TRUMP LIKES TO WATCH, SO HE PICKED HEGSETH

I think Emptywheel is half-right about this:

Yesterday, Donald Trump picked a Fox News pundit, Pete Hegseth, to lead the largest military in the world.

... Trump skipped over people like former Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, longtime Trump national security aide Keith Kellogg, and Representative Mike Rogers, who were considered candidates. And tellingly, we know that Miller was willing to check the litmus test in place when he was picked in 2020: a willingness to invoke the Insurrection Act.

There’s something else that Hegseth is happy to do that the others are not. The possible choices are gutting the military of women, people of color, LGBTQ soldiers, launching nuclear first strikes, committing war crimes, and treating leftists as terrorists — all are things he has espoused before.

I agree that Trump wants a defense secretary who's willing to keep women out of combat, exclude trans people from service, use the military against domestic enemies, and tolerate war crimes (Hegseth was the top media defender of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher and two other servicemembers charged with war crimes during Trump's first term, and he persuaded Trump to show leniency to all of them). Hegseth will do everything Trump asks him to do. But I'm far from certain that Trump went through a list of qualified people, discovered that each of them resisted one or more of his litmus tests, and concluded, with a regretful sigh, that his only remaining choice was the TV guy.

Trump loves TV. Trump loves people who defend him on TV, particularly on Fox. What's more, Hegseth has a jawline that conveys a cartoon kind of manliness. I'm sure Trump told people around him that Hegseth looks as if he's straight from "Central Casting."

Hegseth lacks traditional qualifications, but does that matter? Right-wing dogma will decide much of what he does in office. If he's ever confused, he can just watch Fox and learn what the conservatively correct course of action is. And while his inevitable confirmation will coincide with a purge of allegedly "woke" generals, I'm sure those generals will be replaced by officers who are crazy ultra-rightists but who, unlike Hegseth, have some detailed knowledge of warfighting and strategy. Will China, North Korea, and Russia take advantage of the brain drain? Or will they restrain themselves, on the assumption that Trump is unafraid to start World War III? Who knows!

I've seen it argued that the inexperienced Hegseth will be putty in the hands of defense contractors. But he used to the CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, a Koch network front organization that's largely focused on efforts to privatize military health care. Hegseth, I assume, believes large corporations can do no wrong (as long as they're not "woke"), so he'll give contractors whatever they want knowingly and willingly, not because they're taking advantage of his inexperience.

This appointment seems alarming now, but I think it will rank fortieth or fiftieth on the list of appalling things Trump will do in the next few months. The results won't be very different from what they'd be if Trump had chosen someone with actual qualifications.