Yes. A definite yes. President-elect Donald Trump announced this week that he will nominate Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense. The critics squawk as if being a weekend Fox & Friends host is the reason for his selection. Hardly.  Hegseth’s selection has everything to do not just with his extensive military background — he is an Army veteran with service in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay who has earned two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantry Badge — but also, in no small part, because of his well-documented criticism of the U.S. military’s descent “off the cliff of cultural chaos and weakness,” as he says in his most recent book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free. While a sharp critic of the current status of a “woke” U.S. military — which he has experienced firsthand — Hegseth also says this: Now is not the time to retreat from our military. If we secede from our military branches — and service writ large — then we’re handing the keys of our Republic over to people who loathe the sort of men vital to defending us. He goes on: The so-called elites directing the military today aren’t just lowering standards and focusing on the wrong enemy; they are overtly working to rid the military of this specific (essential) type of young patriot. They believe power is bad, merit is unfair, ideology is more important than industriousness, white people are yesterday, and safety! Is better than risk-taking. Amazingly, as events have played out, Hegseth now finds himself in the ultimate government post where he can do something about it. Not coincidentally, President-elect Trump said in a video earlier this year something that goes right to the heart of Hegseth’s point. Says Trump: Here’s my plan to dismantle the Deep State and reclaim our democracy from Washington corruption, once and for all. Clearly, Pete Hegseth — a decorated veteran and an experienced, decorated veteran at that who has seen the Pentagon’s problems close up — is more than qualified to be secretary of defense.  Which is exactly why President-elect Trump has selected him. Well done all around! The post Three Cheers for Pete Hegseth appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.