ABC’s The View was aghast over President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.
“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,” co-host Sara Haines said on Wednesday, adding, “It makes me more than a little worried that you’re picking someone who served for five or six years. He was midranking and never has worked in the government.”
Haines called Hegseth’s pick “alarming” as she criticized his resume.
“So, is this the guy who’s qualified to make decisions about the most powerful military in the world who clearly does not know anything about the military,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said while belittling Hegseth’s experience as a Fox News Channel host.
“I’m a morning TV host and I’ve been here the longest. Where’s my ambassadorship to Italy? Was it something I said?” co-host Joy Behar slammed Hegseth.
“I don’t see any evidence that he understands the role of secretary of defense,” said co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, who previously worked in the Pentagon.
“He has no policymaking experience and no Pentagon experience. By all accounts, the reason Donald Trump chose him is because he wants a disruptor who is going to help implement his agenda,” she added.
Farah Griffin questioned whether Hegseth would get lost “navigating” the Pentagon.
“He’s going to spend weeks just trying to navigate the Pentagon. It is one mile around,” she said.
“I think we’re seeing misogyny play out. I think we’re seeing racism play out. And we should be disgusted. We should be very, very concerned. … But again, I’m not surprised,” co-host Sunny Hostin chimed in.
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Trump announced his choice of Hegseth on Tuesday night as his secretary of defense in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. The defense secretary nominee is a military veteran of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and previously was the head of Veterans for America.
Hegseth has been a co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend since 2014. He graduated from Princeton University and has a master’s degree from Harvard.