Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s embattled nominee to guide the Division of Protection, is now flip-flopping on bigoted positions he has held.
Politico studies that Hegseth advised Republican senators on Thursday that he backs permitting homosexual folks to serve within the army. This a stark change from the view he took in his 2024 e book, “The War on Warriors,” the place he claimed that the repeal of the army’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” coverage—which banned homosexual service members from serving brazenly—was a “gateway” to advancing a “Marxist” agenda.
In his conferences with senators, Hegseth additionally reportedly praised ladies serving within the armed forces. However in a November podcast look, Hegseth stated, “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated.”
The shift in Hegseth’s rhetoric has come whereas he tries to win the votes of feminine Republican senators, most notably Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine. And it appears to be working, with Ernst signaling openness to voting to substantiate him.
However Hegseth’s feedback undermine the bluster that introduced him to Trump’s consideration. As with a lot of his different Cupboard nominees, Trump got here to know Hegseth from his frequent appearances on Fox Information. In these appearances, Hegseth typically wore his bigotry on his sleeve.
Hegseth’s flip-flops have accompanied a slew of adverse tales being unearthed about him, rising stress on Republican senators, who may face blowback for backing the decide.
A not too long ago launched ballot from the Related Press-NORC Heart for Public Affairs Analysis underlines this. Within the ballot, fielded Dec. 5-9, solely 2 in 10 Individuals help Hegseth’s nomination, although 4 in 10 say they don’t know sufficient about him. Nonetheless, Hegseth has help from roughly a 3rd of Republicans, whereas 16% oppose his nomination.
These anemic numbers comply with the disclosures that Hegseth has been accused of sexual assault, described as abusive by his personal mom, and has confronted allegations of public drunkenness and mismanagement of funds at a conservative veterans’ charity.
Now, along with these damning prices, Hegseth seems unable to face by his personal phrases in the case of currying favor with the highly effective.
