Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing is just the first episode

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, military veteran and former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, had his first hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday.

In his opening remarks, the author of The War on Warriors admitted that he is an unorthodox pick. “It is true that I don’t have a similar biography to defense secretaries of the last thirty years. But, as President Trump also told me, we’ve repeatedly placed people atop the Pentagon with supposedly ‘the right credentials’  — whether they are retired generals, academics or defense contractor executives — and where has it gotten us?” his opening statement read. “It’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm.”

Flexing his military experience in “Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan and in the streets of Washington, DC” and thanking his family, colleagues and Jesus Christ, the nominee promised to “reestablish deterrence,” “rebuild our military” and, most notably, “restore the warrior ethos.” Hegseth’s focus on reclaiming the military’s lethality, and disposing of political initiatives that distract from such a goal, has become his trademark.

It is this perspective, and his personal war against DEI, that have inspired opposition against his nomination. Not surprisingly, some of the toughest questions he received during the hearing centered on this topic.

Following reports suggesting that Hegseth opposed having women in combat roles, Republican senator Joni Ernst, an Iraq veteran representing Iowa, asked the nominee whether he would commit to keeping female troops in these roles. “Women will have access to ground combat roles, given the standards remain high,” he responded. “And we will have a review to ensure the standards have not been eroded in any one of these cases.”

A quotation of Hegseth’s had been circulating that might make some think that he favors something akin to a ban on women in the military. “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles,” he said on a podcast. “It hasn’t made us more effective.” Though in the same podcast, Hegseth clarified his policy position. “I’m OK with the idea that you maintain the standards where they are, for everybody, and if there’s some, you know, hard-charging female that meets that standard, great, cool, join the infantry battalion. But that is not what’s happened. What has happened is the standards have lowered.”

During the hearing, Hawaii senator Mazie Hirono, a Democrat, asked Hegseth whether he knew that “being drunk at work is prohibited for servicemembers under the USMJ?” That’s the Uniform Code of Military Justice. “Senator, those are multiple, false, anonymous reports peddled by NBC News that run directly contradictory to the dozens of men and women at Fox News Channel,” Hegseth replied, as Hirono interrupted to say that she wasn’t hearing an answer. The report being referenced here suggests that, according to ten current or former Fox News employees, Hegseth drank in ways that concerned his colleagues. 

Fiery, right? Well, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia took it up a notch, making things very personal. “I assume that in each of your weddings, you’ve pledged to be faithful to your wife. You’ve taken an oath to do that, haven’t you?” Kaine asked the twice-divorced nominee. “Senator, as I’ve acknowledged to everyone in this committee, I’m not a perfect person, not claiming to be.”

Angry at these lines of questioning, Senator Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, went ballistic on his colleagues. “How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night?” Senator Mullin asked. “How many senators do you know who have gotten a divorce for cheating on their wives?”

“Did you ask them to step down? No. It’s for show. You guys make a big show and point out the hypocrisy, because the man’s made a mistake. And you want to sit up there and say he’s not qualified? Give me a joke [sic]. It’s so ridiculous that you guys hold yourself to a higher standard, and you forget you’ve got a big plank in your eye.”

Following Trump’s expressed desire to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal, Hirono also pressed Hegseth on whether he would back military operations in the two countries. Refusing to give a clear yes, Hegseth said that he would never diminish Trump’s “strategic ambiguity.”

In an exchange with Republican senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, previously considered a potential candidate for Hegseth’s role, the nominee touched on the women in combat question too. “In those ground combat roles, what is true is the weight on your back doesn’t change. The weight of the bravo machine gun you might have to carry does not change. Whether it is a man or woman, they have to meet the same high standards.”

Senator Cotton also asked Hegseth if he supported Israel’s war efforts in Gaza. “I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas,” he replied. 

In another exchange with Republican senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Hegseth said that troops who were fired for refusing to take the “experimental” coronavirus vaccine will be “apologized to and reinstated with pay and rank.”

Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat representing Rhode Island, referring to a time when Hegseth apparently called a JAG officer a “jag off,” asked the nominee: “Would you explain what a ‘jag off’ is?” “I don’t think I need to, sir,” Hegseth replied. “Why not?” Reed interjected. “Because the men and women watching understand,” Hegseth said before proceeding to give his definition. “It would be a JAG officer [sic] who puts his or her own priorities in front of the war fighters — their promotions, their medals in front of having the back of those who are making the tough calls in the frontlines.” 

Also desperately attempting to be the funniest in the chamber, Senator Tim Sheehy, newly-elected Republican from Montana, asked Hegseth how many genders there were. “Senator, there are two genders,” Hegseth replied. “I know that well, I’m a ‘she-he,’ so I’m on board,” Sheehy quipped.

Then, for a change of tone, Senator Sheehy asked: “What is the diameter of the rifle round fired out of an M4A1 rifle?” “That’s a 5.56,” Hegseth replied. “How many push-ups can you do?” “I did five sets of forty-seven this morning.” Other very military-specific questions followed, helping Hegseth sound qualified.

“What kind of batteries do you put in your night-vision goggles?” Senator Sheehy inquired. “Duracell?” a laughing Hegseth replied.

A particularly powerful statement on the bloating of the military leadership came from Hegseth out of an exchange with Republican senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. “We won World War Two with seven four-star generals. Today, we have forty-four four-star generals,” Hegseth said, depicting an inverse relationship between wins in the battlefield and the expansion of top brass military leadership. “We don’t need more bureaucracy at the top, we need more war fighters empowered at the bottom.”

Rumor has it that Hegseth already has the votes to become the next defense secretary, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly telling Trump that he believes his nominee will make it through the process. Surely, Hegseth’s performance in this hearing, as a man with much experience with the cameras, will make it easier to push him through what’s left of the process.

While the hearing was fiery at times, his confirmation is only the beginning, with seven other hearings, including those of Governor Kristi Noem and Senator Marco Rubio, scheduled for tomorrow. This one may not prove the testiest of them all, with the confirmation hearings of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel — all arguably more unorthodox in their stances, if not their résumés, than Hegseth — still not scheduled. Let the games begin.