Before Fox News host, veteran, and conservative activist Pete Hegseth went before the Senate Armed Forces Committee on Tuesday for his confirmation hearings, the establishment media touted it as the biggest opportunity to draw blood against President-elect Donald Trump’s second administration.
After the hearings were over, liberal media favorite Politico lamented “[t]he death of the Senate confirmation hearing.”
In other words, to say it didn’t go well for the left is a bit of an understatement. From his opening remarks to the end of the proceedings, Democrats tried over and over again to land a punch — and failed miserably.
In case you missed it, here are the five comebacks that defined Hegseth’s confirmation hearing:
1) His opening statement
From the beginning, Hegseth hit back on the biggest substantive attack on him: that he lacks the experience to run the Pentagon.
In his prepared remarks, Hegseth promised to “restore the warrior ethos” in the U.S. armed forces, “rebuild our military,” and “re-establish deterrence” against America’s enemies.
“We need to make sure every warrior is fully qualified on their assigned weapon system, every pilot is fully qualified and current on the aircraft they are flying, and every general or flag officer is selected for leadership based purely on performance, readiness, and merit,” Hegseth said, striking a blow at the wokeness that seeped into the military under the Biden administration and, before that, eight years of Barack Obama’s leadership.
Hegseth said that his status as a relative outsider to the higher echelons of the military hierarchy was a strength, not a weakness, that he brought to the table.
“It is true that I don’t have a similar biography to Defense secretaries of the last 30 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?” Hegseth said.
“He believes, and I humbly agree, that it’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. A change agent. Someone with no vested interest in certain companies or specific programs or approved narratives.”
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Republicans, too, said that his lack of time in the Defense Department establishment was a plus.
“I just want to say for all the talk of experience and not coming from the same cocktail parties that permanent Washington is used to, you are a breath of fresh air,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, said.
2) Democrats kept swinging and missing, particularly on women on the front lines
Hegseth’s nomination was supposed to be a coming-out party of sorts for #TheResistance, part deux. Instead, it was a parade of clownery that underlined just how ridiculous the party in opposition has made itself — and why it lost bigly in November.
At the top of the clown podium was Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who wanted to lambast Hegseth for his views on women serving in combat roles by asking (seriously) why he thought moms were “no longer able to be lethal.”
“We have hundreds — hundreds — of women who are currently in the infantry,” Gillibrand said during a series of viral clips “Lethal members of our military serving in the infantry.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand yells at Hegseth for statements about not wanting to have women serve in combat roles: “We have hundreds – HUNDREDS of women who are currently in the infantry…You degrade them. You say, we need moms but not in the military, especially in combat units. pic.twitter.com/LhNKrD4FoV
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) January 14, 2025
Later on: “Everything you’ve said in these public statements is politics. ‘I don’t want women.’ ‘I don’t want moms.’ What’s wrong with a mom, by the way? Once you have babies, you, therefore, are no longer able to be lethal?
“I mean, you’re basically saying, women after they have children can’t ever serve in the military in a combat role. It’s a silly thing to say.”
Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is now arguing that moms should serve in combat roles.
“What’s wrong with a mom, by the way? Once you have babies, you, therefore, are no longer able to be lethal?”
Pete Hegseth’s composure needs to be studied. I would’ve burst out laughing.… pic.twitter.com/SehH9A6EoN
— George (@BehizyTweets) January 14, 2025
The amazing thing was Hegseth’s ability to keep a straight face through all the nonsense. While his backtracking on women in combat is one of the more disappointing moves he’s taken so far, making allegations of sexism an issue in Hegseth’s confirmation seems like a much more remote possibility after Tuesday’s hearing.
3) Gillibrand wasn’t the only one looking terrible, either
If Gillibrand’s histrionics took the gold, the rest of the field wasn’t far behind. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts had planned to draw blood on Hegseth’s past extramarital dalliances — including a quite dodgy allegation of sexual misconduct — and his drinking, but she ended up going viral for a gotcha exchange where she asked Hegseth about whether he’d pledge to not work for the defense industry after he left the post.
“Mr. Hegseth, you’ve written that after they retire, generals should be banned from working for the defense industry for 10 years,” she said. “You and I agree on the corrosive effects of the revolving door between the Pentagon and defense contractors.
“The question I have for you on this is: Will you put your money where your mouth is and agree that when you leave this job, you will not work for the defense industry for 10 years?” she asked.
“Senator, it’s not even a question I’ve thought about,” Hegseth said.
“In other words, you’re quite sure that every general who serves should not go directly into the defense industry for 10 years, but you’re not willing to make that same pledge?” Warren said, in full-on gotcha mode.
