the challenges to democracy in the United States and around the world—along with occasional contrarian views on popular culture. His books include [*The Death of Expertise*](https://bookshop.org/a/12476/9780197763834) and [*Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within on Modern Democracy*](https://bookshop.org/a/12476/9780197645505).

  6. We are cooked if we’re engaging earnestly with someone who will absolutely sell us to the highest bidder.

  7. The president should be able to have the cabinet he wants but President Trump has shown no interest in learning or understanding history. I fear that the US system is now increasing the speed of its own undoing. Having a cabinet that only echos what the president wants to hear is not leadership but rather the quickest way to failure for the free world.

  9. I mean, I hope he does a good job, but I’m not holding my breath.

  11. Who knows. Robert McNamara was in the US Army Air Forces during WWII, was a great businessman afterwards, was probably brilliant, was the longest serving SecDef … and was disastrous. He’s widely blamed for the M16 fiasco in particular to the Vietnam War in general.

    The part of the linked article that stood out to me was

    *You are no longer a pundit or a provocateur: From today, your fellow citizens are trusting you with the lives of their children. (“Thank you for giving us your son,” a general told one of my friends whose boy, like you, went through ROTC. “We’ll take good care of him.”)*

    Unlike a certain VP candidate who spouted nonsense about “carrying weapons of war in war” I have spent a few years in war zones. I spent less time than that, thankfully, as a voluntold recruiter. During that time I saw a few who had only been on active duty as a recruiter. It struck me as odd that they were recruiting kids to do a job they’d never done themselves.

    We don’t have a draft nowadays. The military is all volunteer. By signing up you are in a way voluntarily entering the draft. You could serve 20 years and never see a war zone, like a certain VP candidate. On the flip side you could spend over half your career in war zones like many I knew circa 2010.

    My old NCOIC joked once about how a kid saw him in uniform in line at a grocery store on his way home from work and said “Are you in the Army? I’m glad you survived.” It’s funny, but at the same time you know not everyone survived.

    The point; there’s an old saying that everyone who joins signs a blank check to the US Government for any price, up to and including their life. Leading them and making decisions RE their life is a breathtaking responsibility. At least we know that Hegseth did so at the platoon and company level.

  13. I hope his appointment can put the culture war to rest. 

  14. When Hegseth failed to answer basic questions regarding ASEAN during the confirmation hearings, it should have been obvious that he was a poor choice for the position.

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