Pete Hegseth: DUI DEI hire
Pete Hegseth was a DEI hire. GOP affirmative action to insure that incompetent alcoholics aren’t discriminated against.
Here’s Mike Brock (paywalled, so no link) on the colossal blunder that is Pete Hegseth:
“The core argument against DEI initiatives has always been straightforward: institutions should hire based on merit alone, without regard for demographic considerations. That positions should be filled by the most qualified candidates, period. That excellence must never be sacrificed on the altar of representation. Whatever one thinks of these arguments—and reasonable people can disagree about them—they at least claim to be rooted in a principle: that qualifications should be the primary determinant in hiring decisions.
“Yet here we are, watching that principle abandoned entirely when it became politically inconvenient.
“Pete Hegseth, our Secretary of Defense, was a Fox News host and former reserve officer who never served in a high-level Pentagon position, never managed a large military organization, never developed strategic defense policy, and never navigated the complex bureaucracy he now leads. Previous Defense Secretaries—appointed by presidents of both parties—typically brought decades of relevant experience: Lloyd Austin (retired four-star general, former CENTCOM commander), Mark Esper (Secretary of the Army, defense industry executive), Jim Mattis (retired four-star general, former CENTCOM commander), Ash Carter (decades of Pentagon experience including Deputy Secretary), Chuck Hagel (defense policy expert, senior Senate experience), Leon Panetta (CIA Director, White House Chief of Staff), Robert Gates (CIA Director, decades of national security experience).
“The historical pattern is clear: regardless of party, Defense Secretaries have traditionally brought substantial relevant experience to the role—until now. What changed? Not the importance of the position. Not the complexity of global threats. What changed was who was doing the hiring and who was being hired. Suddenly, for those who claimed to champion meritocracy, merit became entirely optional.”
Trump appointed him. The Senate GOP confirmed him. They get the blame.
True opponents of DEI hiring would point to this and say “told you so.” Instead, we hear crickets from the Trump GOP. Why? Because they weren’t worried about incompetent hires, they were worried about hiring teh swarthy people. White folks like Hegseth can’t be DEI hires, by definition.
What’s more sad is that we learned in the early days of affirmative action back in the 70’s that some of those swarthy people were far better at their jobs than the lighter folks who had been the only ones considered for years or decades. I saw a couple of cases that really forced management to re-think their (not really silent) opposition to affirmative action. Superstars came in all colors.
I’m not sure I like the twisted DEI comparison here. The main point is Massive Incompetence as it relates to the national intelligence release of top secret war plans. Not just with Hegseth, but the entire National Security team, as well as the guy at the top – i.e. the Commander In Chief.
Dorko at the top claims he doesn’t know anything about a war strike in Yemen. “You’ll have to ask the people involved.” He can’t even comprehend that an unprecedented security breach has occurred on his watch. He’s so on top of things that he thinks his Defense Secretary Hegseth had nothing to do with it. He says, “Hegseth had nothing to do with this.”
Important to know that Houthis have an ability to shoot down US aircraft & have. Fortunately, in this case an aircraft was not shot down, but now, because of this Intel release, the Houthis have leads to uncover U.S. Intel’s sources & methods, which could be a source on the ground. If found, that source would certainly be killed. Additionally, our capability to share intelligence with allies has probably been destroyed.
POTUS doesn’t understand or have a clue what has even happened.
@McJ,
An equally or more important point is the use of the Signal app that automatically deletes posts that are part of the official record, in violation of black letter law. I’m sure this is not the only such meeting, just the one they got caught in because they included an Atlantic editor. What are they hiding?
I’m sure Trump knows exactly what happened. His feigned ignorance certainly doesn’t fool me. But to fire Hegseth et al. would mean looking like he caved to media criticism. He was trained by Roy Cohn: never back down, never admit your mistakes.
As for the DEI comparison, I’m simply calling attention to the fact that by appointing incompetent known substance abusers/addicts like Hegseth and RFK Jr in his administration, Trump is doing exactly what he accuses DEI programs of doing–hiring unqualified people. He’s the one doing the twisting.
It is hard to find any Cabinet member who has qualifications other than when told by Trump to jump they ask how high. Who is running against the GOP senators up in 2026 and when will they start running ads that incumbent so and so voted for the incompetent defense secretary spilling secrets to an Atlantic reporter but really to the world and putting American service personnel at risk. Since when was being an alcoholic a qualification for defending the country against its enemies?