Oops: “I’m not a general, senator,” Hegseth responded to laughter in the chambers.
WARREN: You’re quite sure that every general who serves should not go directly into the defense industry for 10 years, but you’re not willing to make that same pledge?
HEGSETH: I’m not a general, Senator. pic.twitter.com/GwjJ8703wW
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 14, 2025
Just in case you were at all curious, Warren voted for former Raytheon board member and Biden administration Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Turns out she’s not that concerned about the revolving door.
Bronze went to newly minted Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, trying to make securing the southern border look like a bad thing:
How interesting. Senator Slotkin asks Hegseth about the use of Military for Law Enforcement purposes, then pivots to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and highlights Lindsey Graham as being JAG and rounds it out by asking about General Charles “Q” Brown… 🍿@truestormyjoe pic.twitter.com/lYz2Xql1NB
— NewsTreason Channel 17 (@NewsTreason) January 14, 2025
4) Hegseth hit back against left-wing smears on his character
The biggest roadblock to Hegseth’s nomination is still doubtlessly issues of character dating back to his time with veterans’ charities or at Fox News. While those will still come into play, the nominee was fairly successful at parrying the fact that most of these reports relied on, as he noted, “a small handful of anonymous sources,” which failed to take into account the totality of the situation.
“Story after story after story in the media — left-wing media — we saw anonymous source after anonymous source, based on second- or third-hand accounts” Hegseth told Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi.
He went on to say that “time and time again, stories would come out, and people would reach out to me and say, ‘I’ve spoken to this reporter about who you really are, and I was willing to go in the record, but they didn’t print my quote.’”
Nor, Hegseth said, did they reach out to those who had worked with him most closely at Concerned Veterans for America or other organizations.
“Instead, a small handful of anonymous sources were allowed to drive a smear campaign, an agenda about me,” he continued, “because our left-wing media today in America, sadly, doesn’t care about the truth.”
Hegseth takes on left-wing media smears during his hearing: “They don’t care about truth, only destroying change agents like me.” He exposes their bias, refusing to print positive testimonials, and declares resilience: “I am willing to endure attacks.”pic.twitter.com/K682ilQahZ
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) January 14, 2025
When Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine tried to press the issue, Hegseth responded to his failings with something relatable: “I have failed in things in my life, and thankfully I’m redeemed by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Pete Hegseth had the perfect response to Tim Kaine’s personal attacks against him and his family:
“I have failed at things in my life and thankfully I’m redeemed by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” pic.twitter.com/A4iQivL2Aq
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 14, 2025
Hegseth said he was “willing to endure attacks” — and, if there was one defining factor in Tuesday’s hearings, it’s that no new attacks had surfaced, nor was there any Christine Blasey Ford moment to be had. Thus, if the reports already circulating is all the left has, Senate Democrats face an uphill slog in making any real issue out of Hegseth’s past.
5) Hegseth tied opposition to his nomination to blowback from the D.C. swamp
When Democrats weren’t attempting to berate Hegseth for failing to offer sufficient promises that he wouldn’t join a defense contractor after leaving the Pentagon (see Sen. Warren above), they were busy trying to smear him as insufficiently establishmentarian.
His opening statement addressed this in some detail, but he offered another rejoinder to this under questioning from North Carolina GOP Sen. Ted Budd.
“I feel, frankly, a little bit liberated that I didn’t work at Lockheed or any number of — pick a defense contractor,” he said.
“I don’t have a special interest in any particular system, or any particular company, or any particular narrative. I want to know what works. I want to know what defeats our enemies, what keeps us safe, what deters them, what keeps our enemies up at night. Whatever that is, I want more of it, and I want to invest in it.”
As Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk said in a post on X, “This is why the DC swamp tried to destroy Pete Hegseth. They can’t buy him.”
PETE HEGSETH: “I feel liberated that I didn’t work at Lockheed or any other defense contractor. I don’t have a special interest in any particular system, company, or particulate narrative.”
This is why the DC swamp tried to destroy Pete Hegseth. They can’t buy him. pic.twitter.com/3SpCRw9Pdl
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) January 14, 2025
Hegseth still doesn’t remain a slam dunk to be confirmed; he can only lose one vote on the Senate Armed Services Committee and three votes in the regular Senate. However, given that he might be the most controversial of Trump’s second-term nominees — and the biggest “change agent,” to use his own words — the fact that Democrats didn’t manage to land a punch augurs poorly for their ability to put up any more #Resistance posturing.
Expect, in other words, to hear a lot more talk from Politico about “[t]he death of the Senate confirmation hearing.”
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