The Left’s Loathing of Hegseth Fits a Long Tradition

As if there aren’t enough problems in the world, the American media has decided they need to zero in on….Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. The latest is a call for impeaching the Secretary. Sample headline? Here’s one from The New York Post: Pete Hegseth escapes impeachment as Dems threaten to try again in next CongressPerhaps what is really needed here is some perspective on the history of the media with previous Secretaries of War.A source of considerable controversy was President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon Johnson’s Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. McNamara was hailed as a brilliant executive, having led the Ford Motor Company before JFK appointed him to lead the Pentagon. In that position McNamara played a central role in running the Vietnam War, becoming an absolutely loathed figure to war critics of the day both in and out of the media. (Of which there were many.)Notable was the tenure of James Forrestal, who served first as FDR’s Secretary of the Navy, with President Harry Truman later appointing him the first Secretary of Defense. (The War Department, around since President George Washington’s tenure, had its name changed to the Defense Department in 1947. Only recently was the Defense Department given its old, original name of the “War Department” back. Stunningly, after Truman forced Forrestal’s resignation over issues of policy, a depressed Forrestal, hospitalized for depression, committed suicide by jumping from a 16th floor hospital window.)Donald Rumsfeld, a one-time Congressman from Illinois, had the distinction of serving two nonconsecutive terms as Secretary — the first time for President Gerald Ford, and the second for President George W. Bush. “Rummy” (as he was nicknamed) was also decidedly unpopular with the media in both his terms.Others on this somewhat lengthy list of Secretaries of War are none other than Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Lincoln, as well as a future President, William Howard Taft. And one startling choice: Jefferson Davis. Davis, famously, went on to become the first (and only) President of the Confederate States of America, leading the rebellion against the U.S. government.Obviously, as always, time has moved on. But the principle remains. The office of Secretary of War is both historically important and decidedly powerful.And it is precisely because of that characteristic of great power — notably military power — that today’s Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is getting almost microscopic attention. And a chunk of that attention is considerably negative. Here’s but two sample headlines on Hegseth’s current situation, the first courtesy of USA Today:Pete Hegseth defends himself against impeachment: ‘It’s a farce’And from CBS:Why did Hegseth face an impeachment push? Inside the 8 articles on Iran, Maduro and moreIn short, Secretary Hegseth who, as a commissioned infantry officer in the Minnesota National Guard, has put in service time at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba along with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan is decidedly qualified to serve as Secretary of War in this – or any – administration.So the obvious question? Why all the negative media attention to a seriously qualified and decidedly active Secretary of War? The obvious answer, it would seem, is not just that Hegseth is a decidedly effective Secretary. The obvious answer is that he is serving as Secretary in the administration of the Left’s favorite “Bête Noire” — President Donald Trump. Which is to say Secretary Hegseth’s media opponents are motivated by political hatreds and the sheerest of raw hatreds at that.A surprise? No. Shameful? And the setting of seriously bad precedent?  Yes. Absolutely.Will it stop? Not until Trump leaves office. And when he does – and if he is succeeded by a Republican?  Take it to the bank that all of this seriously bad politics will rev up the media yet again for the next targeted and hated Cabinet Secretary of any Republican President. Shameful, yes. Typical of the liberal media?  Absolutely.

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