Conservatives From The United States

"The lesson of 4,000 years of social history is that sexual behavior, consensual or not, has consequences for others, that it often affects (and hurts) others in ways society needs to control, and that unregulated sex renders social bonds, especially in the family but also beyond it, impossible. We can regulate it through law or through socially enforced moral custom or both, but we have to do it somehow. History knows of no human society that has not regulated sexual behavior and forbidden some kinds of it, nor is there any reason known to social science to suppose that a society that fails to do so is possible. A "society" that makes no distinction between sex within marriage and sex outside it, that does not distinguish morally and socially between continence and debauchery, normality and perversion, love and lust, is not really a society but merely the chaos of a perpetual orgy. It is an invitation to just such an orgy that the proponents of normalized and unrestricted homosexuality invite America."

"The expression "popular culture" originally meant those elements of culture produced by the people. Today it means nothing of the sort, but rather culture produced for the people by elites, and the elites, whether "publicly" or "privately" endowed, are invariably entwined with bureaucratic organizations... Outside the universities, what passes as popular culture manifests itself in television, films, journalism, publishing, music, museums, galleries, and amusement parks, all of which are bureaucratic and professionalized in form, most of which are almost always directly or indirectly dependent on the state, and all of which claim to provide for the people a culture that is so superior to what the people can produce for themselves that no one needs to worry about producing their own."

"The truth is that, for all their talk about social “roots,” conservative intellectuals in the postwar era were often rootless men themselves, and the philosophical mystifications in which they enveloped themselves were frequently the only garments that fit them."

"[P]aleoconservatives, unlike libertarians, most neoconservatives, and many contemporary mainstream conservatives, do not consider America to be an “idea,” a “proposition,” or a “creed.” It is instead a concrete and particular culture, rooted in a particular historical experience, a set of particular institutions as well as particular beliefs and values, and a particular ethnic-racial identity, and, cut off from those roots, it cannot survive. Indeed, it is not surviving now, for all the glint and glitter of empire. ...[N]ot a few [paleoconservatives] have been accused of simple-minded “racism,” “white supremacy,” and other ill-defined bugaboos. I, for one, like to think that what they believe about race, while definitely not in the liberal-neocon mainstream, is rather more nuanced and considerably more sophisticated than their enemies (and not a few of their friends) want to think."

"Post-bourgeois groups manifest hostility not only to the ideology of the soft managerial regime and to the psychic and behavioral patterns of its elite but also to the manipulative style of dominance that characterizes the elite and the tendency to acceleration on which the elite relies for the preservation and enhancement of its power. The managerial use of manipulation and acceleration not only alienates post-bourgeois groups culturally and morally but also threatens their economic position and social status."

"The critical race theorists and their allies have turned resentment into a governing principle. But this also a trap: resentment is a tool for obtaining power, not of wielding it successfully."

""[D]iversity, equity, and inclusion" represents a new mode of institutional governance. Diversity is the new system of racial standing, equity is the new method of power transfer, inclusion is the new method of enforcement. All of this could be presented to institutional leadership in a language that appears to be soft, benign, tolerant, and open-minded — something that, combined with the threat of accusation, elite administrators were culturally incapable of resisting."

"The revolution, which seeks to connect ideology to bureaucratic power and to manipulate behavior through the guise of expertise, is ultimately not democratic."

"The only solution, he believed, was the Great Refusal: the complete disintegration of the existing society, beginning with a revolt in the universities and the ghettos, then dissolving 'the system’s hypocritical morality and ‘values’' through the relentless application of his 'critical theory of society,' a philosophy described by Marcuse scholar Douglas Kellner as 'Western Marxism,' 'neo-Marxism,' or 'critical Marxism.'"

"In pursuit of this goal, the state curriculum encouraged teachers to lead their students in a series of indigenous songs, chants, and affirmations, including the 'In Lak Ech Affirmation,' which appealed directly to the Aztec gods. Students clapped and chanted to the deity Tezkatlipoka—whom the Aztecs traditionally worshipped with human sacrifice and cannibalism—asking him for the power to become 'warriors' for 'social justice.' As the chant came to a climax, students performed a supplication for 'liberation, transformation, [and] decolonization,' after which they asked the gods for the power of 'critical consciousness.'"

"As Cuauhtin tells it, white Christians committed 'theocide' against indigenous spirituality. Those deities must be resurrected and restored to their rightful place in the social justice cosmology. It is, in a philosophical sense, a revenge of the gods."

