Donald Trump’s second term was always going to be weird. But his selection of Fox and friends host Pete Hegseth The defense secretary’s nomination sent shockwaves through Washington, D.C. — even among Republicans and Hegseth’s cable TV colleagues.

Shortly after the news broke Tuesday evening, two Republican senators sent a message rolling stone their dismay at Trump’s announcement, with each doubting Hegseth’s confirmability and basic qualifications for the high-stakes position. “That doesn’t make any sense!” said one of them. Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski couldn’t help but say: “Wow“, when asked about Trump’s latest selection to fill the top ranks of his new administration, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) responding: “WHO?”

Republican senators were not the only ones who were stunned by the news. “WHAT. THE. REAL. FUCK,” exclaimed a former colleague of Hegseth on Fox News. rolling stone Tuesday.

Hegseth is a decorated Army National Guard veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, he has little management experience that would allow him to run a huge government bureaucracy. He previously led a small group of veterans and a PAC accused of cronyism and unnecessary spending. He has no government experience and has worked for Fox since 2014. Trump has touted Hegseth’s book while spending time on it. The New York Times bestseller list when he announced the appointment.

Hegseth’s most important qualification might simply be that Trump likes him. The president-elect envisioned he would lead the Veterans Administration during his first term. Instead, Hegseth emerged as an informal advisor to the early Trump White House. Notably: Hegseth was one of the best players in private lobbying Trump to grant executive pardons to accused US war criminals – action that would later spark chaos and dissent within top brass from the military and the Pentagon.

Also alarming: Hegseth is uncomfortably close to extremist movements. By his own accounting, Hegseth was “considered an extremist» and removed from a National Guard regiment charged with protecting Joe Biden’s inauguration, because of disturbing tattoos. Hegseth claims the problematic ink in question is the giant Jerusalem cross tattooed on his pecs, which he says is “just a Christian symbol.” But extremism analysts also pointed to the inscription “Deus Vult” — or “God Wills” — a medieval crusader battle cry recently appropriated by white nationalists. (The Crusaders also used the Jerusalem Cross, in particular, in their heraldry.)

Hegseth also called on Fox News viewers to looks with sympathy on the motivations of the white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville in 2017 – insisting that “there’s a reason those people were there.” (Hegseth condemned their “outright racism” but said it was reasonable that they felt their country was “moving away.”)

The Fox News host also broadcast live from Ellipse on the morning of January 6, 2021, appearing to give weight to Trump’s big lie that the election was stolen, while speaking almost enthusiastically about the possibility of violence. “We are in a constitutional tinderbox,” saidciting the arrests of the day before: “Will there be any protests this evening? This is also a possibility. Indeed, Trump supporters led a violent insurrection that day at the U.S. Capitol, hoping to stop Congress from certifying Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election.

More recently, Hegseth wrote a book on the defeat of “woke” culture in the army, entitled The war against warriors: behind the betrayal of the men who keep us free. He writes that the Pentagon has become anti-Caucasian (“they believe that…white people are yesterday”) and is instead encouraging “diverse recruits” who, he says, are “filled with vaccines and even more venomous ideologies ”, which presents a risk to the population. their “sensible American” dorm mates in basic training.

Hegseth has spoken openly about cracking down on “DEI woke shit” within the military. Trump campaigned extensively to do the same, showing clips of R. Lee Ermey’s character in Full metal jacket abuse of soldiers as an example of the type of behavior military personnel should adopt. Hegseth also stated bluntly that he did not believe women should be allowed to serve in combat roles.

Hegseth was rejected as a candidate to head the Department of Veterans Affairs during the first Trump administration due to fierce opposition from major veterans groups. His nomination will likely face strong opposition in Congress — which could be why Trump lobbied the Senate to grant him recess appointment powers that would allow him to circumvent that body’s duty to advise and to give its agreement on the candidates. John Thune, who will replace Mitch McConnell as Senate Majority Leader, suggested he was willing to allow these recess appointments.

Regardless of its viability, Trump’s nomination of Hegseth marks a return to the troll chaos and provocation that defined his style of governing. Indeed, despite the immediate surprise within the party and among some of Trump’s close allies, Trump’s decision to appoint a longtime Fox News personality to the highest levels of the federal government would only seem out of place to those who did it. I did not follow his first administration.