In many ways, Matt Gaetz had to withdraw his nomination as Donald Trump’s Attorney General because he is so profoundly hated within the Republican congressional caucus. Even though he was a House member, Republican senators absolutely loathe him and they weren’t going to vote to confirm him. Compare that situation with Pete Hegseth, someone who has never served in elected office before. Hegseth is Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense. While Hegseth has a military background, the most important factors for Trump were: Hegseth looks “good” on TV as a Fox News analyst and Hegseth has a violent hatred of women (just like Trump). In 2017, a woman accused Hegseth of drugging and raping her in a California hotel. The woman did the most to see Hegseth charged (he was not) and now she’s doing the most to make sure her story is out there ahead of his Senate confirmation hearing. But that’s not all – Hegseth is a white Christian nationalist who is on his third marriage, he wants to ban women and gay folks from serving in the military, and even his mother thinks he’s a piece of sh-t.
The mother of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, wrote him an email in 2018 saying he had routinely mistreated women for years and displayed a lack of character.
“On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say … get some help and take an honest look at yourself,” Penelope Hegseth wrote, stating that she still loved him. She also wrote: “I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”
Mrs. Hegseth, in a phone interview with The New York Times on Friday, said that she had sent her son an immediate follow-up email at the time apologizing for what she had written. She said she had fired off the original email “in anger, with emotion” at a time when he and his wife were going through a very difficult divorce.
In the interview, she defended her son and disavowed the sentiments she had expressed in the initial email about his character and treatment of women. “It is not true. It has never been true,” she said. She added: “I know my son. He is a good father, husband.” She said that publishing the contents of the first email was “disgusting.”
I mentioned Matt Gaetz’s withdrawn nomination at the start of the post because I find it interesting and telling that Hegseth’s nomination hasn’t gotten to a similar point. Even in the most generous reading of the rape accusation, Hegseth’s argument is that he had consensual sex with a drugged woman who was likely unconscious for several hours during those hours in his hotel room. Like, that’s HIS defense. What I’m saying is that Hegseth would have withdrawn his nomination if there were already senators saying “absolutely not,” as they were in Gaetz’s case. It’s extremely gross that so many Republican senators are taking a wait-and-see approach to Hegseth’s confirmation hearing. As for his mother’s comments… yeah. He’s on his third marriage, he’s been credibly accused of drugging and raping a woman, he’s cheated on at least one of his wives, and he’s a g-ddamn white nationalist.
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