"I have a bit more of a subtle take on the question of indoctrination: A lot of conservatives say 'Universities are indoctrinating kids to be blue-haired gender communists.' That's kind of a meme that you see everywhere, and I could understand why at first glance you might think that, but I don't think that's exactly how it works. I don't think that most professors are consciously in a cult-like manner indoctrinating their students, pushing their ideology, converting them to the cause in that kind of recruiting sense. I actually think it's something more subtle and more insidious. I think that it's just that they're not exposing students to any alternative sets of ideas."

"The popular slogan that "facts don’t care about your feelings" betrays similar problems. In reality, feelings almost always overpower facts. Reason is the slave of the passions."

"Academics want to be free to push their ideology at all times, but they also want to be free of democratic oversight. I hope to reverse that. I hope that the opposite becomes true over time."

"He understands intuitively that appeals to a new system of governance based on 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' are a pretense for establishing a political order that is hostile to his values, even if he does not yet possess the vocabulary to pierce through the shell of euphemism and describe its essence."

"Learn how to 'challenge racist, bigoted, discriminatory, imperialist/colonial beliefs' and critique 'white supremacy, racism and other forms of power and oppression.' Teachers are then encouraged to drive their pupils to participate in 'social movements that struggle for social justice' and 'build new possibilities for a post-racist, post-systemic racism society.' R. Tolteka Cuauhtin, the original co-chair of the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, developed much of the material regarding early American history. In his book Rethinking Ethnic Studies, cited in the state's official reference guide, Cuauhtin argues that the United States was founded on a 'Eurocentric, white supremacist (racist, anti-Black, anti-Indigenous), capitalist (classist), patriarchal (sexist and misogynistic), heteropatriarchal (homophobic), and anthropocentric paradigm brought from Europe."

"Today the Left is threatening the tax-exempt status of churches and charities that reject woke progressivism. They will soon turn to Christian schools and clubs with the same totalitarian intent. The next conservative President must make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors. This starts with deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (“SOGI”), diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists."

"Yet students of history will note that, notwithstanding all those challenges, the late 1970s proved to be the moment when the political Right unified itself and the country and led the United States to historic political, economic, and global victories. The Heritage Foundation is proud to have played a small but pivotal role in that story. It was in early 1979—amid stagflation, gas lines, and the Red Army’s invasion of Afghanistan, the nadir of Jimmy Carter’s days of malaise—that Heritage launched the Mandate for Leadership project. We brought together hundreds of conservative scholars and academics across the conservative movement. Together, this team created a 20-volume, 3,000-page governing handbook containing more than 2,000 conservative policies to reform the federal government and rescue the American people from Washington dysfunction. It was a promise from the conservative movement to the country—confident, specific, and clear. Mandate for Leadership was published in January 1981—the same month Ronald Reagan was sworn into his presidency. By the end of that year, more than 60 percent of its recommendations had become policy—and Reagan was on his way to ending stagflation, reviving American confidence and prosperity, and winning the Cold War. The bad news today is that our political establishment and cultural elite have once again driven America toward decline. The good news is that we know the way out even though the challenges today are not what they were in the 1970s. Conservatives should be confident that we can rescue our kids, reclaim our culture, revive our economy, and defeat the anti-American Left—at home and abroad. We did it before and will do it again."

"This is the duty history has put before us and the standard by which our generation of conservatives will be judged. And we should not want it any other way. The legacy of Mandate for Leadership, and indeed of the entire Reagan Revolution, is that if conservatives want to save the country, we need a bold and courageous plan. This book is the first step in that plan."

"The Heritage Foundation — a conservative think tank operated by many of Trump's current and former political allies — is leading the initiative. President Kevin Roberts once said the project's main goals are "institutionalizing Trumpism" and getting rid of unelected bureaucrats who he believes wield too much political influence."

"In 1979, the threats we faced were the Soviet Union, the socialism of 1970s liberals, and the predatory deviancy of cultural elites. Reagan defeated these beasts by ignoring their tentacles and striking instead at their hearts. His approach to the Cold War? “We win and they lose." His economic agenda? The human dignity of work and its many rewards. His platform in the culture wars? The “community of values embodied in these words: family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom.” This book—and Project 2025 as a whole—will arm the next conservative President with the same kind of strategic clarity, but for a new age."

