It’s hard to decide which Trump appointee has been the most maligned by the establishment, but if it is not Pete Hegseth, he sure is at the top of the list.
As I wrote yesterday, George Will has bowed to the inevitable and admitted, in a very George Will way, that Trump is a strong foreign policy president, but I think we will all wait in vain for any of Hegseth’s critics to admit that he is one hell of a great Secretary of War.
And he is. He really, really is very good at his job.
Hegseth squeaked into his position despite some of the most vicious smears aimed at any of Trump’s successful appointees.
The Legacy Media’s NEGATIVE Coverage:
Murderous dictator Ayatollah Khamenei: 85%
RFK Jr: 94%
JD Vance: 88%
Elon Musk: 96%
Kash Patel: 97%
Kristi Noem: 87%
Tulsi Gabbard: 98%
Pete Hegseth: 100%
President Trump: 92%So telling…
The Legacy Media is the enemy of the people.
— C3 (@C_3C_3) March 2, 2026
The opposition was based more on a repulsion to his qualifications or even his ideology, but on the fact that he absolutely, positively does not fit the Establishment’s vision of a Secretary of Defense (War), in the way that Leon Panetta or Lloyd Austin did.
Leftists shocked that the U.S. military is competent again.
Outrage continues. pic.twitter.com/F8IMrGBdGT
— Savannah Insights 🎙️ (@BasedSavannah) March 2, 2026
Hegseth didn’t fit the “adult in the room” model that the establishment so desperately loves. You know the type: you could slot them into the CIA or NSA Director slot, or perhaps meet them for drinks in Arlington or near Foggy Bottom and discuss what the French think about some issue or another. They were board members of one defense contractor or another, and will slip into a sinecure at an academic institution or think tank when they get too old to bounce between government “service” and the defense-intelligence complex.
The @SecWar Pete Hegseth: Israel is a “capable partner … unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force.” 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/8FvWjipKBx
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) March 2, 2026
Where was his employment at Bechtel? Parsons Brinkerhoff? Anderson Consulting?
Instead, he served in Afghanistan and Iraq, can do PT with the troops, and can even be a Fox News host.
Yuck!
Win or lose, these words will be remembered for generations.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dedicated the final two minutes of his address to speak directly to the American warriors on the front lines in Iran — “This is your moment.”
HEGSETH: “Let me speak straight to you, the… pic.twitter.com/mxeMY5M7j3
— Overton (@overton_news) March 2, 2026
Only…Pete Hegseth has done one hell of a job as Secretary of War. He came in saying he was going to drive woke idiocy out of the military, improve recruitment, and make the US military more lethal, and that is exactly what we got.
🚨 HEGSETH: “It turns out, the regime who chanted ‘Death to America’ was gifted Death FROM America”
Holy crap, that goes hard.
🇺🇸🔥 pic.twitter.com/B71fg6rYFn
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 2, 2026
Since Pete Hegseth became Secretary of War, the Department of Defense and now the Department of War have become exactly what he promised: laser-focused on becoming more lethal and more effective at achieving the goals set by the president.
The “adults in the room” gave us failure and strategic drift. Its main goal appeared to be chopping the genitals off as many adults and children as possible, and spreading the gospel of the pronoun people.
Under Hegseth, it is laser-focused on frightening the hell out of our enemies and taking them down when ordered to.
Little has changed in so short a time regarding our military capabilities; what has changed is the leadership from the top.
That’s Trump and Hegseth replacing Biden and Austin.
Kudos to Pete. What a great job he is doing.
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