The accusations against Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, are lamentable but, in a strange way, oddly refreshing. They represent a return to normalcy in Washington after four years of the bizarro world of the Biden administration and its unprecedented cast of oddballs.

The rumors of Hegseth’s carousing are regrettable because, if true (a big if), we really should prefer men of character and order in our highest positions of power and responsibility, particularly heading up the world’s mightiest military machine. This august magazine became famous in the 1990s for its epic exposés exposing Commander-in-Chief Bill Clinton exposing himself to everyone from the girl interns to the lunch ladies. One recalls the sage advice of the little general, H. Ross Perot, saying of Bill Clinton that if a man will lie to his wife, well, he’ll lie to you, too.
The venerable Harry Truman, renowned for his character, said the same. The man from Independence, Missouri was loyal to his wife Bess, and to his country. He tapped from the Army a man of unimpeachable character, the legendary George C. Marshall.
That said, I do regret to concede that the days of such sterling individuals seem to have long passed us. There simply aren’t many George Marshalls marching around anymore.
The accusations of drinking and womanizing leveled at Pete Hegseth remind me of charges back in 1989 against President George H. W. Bush’s nominee for secretary of defense, Senator John Tower. In Tower’s case, however, the charges seemed hard to believe.
Sure, one could imagine Tower, a Texan, slugging down shots of whiskey. But the nerdy, pudgy, stiff-looking, short — Texas Monthly magazine described him as “phenomenally short” — chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee didn’t have the physical appearance of a man who could have his way with the ladies. If you were casting actors to play John Tower in a movie, you wouldn’t choose Gary Cooper or Brad Pitt.
Pete Hegseth, however, strikes obse...