"In spite of all this nonsense from the left, we are going to win. We're in the process of taking this country back. No one in the audience should be despairing. No one should be discouraged. We ought to be really encouraged by what happened yesterday. And in spite of all of the injustice, which, of course, friends and audience of this show, of our friend Steve know, we are going to prevail. Number two, to the point of the clips and, of course, your preview of the fact that I am an early American historian and love the Constitution. That Supreme Court ruling yesterday on immunity is vital, and it's vital for a lot of reasons. But I would go to Federalist No. 70. If people in the audience are looking for something to read over Independence Day weekend, in addition to rereading the Declaration of Independence, read Hamilton's No. 70 because there, along with some other essays, in some other essays, he talks about the importance of a vigorous executive. You know, former congressman, the importance of Congress doing its job, but we also know the importance of the executive being able to do his job. And can you imagine, Dave Brat, any president, put politics off to the side, any president having to second guess, triple guess every decision they're making in their official capacity, you couldn't have the republic that you just described. But number three, let me speak about the radical left. You and I have both been parts of faculties and faculty senates and understand that the left has taken over our institutions. The reason that they are apoplectic right now, the reason that so many anchors on MSNBC, for example, are losing their minds daily is because our side is winning. And so I come full circle on this response and just want to encourage you with some substance that we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."

"Forty-four years ago, the United States and the conservative movement were in dire straits. Both had been betrayed by the Washington establishment and were uncertain whom to trust. Both were internally splintered and strategically adrift. Worse still, at that moment of acute vulnerability and division, we found ourselves besieged by existential adversaries, foreign and domestic. The late 1970s were by any measure a historic low point for America and the political coalition dedicated to preserving its unique legacy of human flourishing and freedom. Today, America and the conservative movement are enduring an era of division and danger akin to the late 1970s. Now, as then, our political class has been discredited by wholesale dishonesty and corruption. Look at America under the ruling and cultural elite today: Inflation is ravaging family budgets, drug overdose deaths continue to escalate, and children suffer the toxic normalization of transgenderism with drag queens and pornography invading their school libraries. Overseas, a totalitarian Communist dictatorship in Beijing is engaged in a strategic, cultural, and economic Cold War against America’s interests, values, and people—all while globalist elites in Washington awaken only slowly to that growing threat. Moreover, low-income communities are drowning in addiction and government dependence. Contemporary elites have even repurposed the worst ingredients of 1970s “radical chic” to build the totalitarian cult known today as “The Great Awokening.” And now, as then, the Republican Party seems to have little understanding about what to do. Most alarming of all, the very moral foundations of our society are in peril."

"[Using an ambush interview with Dr Anthony Fauci to create a viral moment] Now you go in for the kill shot. The kill shot? With an ambush? Deadly. Because he doesn’t see it coming."

"She's going to get paralyzed in the situation room while the generals have their way with her."

"[On White Dudes for Harris male-created Zoom call] It was basically saying "If you want to be accepted by women you should vote for a woman"."

"To be a man and then vote for a woman just because she's a woman is either childish, that person has mommy issues or they’re just trying to be accepted by other women."

"[A visit to Manhattan’s Chinatown during the 2016 presidential election] He kicks off the segment by asking two women if he needs to bow to them, following that up by asking a street vendor if the watches he's selling are stolen. If that's not enough, he then asks an elderly Chinese man and woman questions in English, when it's clear they don't understand him, and decides to throw in random references to karate and taekwondo – non-Chinese martial arts – for good measure. All of this is interspersed with clips of Mr Miyagi from Karate Kid (who is Japanese, if that needed to be said), Bruce Lee and giggling Asian schoolgirls from an Austin Powers movie, set to a backdrop of what I like to call chopstick music. It's so over the top that it reads almost as a parody of itself."

"And I heard the scientists say the other day when a man votes for a woman he actually transitions into a woman."

"I don't see why any man would vote Democrat, it's not the party of virtue, security, it's not the party of strength, it's definitely not the party of family."

"I wonder if @ElonMusk's @Twitter has tortious interference claims against the Left activist groups which are causing damaging advertiser boycotts of the platform?"

"When you send Americans to war, their mandate should be to lethally dominate the battlefield. If that makes you uneasy, keep us at home."

