SecDef Hegseth: Calculation or Retaliation? A Clueless Analysis- Darryl Apostle
Share
On November 12th, Fox News host Pete Hegseth was chosen to be nominated for Secretary of Defense. Half of America experienced the “this is what winning feels like” euphoria. Especially after a decisive win by President Trump, it felt as if nothing stood in the conservative movement's way. America had rewarded Trump with the presidency even after billions of dollars were spent to smear his name and legacy. Trump was mere months away from assuming the White House and marking his territory with his Lyndon Johnson, letting everyone know that he was the President of the United States by popular demand and that there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Everyone knew it, and the Pete Hegseth nomination only affirmed and tested that momentum.
On January 25th, Pete Hegseth assumed the office of Secretary of Defense. From my perspective, he didn’t assume the office because he was uniquely deserving or highly “qualified” in the traditional sense. Instead, because President Trump wanted to test that he could. Pete’s résumé—though criticized by some as lacking—was all the qualification Trump needed to challenge that. The winners of the 2024 election felt euphoric, but the dysphoria of the losers was almost palpable as anyone could see during the confirmation hearings.
“The Fox News host,” they decried, ignoring his veteran status. It was clear they were trying to fix the office of the Secretary of Defense into some elitist box that only people of their perceived status could fulfill the duties of. This is something that President Trump wants wants to occur because it knocks them out of balance—just as it had when the “host of The Apprentice” became the President of the United States.
This specific system of camaraderie between the people and their entrusted leader’s decisions is the populism that Trumpism stands for and exudes, it is what will be remembered for in the era that will inevitably come to be named “The Trump Era”. The president isn’t done crafting his ideology that will be studied in political science classes and put into practice by future generations. Trump is just getting started, and like the rest of us, he will see what comes to fruition out of it.
If Trump wanted to keep that same sense of audacity, he could have nominated someone like Scrooge McDuck as Treasury Secretary instead of Scott Bessent. That suggestion isn’t meant to disparage Secretary Hegseth’s nomination, but to highlight the same sense of disruption that his appointment caused within the establishment. The camaraderie between Trump and his supporters runs deeper than surface-level optics. Because if Donald John Trump—the leader of the Republican Party, the 45th president of the United States, now 47th—entrusts Scrooge McDuck with the duties vested in the office of Secretary of the Treasury, then it is for good reason. When Secretary Hegseth wears his American flag handkerchief in his suits breast pocket on his way to the Pentagon, knowing cameras will capture him, it’s for good reason. When he calls Fort Liberty “Fort Bragg,” talks about ending DEI within the Department of Defense, and has his hair slicked back and gelled for the cameras, it’s for good reason. The reason is that President Trump told him to project that image, and it aligns with what Hegseth believes in as well.
Pete’s nomination was supposed to be a slap in the face to the establishment—and it was. His entire term as Secretary is meant to be a dance on the grave of Trump’s opposition’s policies now that he is president. If you summarize this to any Trump supporter, they’ll say it’s exactly why they voted for him. Hegseth is a key variable in the calculation involved in appeasing Trump’s supporters. A former Fox News host with lots of children and abs—and while I want to say “lots of wives,” that feels like an unnecessary personal swipe that doesn’t reflect how I truly feel about him holistically, nothing— is the public relations in todays America that is what it takes to be a darling among the new populist right wing,
I’d bet my last dollar that we’ll see record recruitment levels in the military branches in the first quarter, year over year. Because that’s the point of all of this: to stop the demoralization felt by Americans and usher in a new golden age where leaders set examples for others to follow. Be that American with an American flag handkerchief in your suit pocket. Be that American with a nice smile, slicked-back gelled hair, and rock-hard abs. Be that American who is Christian, leads his abundant family, and stands firm in his values. You let the “haters and losers” seethe—because you’ve won, and there’s nothing they can do about it.