Unlike its less-than-enthusiastic treatment of Matt Gaetz’s here-and-gone nomination for attorney general, the Media Research Center was much more aggressive in defending Pete Hegseth’s nomination as secretary of defense. Jorge Bonilla used a Nov. 13 post to parrot one the MRC’s favorite right-wing talking heads and argue for Hegseth:
It took about a week of self-containment after the election, but the media are back to their old, hectoring ways. The Regime Media have broken out in full contempt over President Elect Donald Trump’s selection of combat veteran Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.
Watch as CNN Senior Political Commentator Scott Jennings absolutely NUKES the panel:
[…]The narrative emerging online and in the media is “Trump nominated the Fox and Friends host to head the DoD.” This is done in order to frame the pick as both a joke and a “Shattering of the Norms”, and to disqualify Hegseth in the court of public opinion.
Never mind that Hegseth has served for over 20 years, has multiple combat tours, and has been a tireless advocate for veterans.
The panel tried to come at Jennings with these credentialist arguments and Jennings absolutely unloaded, by reminding them of the recent and very high-profile failures of the credentialed DoD leadership.
Alex Christy served up more defense the same day:
Ever since President-elect Donald Trump made the surprising announcement that he intends to nominate veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense, the media has tried to portray him as a troublesome right-wing culture warrior. However, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell took things one step further on Wednesday as she spread straight up fake news about Hegseth.
With the context being that Hegseth has said he opposes putting women in combat roles, Mitchell told Sen. Chris Van Hollen, “Finally, the choice of Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth as the Defense Secretary. He has denounced diversity, equity, and inclusion. He disagrees with women in combat. I don’t know what he would say to Senator Duckworth, you know, and all the other women pilots, some of whom, like Senator Duckworth, you know, were grievously wounded in combat. But women have been a key part of piloting these fighter jets, and this goes back more than a decade. So, this would not be viewed a vote on until it would get to the floor if it gets out of committee.”
Here is what Hegseth actually said about female pilots: “Gimme a female pilot all day long. I have no issues with that.” It was also clear that Hegseth was talking about roles in the special forces “where strength is a differentiator.”
Hegseth got caught up in Nicholas Fondacaro’s daily hate-watch of “The View”:
President-elect Trump’s nomination of decorated Army combat veteran Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense brought out the worst in the liberal media. Much of the pattern was on display during Wednesday’s edition of ABC’s The View as they actively diminished and discredited Hegseth’s 20 years of distinguished service in the Army by claiming he “does not know anything about the military,” and suggesting he’ll just get lost in the Pentagon.
Moderator Whoopi Goldberg, who screeched whenever someone mispronounced “Kamala,” kicked off the conversation by mocking Hegseth’s last name and that he was a co-host on Fox & Friends Weekend:
[…]To prove her profound ignorance of Hegseth’s career, Goldberg – who had never served her county –proclaimed that he “clearly does not know anything about the military.”
“You know, I feel insulted. I’m a morning TV host and I’ve been here the longest. Where’s my ambassadorship to Italy, Donald?” bloviated Joy Behar, obviously oblivious to Hegseth’s distinguished service history, which includes two Bronze Stars, two Army Commendation Medals, and achieving the rank of major.
Pretend moderate Sara Haines mischaracterized his service history, falsely claiming he was in for “five or six years” and was only “mid-rank,” whatever that means.
Mark Finkelstein weirdly did a flip-flop on differing standards for men and women, which right-wingers are usually in favor of, in referencing “Hegseth’s opposition to women in combat and his call to reinstate gender-neutral fitness standards”:
But under the current, woke, standards, women are not be required to drag as much weight, or run as fast, as men. Consider how that could affect outcomes when women attempt to carry wounded soldiers off the battlefield.
Question for Joe Scarborough: If one day you were wounded on the mean streets of Nantucket, who would you want carrying your 6’4″ frame to safety? A burly man, or a weaker, slower woman?
In the fifth defensive post of the day, Fondacaro was given control of the day’s MRC podcast:
Pete Hegseth is a 20-year Army veteran with two combat tours, two Bronze Stars, and two Army Commendation Medals, but his nomination to be the secretary of defense has brought out the worst in the liberal media. NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck and I break down the media’s disgusting diminution of Hegseth’s career, and call out the liberal ladies of The View for their ignorance and divisiveness.
I was fairly spicy during this episode because few things grind my gears more than elitist journalists – who couldn’t even be bothered to be war correspondents in their careers – putting down the distinguished service of a veteran.
Of course, our gears grind a bit because Fondacaro believes he can spew libelous insults at “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin with impunity.
The MRC cranked out a couple more defense posts the next day, Nov. 14:
- Klepper After Hegseth Nomination: Women ‘Have to Get Pregnant’ to Risk Life
- MSNBC’s Mitchell Doubles Down On Fake News About Hegseth, Women Pilots
In a Nov. 16 column in which he also praised Gaetz, Jeffrey Lord gushed over Hegseth:
Hegseth, currently a Fox and Friends Weekend host, is infinitely more than a TV host. He is an Army veteran of longstanding, with service in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, earning two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantry Badge. He has written extensively about the problems with a woke Pentagon as he has experienced it personally.
Then a new Hegseth controversy popped up, and it was Christy’s duty to take the first crack at trying to tamp it down:
During a discussion on the necessity of the Senate’s role in advising and consenting to cabinet appointees on MSNBC’s Friday edition of The Beat with Ari Melber, activist and lawyer Maya Wiley took a bit of a detour to attack Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth for allegedly having “white supremacist and extremist tattoos.”
Wiley declared, “We should also say, one of the things that’s so important in this function, in this role, is the people of this country should have some understanding of who is going to be making decisions about their daily lives because let’s remember.”
As an example, she focused on “Hegseth and his white supremacist and extremist tattoos on his body, he is also a person, if he is in this job, who will be having the discussion with Donald Trump about sending the military into communities to police U.S. citizens.”
[…]The tattoos in question refer to depictions of a Jerusalem Cross and the words “Deus Vult” (God wills it). Both are Crusade-era symbols that are over 900 years old. Some say those have been co-opted by white supremacists, but even if [panelist Bill] Kristol and Hegseth have diverged on Trump, Kristol could have at least stood up for Hegseth’s character.
Christy didn’t explain why symbols of a 900-year-old holy war have any relevance to today — never mind why Hegseth insisted on having them tattooed so large and prominently on his body.