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Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice for defense secretary, at...

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice for defense secretary, at his confirmation hearing in Washington Tuesday. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon

The confirmation hearing Tuesday on Pete Hegseth’s nomination for secretary of defense offered little reassurance that President-elect Donald Trump’s pick has the credentials for the job or that the Senate is seriously undertaking its constitutional role of advice and consent. That bodes poorly for hearings to follow.

Hegseth, the former weekend host of Fox & Friends, stonewalled questions on how he would run the world’s largest military organization with its $8 billion budget and 1.3 million active duty personnel. Hegseth, who was in Army ROTC at Princeton University, served with the Army National Guard in Iraq and has headed two small veterans organizations.

He didn’t answer critical questions but also was not asked many by the members of the Armed Services Committee, such as his position on the Ukraine war, what new armaments should be developed, or even how he would evaluate all the generals Trump said he wants to fire. He was evasive on whether he would issue an order to use the military to quell domestic protests or to deport immigrants.

Instead, the committee’s focus was on his personal life and controversial views about women serving in combat roles. Hegseth, a culture warrior, promised to return a “warrior culture” to the nation’s fighting forces, making it seem that his first battle would be killing diversity initiatives. He incorrectly claimed there were quotas to add more women in infantry divisions before evolving it into this muddle: “Women will have access to ground combat roles, given the standards remain high.”

That slippery answer seemed to satisfy Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, a combat veteran who was sexually assaulted while in the military and initially criticized Hegseth’s nomination. But after Trump supporters started a campaign demanding she vote for Hegseth and threatened a primary against her next year, she backed off.

Hegseth was questioned intensely on his personal life including infidelity in two of his marriages, alcohol abuse, and sexual harassment. His answer was that his third wife introduced religion into his life and that he has been “redeemed by the Lord.” The inquiries by Democrats prompted Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, to demonstrate how performative and hollow these hearings have become. Mullin did not dispute the women and whiskey facts that until now would have torpedoed a defense secretary nominee, as it did George H.W. Bush’s nomination of former Texas Sen. John Tower in 1989. Instead, Mullin asked how many senators have “showed up drunk to vote at night” and then: “How many senators do you know have gotten a divorce because of cheating on their wives?”

Trump in his first term ran through four Defense Department heads, including the highly regarded Gen. James Mattis, who quit in protest, and Mark Esper, who was fired. If there is any solace in the likely ascent of Hegseth, it’s that he probably won’t last very long.

MEMBERS OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD are experienced journalists who offer reasoned opinions, based on facts, to encourage informed debate about the issues facing our community.

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