"But if we’re going to send our boys to fight—and it should be boys—we need to unleash them to win. They need them to be the most ruthless. The most uncompromising. The most overwhelmingly lethal as they can be. We must break the enemy’s will. Our troops will make mistakes, and when they do, they should get the overwhelming benefit of the doubt."

"And one more thing . . . the next president should also change the name of the Department of Defense back to the War Department. Sure, our military defends us. And in a perfect world it exists to deter threats and preserve peace. But ultimately its job is to conduct war. We either win or lose wars. And we have warriors, not “defenders.” Bringing back the War Department may remind a few people in Washington, DC, what the military is supposed to do, and do well."

"When we lose sight of the fact that the primary responsibility of the president of the United States is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, then everything else falls apart."

"Hegseth spent his college days at Princeton campaigning against LGBTQ+ rights. As publisher of the conservative magazine The Princeton Tory in the early 2000s, he oversaw a team that railed against the “homosexual lifestyle,” and in one 2002 issue, argued that “The movement to legitimize the homosexual lifestyle and homosexual marriages is strong and must be vigorously opposed.” It called homosexuality “abnormal and immoral.” In that same issue, Hegseth wrote in his “Notes from the Publisher” that the “glorification of diversity” is “a problem that plagues most of American academia today.” He said Western ideas “deserve priority over other areas of study” because the fact that the United States is a global superpower “demonstrates the[ir] enduring strength.” Another issue of The Princeton Tory published by Hegseth slammed the New York Times for its decision to start covering same-sex marriage announcements, calling it “dangerous” because it could inspire people to want to marry siblings, children, or dogs."

"Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House Speaker who represents much of San Francisco, in a statement Tuesday called the decision to rename the ship "a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country." The Harvey Milk is a John Lewis-class oiler, a group of ships that are to be named after prominent civil rights leaders and activists. CBS reported Tuesday that the Navy is also considering renaming other John Lewis-class oilers including the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and USNS Harriet Tubman. Both Marshall and Ginsburg were Supreme Court justices, and Tubman was a Black abolitionist who helped slaves escape the South via the Underground Railroad. Unlike the Milk, though, some of the ships being considered for renaming have yet to be completed. Pelosi called that possibility "a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream." "Our military is the most powerful in the world -- but this spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the 'warrior' ethos," she added."

"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has publicly supported his church’s Christian Nationalist pastor Doug Wilson, reposting a CNN interview in which Wilson says he’d like to re-criminalize consensual same-sex sexual encounters and deny women the right to vote. Hegseth has previously said that it was a mistake to allow homosexuals and bisexuals into the U.S. military. “In the late ’70s and early ’80s, sodomy was a felony in all 50 states. That America of that day was not a totalitarian hellhole,” Wilson tells CNN in the interview clip, which Hegseth reposted to his personal X account this past weekend. When asked if he’d like those laws to be reinstated, Wilson answers, “Yep.”"

"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to take the rare step of renaming a ship, one that bears the name of a gay rights icon, documents and sources show. Military-dot-com reviewed a memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy -- the official who holds the power to name Navy ships -- that showed the sea service had come up with rollout plans for the renaming of the oiler ship USNS Harvey Milk. A defense official confirmed that the Navy was making preparations to strip the ship of its name but noted that Navy Secretary John Phelan was ordered to do so by Hegseth. The official also said that the timing of the announcement -- occurring during Pride month -- was intentional."

"A 2015 RAND Corporation survey found that 5.8% of active-duty service members identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and 0.6% identified as transgender, reflecting a similar proportion to the civilian population. Still, a 2020 study in the journal “Sexuality Research and Social Policy” found that 59% of LGBTQ+ service members were uncomfortable being “out.” This October, the Pentagon updated more than 800 records of service members who were kicked out of the military under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to receive honorable discharges. The change now allows service members to access eligible benefits previously denied to them, such as home loans, healthcare and GI Bill tuition assistance. In an episode of “the Ben Shapiro Show” this summer, Hegseth claimed that “a lot of people” who initially supported the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” now regret their involvement in the policy change, citing one example of an anonymous gay soldier who says he now regrets supporting the repeal of DADT because it opened the door to a “trans agenda” in the military."

"Who's Pete Hegseth?"

