Ex-Fox News host Gretchen Carlson offered a shocking five-word-response to the news that President-elect Donald Trump appointed Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense.
‘Yes he’s a veteran … and?’ the former conservative firebrand wrote on X.
Carlson, 58, joined a chorus of cable news personalities, Democrats and even Senate Republicans who expressed bewilderment at the selection of Hegseth, an Army veteran and the co-host of the ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ show since 2014.
Carlson and Hegseth overlapped at Fox News for two years before she left the network in 2016.
‘From silly diner interviews on Weekend Fox and Friends to Secretary of Defense?’ Carlson added in her post. ‘I never thought I’d say I’m stunned about any pick after the election but nominating Pete Hegseth for this incredibly important role?’
Carlson’s departure from Fox News came amid a sexual harassment lawsuit she filed against network president Roger Ailes.
Since Carlson’s exit from the network, she has openly criticized Fox News hosts who she believes inspired the January 6 Capitol riots with their coverage.
She even appeared alongside President Biden on March 22, 2022, when he signed a bill she pushed for to ban companies from preventing employees from taking sexual misconduct claims to court through mandatory arbitration.
Hegseth, 44, joined Fox following an unsuccessful Senate run in Minnesota in 2012 and deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Those tours won him two Bronze stars.
He reportedly became friends with Trump during the president-elect’s regular appearances on his show.
On a recent appearance on Fox News, he made it clear that he felt Biden’s White House was run by ‘pro-Palestinian millennials.’
‘What Israel is about to do is bring hell down on Hamas. Israel is about to do real war. Israel will be stacking bodies because Netanyahu isn’t messing around,’ he said.
Hegseth, who has no national security experience, would inherit one of the world’s most powerful posts amid a series of global crises if he’s confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.
The surprise pick prompted hair-on-fire reactions across the media landscape.
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon lost his mind in a video posted about the appointment, claiming he thought it was a joke until he saw Trump’s statement.
‘When I saw it, I thought The AP (Associated Press) must have been hacked,’ the former CNN anchor said. ‘But Pete Hegseth? The morning, weekend host on Fox News? Come on.’
Liberal anchor Joy Reid on MSNBC mocked the president-elect’s cabinet as a ‘clown car’ and appeared to be laughing when she read the news.
‘The former and future president is moving quickly to fill the clown car and round out his cabinet before he changes his mind and fires them all. Moments ago Trump announced that he has selected Fox morning weekend host Pete Hegseth… because why not?’ she said.
Dan Goldman, a Democratic congressman from New York, told CNN that Hegseth is ‘clearly a sycophant cheerleader’ of Trump.
‘I’m shocked, truly. And this is exactly what we worried about and we warned about Donald Trump, which is that he is going to appoint unqualified loyalists to shape this government into his own personal fiefdom, and get revenge on generals and put essentially really unqualified people,’ he said.
Goldman added: ‘I appreciate Mr. Hegseth’s service in our armed forces, but being a serviceman does not make you qualified to lead the Department of Defense and to have access to our nuclear weapons.’
The reaction of Senate Republicans was a mix of confusion but also hopeful optimism.
‘Really? I’d have to think about it,’ said Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said: ‘Wow… I’m just surprised because the names that I’ve heard for Secretary of Defense have not included him.’
Ted Budd of North Carolina, however, called Hegseth ‘an impressive individual.’
In a recent interview, Hegseth suggested his plans for the office, including getting rid of what he called ‘woke s***’ in the military.’
Anyone ‘involved in the woke s*** has got to go…you have to reestablish that trust by putting in no-nonsense warfighters in those positions who aren’t going to cater to the socially correct garbage,’ he said.
‘You’re not training young officers to be baptized in this type of thinking. And then, you know, whatever the standards, whatever the combat standards were, say, in, I don’t know, 1995, let’s just make those the standards.’
He also wants to hire the makers of Top Gun Maverick to make slick Hollywood-style recruiting ads to ‘motivate people to want to serve.’
Hegseth is just one of the high-profile appointees the president-elect has announced in the last several days.
Tom Homan, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will return as border czar to preside over the mass deportation effort that Trump campaigned on.
Two New York Republicans, Rep. Elise Stefanik and former Rep. Lee Zeldin, will become United Nations Ambassador and Environmental Protection Agency administrator, respectively.
Billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to cut trillions of dollars worth of wasteful federal government spending.
And Florida Senator Marco Rubio won the coveted role of Secretary of State, often thought of as a springboard to the presidency.
