There seemingly isn’t a day when Defense secretary Pete Hegseth isn’t pitchforked into the headlines.
Hegseth used to be a weekend co-host on Fox News. Previous presidents assembled cabinets from governors, generals, and business leaders. Donald Trump seems to have assembled his by scanning the Fox News green room.
Trump put three Fox News personalities into his cabinet. He appointed a large number of former Fox News personalities and contributors to senior posts. News analysis identified 18 to 23 former Fox News employees or contributors in administration roles, making Fox News his government’s unofficial talent pool.
John F. Kennedy picked the best and the brightest. Donald Trump picked the most loyal and loudest.
Hegseth seems to come from central casting. He carries himself like Ted Baxter, the vain, arrogant, narcissistic, and dim-witted TV anchorman on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” When he talks, he has the same high-energy, nasal quality of Burt Ward playing Robin on the 1960’s Batman show.
He’s one of the most polarizing chiefs in modern times — a former weekend TV personality who brought cable news’ culture-war style into one of the world’s most consequential institutions. His principal qualification was being an on-the-air Trump supporter. Critics say he brought the Fox formula directly into the government: attack the media, demonize foes, and proclaim every disagreement as part of a civilizational battle.
His tenure at the Pentagon has been marked by a steady stream of chest thumping claims that often wilt under scrutiny.
He has portrayed the Iran war as a decisive triumph, declared “regime change” where none occurred, and brushed aside concerns about ballooning costs and diminishing weapons stockpiles. Fact checkers, military experts and bipartisan members of Congress accused him of painting a fantasy version of events — one designed more for Fox News viewers than citizens who expect candor from their Defense secretary.
When reporters raise these issues, the thin-skinned Hegseth follows Trump’s lead and yells at or denounces them. The way Trump and Hegseth verbally abuse reporters, they should start a lunch meat company: Boors Head.
Hegseth’s Pentagon introduced unusually restrictive rules for reporters and was mocked after reports that photographers were limited because “unflattering” images of Hegseth were published. He irked many by making controversial remarks about women in the military, saying military standards shouldn’t be weakened and expressing skepticism about women in combat.
He has an ongoing feud with Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, a former Navy combat pilot and NASA astronaut. His credentials make Hegseth’s attacks on his patriotism especially striking. Hegseth accuses Kelly of improperly disclosing classified information Hegseth himself had provided in public testimony. Kelly responded to Hegseth that he was merely repeating information Hegseth himself had publicly provided.
Meanwhile, controversy swirls around Hegseth mixing religion and policy. He sponsored regular Christian prayer services inside the Pentagon and invited pastors associated with Christian nationalist ideas. Critics say he is suggesting American wars are part of a divine mission. A poll found that nearly seven in ten Americans disapproved of Hegseth’s prayer invoking “overwhelming violence.”
Pope Leo XIV certainly wasn’t pleased. In his Palm Sunday homily at St. Peter’s Square, the Pope drew from the Book of Isaiah and said: “This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war.” He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.”’
Once upon a time, Defense secretaries were chosen because they had commanded armies, managed vast institutions, or spent years grappling with geopolitical realities. Pet Hegseth got the job after proving he could command a television studio.
The result is a Pentagon run by a man who seems to think every policy dispute is a cable-news segment, every critic is an enemy, and every war may be one prayer meeting away from becoming a crusade.
Copyright 2026 Joe Gandelman, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, writes a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.