News personalities on right-wing media platforms think twice (or more) before criticizing moves by the former and future President Donald Trump. A derisive or dismissive Truth Social or X post from Trump, after all, can stymie the career of anyone who questions him, especially on the right where Trump holds enormous sway.
[NOTE: Trump, whose recent electoral triumph has put his opponents on alert, has repeatedly vowed retribution against his antagonists, suggesting again this week, for example, that members of the January 6 Committee (Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and company) should “go to jail.”}
The President-elect and his top supporters (Kash Patel, Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk, et al) have also threatened many who are presumably on his side, including any Republican legislators — like Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) — who take their “advice and consent” duty seriously and refuse to climb obediently aboard the MAGA train just because it’s leaving the station.
Kirk and other Trump-loyalist influencers have vowed to primary any congress member who tries to block a Trump nominee on any grounds — even legitimate doubts about national security priorities.
So it is no surprise that before he voices his discontent with Trump’s Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, Newsmax host Greg Kelly first assures his audience: “I love President Trump, but he’s not infallible and from time to time personnel mistakes will be made.”
Kelly then asserts “and I am allowed to say what I think about these mistakes.”
Kelly also goes out of his way to claim that his apostate conclusion is arrived at independently, assuring the audience that he didn’t rely on the “fake news” to fuel his anti-Hegseth stance. No, Kelly is appalled by what Hegseth’s own attorney reportedly admitted: that Hegseth paid money to silence a woman –through an NDA — who allegedly accused him of sexual assault.
This situation proves, to Kelly, that Hegseth “doesn’t seem like a fighter” — about the worst accusation that can be made about a tough guy combat veteran who aspires to lead the U.S Defense Department.
Newsmax host Greg Kelly tears into the nomination of Pete Hegseth for Defend Secretary:
His attorney said that he signed an NDA and paid money to a woman who accused him of sexual assault. I was once accused of sexual assault, falsely. I would never in a billion years pay that… pic.twitter.com/7DHbqBpDr6
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) December 11, 2024
Kelly shares his exceptionally personal reasoning behind this conclusion, revealing that he too was “falsely” accused of sexual assault.
“I was once accused of sexual assault, falsely,” Kelly says. “I would never in a billion years pay that person a dime. Pete Hegseth — that doesn’t sound like a fighter. That sounds like somebody who’s blackmail-able. And I’m not comfortable with that person being the Secretary of Defense.”
Kelly also calls out Hegseth for his adultery, saying that adultery — while regrettably accepted in civilian life — is “different” in the military, where it is more significant and where the practice can weaken the nation’s defenses.