Trump's defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth opposes women in combat, 'woke' ideology in military
Pete Hegseth, who was announced Tuesday as President-elect Donald Trump's choice as secretary of defense, went viral for a recent clip expressing opposition to women in combat.
Speaking during an interview last week on "The Shawn Ryan Show" podcast, the 44-year-old former Fox & Friends host who served as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard and was deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay said that the presence of women makes high-stress combat situations more dangerous.
Pete Hegseth 5 days ago: "I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles." pic.twitter.com/0W3LDSakud
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"Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, means casualties are worse," Hegseth said. "I'm straight up just saying that we should not have women in combat roles — it hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated."
"We've all served with women, and they're great. Our institutions don't have to incentivize that in places where traditionally — not traditionally, over human history — men in those positions are more capable," he added.
Hegseth said racial diversity in the military should be commended, but gender diversity is not the same because of the inherent physical differences between men and women.
By allowing women to engage in combat roles, Hegseth warned, "we've changed the standards in putting them there, which means you've changed the capability of that unit."
Former President Barack Obama's Defense Secretary Ash Carter allowed women to participate in all combat roles starting in 2016, which opened them to become Green Berets, Army Rangers and combatant-craft crewmen who transport Navy SEALs.
Hegseth, who earned two Bronze Stars, also served as a former executive director for Vets for Freedom and former CEO of Concerned Veterans for America. He was floated as a potential head of the Department of Veterans Affairs during Trump's first term.
Hegseth has been outspoken about his opposition to the "woke" ideology allegedly seeping into the U.S. Armed Forces.
"First of all, you've got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs," Hegseth told Ryan of how the U.S. military should be reformed. "Any general that was involved, any general, admiral, whatever, that was involved in any of the DEI/woke sh— has got to go."
He also advised purging the military academies of such a worldview.
In his 2024 book The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, excerpts of which were highlighted by Mediaite, Hegseth portrayed some on the left as "domestic enemies" who have been attempting to impose a "woke ideology" on the U.S. military by promulgating diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory within the ranks.
"While the post-9/11 generation of patriots spent two decades fighting enemies abroad, we allowed America's domestic enemies at home to gobble up cultural, political and spiritual territory. Overextended, our rear guard was exposed — and the enemy pounced," he wrote, adding that "just like an enemy at war, the radical Left never stops moving and planning."
"The radical Left never takes a day off and uses every avenue — political, cultural, and educational — to push its agenda," he added.
If Hegseth is confirmed, he will assume leadership at the Pentagon as military enlistment plummets despite a gathering storm of global conflicts, including Iran's escalating involvement in the Israel-Hamas war, Russia's strengthening alliance with North Korea amid the Russo-Ukrainian War and an increasingly aggressive China.
Hegseth's nomination has been met with ridicule from national security officials and defense analysts questioning his experience for the job, according to Politico.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to [email protected]
