The Scoop
Pete Hegseth has a lengthy history of criticizing Republican senators. And now, as Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, he’ll need their votes.
The Army veteran and former Fox News host has often denounced Senate Republicans in recent years, particularly outgoing leader Mitch McConnell, according to transcripts Semafor reviewed of his public remarks since Trump’s 2016 election. He’s also taken digs at two more centrist GOP senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, and described the entire conference as “part of the captured class.”
“They’re part of the uniparty. Not all of them, there are a few good ones,” Hegseth told conservative radio host Mark Levin in April, describing Republican senators with a term used on the right to argue that both parties’ establishments are similar.
“They are far more happy dealing with Democrats and running up the national debt and playing inside-the-Beltway games than they are putting the country first and putting a stake in the ground for what they believe in,” he added.
There’s little chance Hegseth knew then that he would have to face the targets of his criticism in a confirmation hearing or on the Senate floor. But now Hegseth must win over 50 or more senators to be confirmed to lead the Pentagon under Trump, a job that would give him power over hundreds of billions of dollars.
Hegseth’s critiques of fellow Republicans could become a drag on his nomination as he begins meeting with senators this week. President Joe Biden’s first choice for budget director imploded because Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., did not appreciate her attacks on sitting senators.
It’s possible that Senate Republicans shrug off his remarks; they’re used to taking flak from the party’s MAGA wing. And Hegseth has let his flak fly over the years, often aligning himself with activists who sought to oust McConnell as GOP leader.
McConnell “seems unwilling to want to get to the bottom of the fact that a Democratic administration spied on a sitting president,” Hegseth said on Levin’s show in 2022, referring to allegations of government surveillance of Trump’s presidency. “Until there is new leadership of that Senate conference, it is not going to change, the priorities aren’t going to change.”
Hegseth also criticized McConnell’s level of pushback to liberal activists seeking to derail Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
McConnell declined to comment for this story. He said on Tuesday that the Senate will treat Trump’s nominees “like we treat all others, with proper vetting.”
Asked about Hegseth’s past criticisms of GOP senators, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung emphasized Hegseth’s military bona fides in a statement: “Pete served our country as an Army Combat Veteran who did tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan.”
“With Pete as our Secretary of Defense, America’s enemies are on notice and our military will be great again,” Cheung said.
Know More
Like many conservatives, Hegseth was incensed about the Senate GOP’s failure to repeal Obamacare during Trump’s first term. He called McConnell “foolish” in 2017 and jabbed at Collins and Murkowski, both of whom voted against repeal.
In July 2017, he said the duo “call themselves Republicans and vote more often with the Democrats.” In August, he said on Maria Bartiromo’s Fox show that “Murkowski, Susan Collins, don’t understand what average people feel and that they want things to actually happen.”
Hegseth also took umbrage at government funding agreements that failed to cut spending. He criticized McConnell and the GOP for cutting a spending deal with Democrats in 2018, calling it a “swamp budget” and a “Mitch McConnell special.”
Hegseth also prodded Sen. Roger Wicker, who is set to chair the Senate Armed Services Committee, over his efforts to boost military spending, which are still ongoing. On Laura Ingraham’s Fox show this June, Hegseth said “this is not a funding issue. The Pentagon is not short on dollars. They have plenty of that.”
In a subsequent appearance, though, Hegseth appeared to backtrack somewhat; he said he spoke to Wicker’s staff and said that while he doesn’t “want to just throw money at the problem,” it’s worthwhile to build up spending “to meet the threat of China.”
Wicker told Semafor he’ll continue to make his case and that “a number of people on the transition team are quite supportive of my plan.”
Notably, Hegseth is not the only Trump nominee with some baggage related to sitting GOP senators. Matt Gaetz, who’s seeking confirmation as attorney general, has attacked an array of Senate Republicans and called Sen.-elect Tim Sheehy of Montana a “shill of the establishment.”
The View From Collins and Murkowski
The two centrists signaled that they’re willing to give Hegseth the benefit of the doubt on his past remarks, and both said they have thick enough skin to separate his criticisms from their votes.
“If I look and see a pattern that causes me to think the person would not be a good leader and doesn’t have character or the impartiality — if it’s a judge, for example — that would concern me,” Collins told Semafor. “But I’m used to criticism by people, by the internet. That would not be disqualifying.”
Murkowski told Semafor that “I get people in Alaska that say they don’t think that I voted Republican enough, or they think I vote Republican too much. I don’t view my vote in that” context.
Instead, she added, she looks to “reflect Alaska’s best interests. I’m operating in a world in Washington that’s so fixated on my party. That’s not my anchor and hasn’t been for a long long time.”
Burgess’s view
While Hegseth’s past criticisms of senators are unlikely to derail his nomination on their own, they add to the challenges the Trump administration faces in getting him confirmed.
As he did after panning Wicker’s military buildup plan, Hegseth can probably clean up some of his past comments. But they’re certainly not helpful in a Senate where he needs absolutely every vote and is already facing scrutiny for a sexual assault allegation. Politicians have long memories.