"In a June 2024 episode of The Ben Shapiro Show, Hegseth said he thinks the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — the military’s ban on out lesbian, gay, and bisexual service members — was part of the “Marxist” and “leftist” shift that led to “the trans agenda being pushed into the military,” thus undermining the military’s overall effectiveness. While he later walked back his opposition to LGB military members at a Senate confirmation hearing the following December, he has since helped implement the current president’s purge of transgender military members, alluding to trans individuals as mentally ill, selfish, dishonorable, deceitful, undisciplined, and unfit for military service."

"Hegseth is the classic bully, hiding his insecurity by dominating those who are weaker or more vulnerable, and pretending that’s cool instead of pitiful. During his Senate confirmation hearing, reports circulated that Hegseth had been accused of rape, in a case settled out of court. Whether that was true never really mattered, since rape allegations would make Trump more likely to nominate someone to high office, not less. Still, the details are worth revisiting. The accuser in that incident said she had been too drunk to resist Hegseth’s alleged assault. Rape is a cowardly crime no matter what, most often committed by men who are afraid to pick on someone their own size. Selecting a victim who is too incapacitated to defend herself is unfortunately common, which makes the masculine preening of men who commit these kinds of crimes even more ludicrous. Hegseth has denied that allegation, but his entire adult life has been defined by a tendency to brag about how strong he is while running away from anything that resembles a real challenge. He’s on his third marriage at the moment, and belongs to a church that preaches an especially extreme doctrine of female submission. You don’t need a degree in psychology to understand that only weaker men crave women trained not to talk back, because they’re incapable of handling a mutual relationship based on adult communication."

"Hegseth’s brief tenure at the Pentagon has been dominated by his quivering inability to deal with any kind of challenge or discomfort. He’s tried to purge all military schools and libraries of any historical information that might makes him feel icky, such as reminders that racism exists or that slavery was a bad thing. I’m sure he can do push-ups, as he constantly brags. But the real test of someone’s mettle isn’t how ripped they are but whether they can handle the complexities of a world that hasn’t been sculpted to shield their egos. Even by MAGA standards, Hegseth is the most delicate of snowflakes. Indeed, Secretary Warfighter’s need for constant coddling is being ever more severely exposed as this scandal unfolds. As the Washington Post reported this week, Hegseth is now hiding behind the skirts of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. She’s an accomplished liar, but has been reading carefully crafted statements that redirect the blame for the Sept. 2 killings to Bradley and insist, without offering any evidence, that everything Hegseth did was legal. “This is ‘protect Pete’ bull—,” as one anonymous military official told the Post. Operation “Protect Pete” seems like a fitting description of this guy’s entire career of evading accountability. Perhaps he should make that his next tattoo, so he can brag about how much the needle hurt while ducking any consequences that might truly sting."

"To be clear, real men of courage are not intimidated by women’s success. Hegseth’s hostility to female service members has always served as a leading indicator that beneath all that bluster the man is a sniveling coward. The growing scandal over his role in killing civilians in boats off the coast of Venezuela confirms his lily-livered nature beyond all doubt. The model of masculinity offered by MAGA, from Donald Trump on down, has always been one of inadequate men pretending at greatness, but only a few are as laughably obvious as Pete Hegseth, a man whose every bellowed word bespeaks an unsubtle small-D energy that fuels him. To recap: For months now, the Trump administration has been arbitrarily killing civilians in boats off the coast of Venezuela, justifying these extrajudicial attacks with accusations that everyone on such a boat is a drug dealer, although administration officials prefer to use overblown and meaningless terms like “narcoterrorist,” betraying the insecurity of their position. Killing accused drug dealers is almost certainly illegal in itself, and the administration has offered no meaningful evidence to back up its accusations, even as it becomes evident that the real goal is to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to resign. (Maduro is a dictatorial strongman who rigged the last presidential election, facts that would impress Trump under other circumstances. He also identifies as an anti-American leftist, making him No. 1 villain for the MAGA crowd.) The Washington Post reported this week that in one such attack on Sept. 2, U.S. forces launched a second missile to kill survivors of the initial strike, which would be a war crime at best and likely just straight-up murder."

"Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, has repeatedly criticized policies allowing gay people to serve openly in the US military, calling them part of a “Marxist” agenda to prioritize social justice over combat readiness. In his 2024 book “The War on Warriors” and in subsequent media promotions this year, Hegseth described both the original “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) policy and its repeal in 2011 as a “gateway” and a “camouflage” for broader cultural changes that he claims have undermined military cohesion and effectiveness. In a 2015 appearance on Fox News, Hegseth also argued these policies like repealing DADT “erode standards” in favor of political goals like social engineering. DADT was implemented under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s and allowed gay people and lesbians to serve in the military — provided they did not disclose their sexuality. Military officials were also barred from asking military members their sexual orientation. If a troop’s orientation came to light, it could lead to their discharge. The policy was repealed during the Obama administration, allowing openly gay service members."

