Rumors began circulating Tuesday that President-elect Donald Trump was weighing his options and could replace the embattled former Fox News host Pete Hegseth as his nominee to lead the Defense Department. Two names at the top of the list of replacements are Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
Moderates in the Senate favor Ernst, who holds an abysmal “D” liberty score from Conservative Review and has voted in favor of every bloated, inflationary budget proposed by either party during her tenure in Washington. She is the definition of a go-along-to-get-along cog in the bankrupt, inefficient wheel that is the U.S. federal government.
DeSantis, on the other hand, is an effective, proven executive and a reformer. Florida’s economy boomed, and the state gained a congressional district during his tenure, in large part due to the governor’s consistent and effective conservative governance. DeSantis would carry that same tenacity to the Department of Defense and could bring the reforms that the military desperately needs. However, his agenda would likely mirror that of Trump’s initial selection, and now is no time for Republican senators to get cold feet and appease those who seek to relegate the United States’s armed forces to their current state.
Some Democrats relish any opportunity to oppose the Trump agenda, and the loud, attention-seeking members of the upper chamber will oppose most, if not all, of the incoming president’s nominees. However, the allegations against Hegseth are weak, at best, and the aggressive opposition to his confirmation reeks of something deeper than typical Democratic obstruction.
Uncorroborated claims of sexual misconduct and off-the-record statements by former colleagues, when dozens of them are supporting him on the record, and an email written by Hegseth’s mother, which she later apologized for, should not be enough to sink his nomination, nor should the claim that he drank beer on St. Patrick’s Day (not a joke).
It makes sense that Democrats and weak-kneed Republicans would waffle at the prospect of a reformer at the Pentagon. The DoD’s budget is bloated, and it has failed its audit each of the last seven years. The military’s DEI initiatives and weakening of standards to allow women in combat roles make corporate media-influenced politicians feel good about themselves, and lobbyists spend a fortune to make sure the gravy train keeps flowing to their clients at the expense of American taxpayers and the efficacy of the military as a whole.
Supreme allied commander in Europe during World War II and the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, warned the nation of the grave dangers associated with the country’s defense industry in his 1961 farewell address.
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex,” he said. “The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
We didn’t listen, and the military-industrial complex grew into the leviathan it is today, aided and abetted by bloodthirsty corporate media and politicians who are, at best, uninformed or too lazy to attempt real reform or, at worst, on the take from the very people Ike warned us about.
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The best time to reform the DoD was 1961, and the second best time is now. Trump appears to understand the dire fiscal and competency crises facing the U.S. government with his nomination of several legitimate reformers and the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, and the military must be near the top of the list of entities in desperate need of reform.
Would DeSantis have easier confirmation hearings? Sure, but the smears against Hegseth are not about affairs, beers, or tattoos. They are about preventing the councils of government from guarding against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. Trump did not back down in the face of scurrilous attacks on now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and he should stand with Hegseth now.
Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a musician, political strategist, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.