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The View Discounts Hegseth’s Military Service, Get Lost in Pentagon
President-elect Trump’s nomination of decorated Army combat veteran Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense brought out the worst in the liberal media. Much of the pattern was on display during Wednesday’s edition of ABC’s The View as they actively diminished and discredited Hegseth’s 20 years of distinguished service in the Army by claiming he “does not know anything about the military,” and suggesting he’ll just get lost in the Pentagon.
Moderator Whoopi Goldberg, who screeched whenever someone mispronounced “Kamala,” kicked off the conversation by mocking Hegseth’s last name and that he was a co-host on Fox & Friends Weekend:
GOLDBERG: [Trump] also picked – you ready? Co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend, not even, like regular, weekend, Pete Hegsgeth.
[Cast members telling her how to pronounce his last name]
GOLDBERG: Hegseth?
JOY BEHAR: Hegseth, yeah.
GOLDBERG: Okay, Pete Hegseth.
To prove her profound ignorance of Hegseth’s career, Goldberg – who had never served her county –proclaimed that he “clearly does not know anything about the military.”
“You know, I feel insulted. I'm a morning TV host and I've been here the longest. Where’s my ambassadorship to Italy, Donald?” bloviated Joy Behar, obviously oblivious to Hegseth’s distinguished service history, which includes two Bronze Stars, two Army Commendation Medals, and achieving the rank of major.
Pretend moderate Sara Haines mischaracterized his service history, falsely claiming he was in for “five or six years” and was only “mid-rank,” whatever that means.
She then uncorked a bizarre circular argument that Hegseth couldn’t be the outsider coming in to clean up the bureaucracy because the bureaucracy wasn’t cleaned up yet:
And you can say the government's bureaucratic and get an outside person that will clean it up, but it hasn't been cleaned up yet and therefore you have to understand the place you're going into to operate at its most efficient capacity.
Fake conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin, who felt like she could spout off on the topic “as a Pentagon spokeswoman,” decried the pick because others couldn’t untangle the Pentagon’s bureaucracy previously. “The problem is much more qualified people have gone into that role to disrupt the Pentagon, make it more streamlined, less bureaucratic and they’ve never succeeded. They've ended up being outmaneuvered by four-star generals and the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” she huffed.
Hey Alyssa, wouldn’t that mean that the four-star generals and the Joint Chiefs were the problem?
Flaunting her own ignorance about who in the government had the power to declare war (Congress), Farah Griffin suggested that the Pentagon’s bloat was “by-design” “because it shouldn't be as simple as signing something and we’re going to war.”
She also suggested that Hegseth would just spend his time lost in the Pentagon facility. “I think that he's going to spend weeks just trying to navigate the Pentagon. It is one mile around,” she exclaimed.
That was followed up by staunchly racist Sunny Hostin being her normal divisive self and peddling identify politics; suggesting Hegseth was a sexist for saying women shouldn’t be combat roles, and a racist:
I think what he said about women says a lot about who he is. He also said, “First of all, you've got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chief [sic] of Staff,” which happens to be General Charles Brown Jr., a black man. And so, I think we're seeing misogyny play out. I think we’re seeing racism play out.
While Hostin was making it seem as though Hegseth wanted him fired just because he was black, Farah Griffin stepped in to point out that he wanted General Brown fired because of his role in the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
November 13, 2024
11:04:25 a.m. Eastern
(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: He [President-elect Trump] also picked – you ready? Co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend, not even, like regular, weekend, Pete Hegsgeth.
[Cast members telling her how to pronounce his last name]
GOLDBERG: Hegseth?
JOY BEHAR: Hegseth, yeah.
GOLDBERG: Okay, Pete Hegseth. And he's picked him to be U.S. secretary of defense. Now, MAGA supporters and detractors are trying to figure out ,what? Because of this pick.
(…)
11:06:12 a.m. Eastern
GOLDBERG: So, is this the guy that's qualified to make decisions about the most powerful military in the world, who clearly does not know anything about the military?
BEHAR: You know, I feel insulted. I'm a morning TV host and I've been here the longest. Where’s my ambassadorship to Italy, Donald? Was it something I said?
SARA HAINES: Beyond what he's saying about women, the scary part is the secretary of defense is the highest ranking member of the federal cabinet and there is a budget of $841 billion. It's the largest government agency. It operates 4,800 sites in over 160 countries.
And as someone who right now we stand here with a country that has a lot of turmoil in the Middle East, in Russia, in Ukraine, even in Asia with China, it makes me more than a little worried that you're picking someone who has -- he served for five or six years. He was middle -- midranking, never has worked in the government.
And you can say the government's bureaucratic and get an outside person that will clean it up but it hasn't been cleaned up yet and therefore you have to understand the place you're going into to operate at its most efficient capacity. So, it's alarming.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: By the way, I was rooting for Senator Joni Ernst who’s a female combat veteran to be secretary of DoD.
But my issue here is – Listen, he served this country admirably. I'm grateful to Pete Hegseth for his service but has no policymaking experience and no Pentagon experience. And by all accounts, the reason that Donald Trump chose him is because he wants a disrupter who’s going to help implement his agenda.
That's technically his right as incoming commander in chief. The problem is much more qualified people have gone into that role to disrupt the Pentagon, make it more streamlined, less bureaucratic and they’ve never succeeded. They've ended up being outmaneuvered by four-star generals and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. So, even from Donald Trump's own intent and purpose with this guy, I think that he's going to spend weeks just trying to navigate the Pentagon. It is one mile around.
SUNNY HOSTIN: It's huge.
FARAH GRIFFIN: I worked there as a Pentagon spokeswoman.
There are 3 million people that will be under him on day one. The entire U.S. armed forces, the entire civilian population that reports to them. It is the most complex and by-design bureaucratic agency in government because it shouldn't be as simple as signing something and we’re going to war. It should go through multiple rungs. And I don’t see any evidence that he deeply understands the role of the secretary of defense.
And I would also argue it's the second most important position in government after the president of the United States. You need a cool head with the experience to do the job and I don't think he has it.
BEHAR: All I heard was that women can't be in combat. Again, another sort of take women down.
HOSTIN: Well --
JOY: What is this?
HOSTIN: This is what America voted for.
I'm not surprise the at this pick. I do agree with Adam Kinzinger that he's deeply unserious. He said this once, ‘The Pentagon likes to say our diversity is our strength. What a bunch of garbage. In the military, our diversity is not our strength.” I think that says a lot about who he is. I think what he said about women says a lot about who he is.
He also said, “First of all, you've got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chief [sic] of Staff,” which happens to be General Charles Brown Jr., a black man. And so, I think we're seeing misogyny play out. I think we’re seeing racism play out.
And, you know, we should be disgusted. We should be very, very concerned as Alyssa has pointed out about how important this position was. But, again, I'm not surprised that he would choose someone so deeply unserious.
(…)
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