"In his book, Hegseth wrote he was getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan when the repeal of DADT was put into effect. “Our commander briefed the unit, peppered with a few jokes,” he wrote. “You know, infantry stuff. We mostly laughed it off and moved on. America was at war. Gays and lesbians were already serving in the military. I had seen the enemy with my own eyes. We needed everybody.” Hegseth says he now regrets that view, “Not because I have a newfound ax to grind with gay Americans,” he wrote. “But because I naïvely believed that’s what ending Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was all about. Once again, our good faith was used against us,” he added. “The Left never gives an inch, and always takes a mile.” Hegseth has been outspoken about what he calls “woke” policies that he believes have undermined the US military, including allowing women to serve in combat roles and transgender members to serve openly. Hegseth writes these changes are the consequence of the “social justice tinkering” that started with DADT."

"Pete Hegseth is a New York Times bestselling author and the cohost of FOX & Friends Weekend- America's number one cable morning show. He is also the host of multiple FOX Nation documentaries, including The MisEducation of America. Pete is an army combat veteran and proud father of seven children."

"In these serious times, we need a serious candidate to lead our military. We need someone with merit to lead our meritocracy. Someone with moral strength to be in charge of protecting our national strength. Our troops deserve better than a guy who was seemingly only nominated because he used to host Trump’s favorite show on Fox News. Pete Hegseth is unqualified. He is unprepared. He is unethical. And most of all, he is unfit. The Secretary of Defense oversees the federal government’s largest agency. They manage a $900 billion budget, along with the 3 million servicemembers and civilians who fall under its umbrella. During his time in uniform, Pete Hegseth never commanded a unit with more than 200 personnel. Meanwhile, on the civilian side, both organizations he led went into debt. In fact, he so badly mismanaged one of them that they had to bring in a forensic accountant to clean up the mess he had made. Who knows why Donald Trump picked this guy. Maybe Hegseth’s business failures make Trump feel better about his own bankruptcies. Maybe it’s because Hegseth spent years fawning over Trump on Fox News—and Trump’s dream Cabinet is a bunch of yes-men who know how to kiss up to him on TV. Or maybe it’s just that all of Cadet Bone Spurs’ draft-dodging has left him with no clue what kind of leader our military needs. At his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, I gave Mr. Hegseth every opportunity to show me that I was wrong. To prove that he could do this job. That he does know the first thing—or anything—about what it takes to take on this massive responsibility. I asked him basic questions that even the most junior folks working in the Pentagon would know, like naming one of the main international agreements he’d be responsible for leading. He couldn’t name one. I asked him to tell me just a single country in ASEAN. Again, he couldn’t give me one. Not one. This was shocking—yet not surprising—from a man whose main form of policy education has come from reading the Fox News teleprompter. These are dangerous times on the geopolitical stage. Our adversaries are watching to see if we really will put in power someone so obviously unqualified. And Mr. Hegseth made a point of saying at Tuesday’s hearing that every single warfighter should be hired based on performance, readiness and merit. I agree. And he fails to meet every single one of those metrics. Part of being a leader is knowing when you’re not competent enough to do the job. Mr. Hegseth, you are not technically proficient. You are not tactically proficient. And your nomination is an insult to those brave enough to be serving our nation."

"Speaking on Fox News in 2015, Hegseth expanded on his criticism, claiming that such policies were an erosion of standards. “And what you’re seeing is a military right now that is more interested in social engineering led by this president than they are in war fighting,” he said in comments first reported by Meidas News. “So as a result, through ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and women in the military and these standards, they’re going to inevitably start to erode standards because they want that one female special operator, that one female Green Beret, that one female Army Ranger, that one female Navy SEAL.” “So they can put them on a recruiting poster and feel good about themselves and has nothing to do with national security,” he added. “And these war fighters are realizing they’re just going to start ticking away at the standards until they get one.” Hegseth in his book does not reference any specific examples of incidents to support his argument that gay individuals openly serving has been detrimental to the military."