Surprise rippled throughout the country when Donald Trump announced that he’s nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, but one thing lacking from Republicans – at least publicly – was criticism. While many questioned Hegseth’s qualifications, members of the GOP were not among them, and MSNBC’s Willie Geist said that’s all due to the power of Trump’s mandate.
“We heard some Republicans, not critical of the pick openly, but wondering about the pick. Some Republicans now saying, ‘I don’t even know who he is.’ But I think it’s very telling that they’re not coming out publicly and criticizing it. That’s the power of Trump,” Geist said on “Morning Joe” on Wednesday.
“These men and women in the Senate, these men and women in the House don’t want to cross him. They believe he has swept in with a mandate, and whatever he does – we’ll see how they vote, we’ll see the questions they pose when it comes down to confirmation time, but at least publicly, we’re not hearing Republicans critical of this choice which, to put it mildly, surprised a lot of people not just in Washington but across the country.”
The Fox News host’s military service includes tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a period of service at Guantanamo Bay. He launched a bid for Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seat in 2012, but ultimately dropped out of the race after he failed to become the party’s nominee. Hegseth joined Fox News two years later. Though he was initially a critic of Trump and an open supporter of Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, he shifted toward team Trump in 2016.
“Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough was even light with criticism on Wednesday’s show, although he did underline the difficulty someone like Hegseth may have in upending the Pentagon’s tangled bureaucracy.
“The Pentagon is a massive bureaucracy. I served four terms on the armed services committee and I can tell you even the most experienced general, admiral, CEO that went into the Pentagon got spun around in circles,” Scarborough said. “It’s a lot easier to say what you’re going to do on a podcast than it is when you’re actually over at the Pentagon. And the people that think that generals and admirals that have given their entire life to this country are just gonna roll over is a serious misreading of the Pentagon. But we’ll see what happens.”
Later in the segment, Washington Post congressional investigative reporter Jacqueline Alemany predicted Hegseth’s nomination may ultimately result in pushback when the confirmation process begins.
“Historically, we’ve seen Congress give a lot of deference to presidents when it comes to confirming their cabinet. There have been some blowout and dramatic fights, though, and I think that Pete Hegseth could be that rare fight for Senate Republicans,” Alemany said.
“But as we’ve talked about the last few months, the lack fo dissenters in the Senate is perhaps troubling for any sort of pushback for someone like Hegseth who, as you noted, as 20 years of service in the military, two bronze stars but has zero experience when it comes to navigating a bureaucracy or serving in the Defense Department and overseeing the world’s most powerful and largest military. I think this is gonna be the first test of who ultimately stands up to Trump.”
Watch the “Morning Joe” segment below.