Dear Friend,
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Defense Secretary, testified yesterday before the U.S. Senate Armed Forces Committee.
But did we really hear from the REAL Hegseth? That’s the question many of us, along with numerous U.S. Senators, are asking. We need our elected leaders to keep doing their jobs!
While Hegseth did a perfectly fine job reading the statement written for him and doing his best to avoid answering any questions in any real detail, what he couldn’t explain is how just a few months ago he strongly held sexist beliefs that women and moms should serve limited roles in the military. [1] But now…. he’s apparently changed his mind.
So which Hegseth should we believe? And do we really want to take the risk that this completely unqualified (see below!) and flip-flopping nominee should be put in charge of 1.3 million active-duty service members and the nearly 1 million civilians working for the U.S. military, as well as our brave military families?
Pete Hegseth has said it time and time again himself that he doesn’t believe women are fit to service in the military, especially moms:
“Dads push us to take risks. Moms put the training wheels on our bikes. We need moms. But not in the military, especially in combat units.”-Hegseth wrote this in his book “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free” published June 2024
And then yesterday at his confirmation hearing, Hegseth seemed to change his tune. [2] Perhaps he had gotten word that our brave men and women in uniform were not thrilled with his point of views or that his real views on women were putting his own ambition at risk. Who knows!
As Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA) said in the hearing, “I hope you understand that many women serving in the military right now might think that if you can convert so rapidly your long held and aggressively pursued views in just 32 days, that 32 days after you get confirmed, maybe you'll just reverse those views and go back to the old guy who said straight up, women do not belong in combat now.”
The next step in this process is for the full U.S. Senate to vote on Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. It will be a close vote and we will defeat his nomination–in the same way that we defeated Matt Gaetz as Attorney General–if we all use our voices and speak out→ SIGN our petition now telling your U.S. Senators to reject Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.
Thank you for speaking out on this important issue!
-Elyssa and the entire MomsRising team
P.S. Can you lift up our timely social media on Hegseth’s nomination on Instagram, Facebook, BlueSky, and Twitter/X?
References:
[1] “Hegseth’s views on women in combat, infidelity and more–in his own words.” ABC News, January 13, 2025.
[2] “Hegseth Grilled About Women in Combat, Officer Purge in Confirmation Hearing.” Military.com, January 14, 2025.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
Date: Wed, Dec 15, 2024
From: Elyssa, MomsRising.org
To: Friend
Subject: SIGN OUR PETITION against Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary!
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Dear Friend,
Donald Trump’s nominee for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, is not only grossly unqualified for the position—he’s also a total creep who has allegations about sexual assault, drunken antics, and beliefs that women shouldn’t serve in combat roles.
Once again, Trump is nominating an unserious, creepy, likely predator for a deeply serious Cabinet position.
Pete Hegseth–who up until recently was mainly known as a Fox News morning host– may have served in the National Guard, but almost everything he has done since then has been steeped in controversy. [1] He is the type of guy you wouldn’t want to be left alone in a room with, let alone in charge of our brave military and military families.
Let’s break it down for you:
Hegseth, with little management experience, will be in charge of 1.3 million active-duty service members and the nearly 1 million civilians working for the U.S. military.
The Defense Secretary also oversees a whopping $841.4 billion budget. This guy couldn’t run an organization with a budget a fraction of this.
And it’s not just the fact that this guy is a total creep. He’s far from the right person for the job. Nearly 1 in 4 women in the military report having experienced sexual assault, and more than half report harassment. Reports of sexual assault in the military have risen by an estimated 25% since 2018, according to the military’s own data, which include both anonymous surveys and formal reports. [7] We can’t have a Secretary of Defense who doesn’t take these allegations seriously, let alone commits these violations himself.
Credible allegations of impropriety have often been cause for withdrawal of disqualification to Cabinet positions. Hegseth isn’t the only Trump nominee to have sexual misconduct allegations in their past–it seems to be one of the things most of his nominees have in common.
But we have been able to defeat these types of nominees in the past.
Most recently because YOU spoke out and used your voice Trump’s Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz was forced to withdraw his nomination because he is drowning in allegations of paying for sex with underage girls (among other things!). [8]
The first time the U.S. Senate didn’t confirm a new president’s initial Cabinet nominee was in 1989 when the Senate failed to confirm John Tower, former President George H.W. Bush’s pick for defense secretary after he was accused of being an alcoholic womanizer. Sound familiar!?
The President is allowed to nominate whoever he wants to serve in his Cabinet. But it is the job of the U.S. Senate to research, question, and confirm or reject those nominees. We need the U.S. Senate to take its role in this process seriously and recognize that Pete Hegseth is unqualified, unstable, and harmful to our U.S. military.
We’ve already succeeded in defeating one of Trump’s nominees when Matt Gaetz was forced to withdraw his nomination for Secretary of the Department of Justice. We all need to pitch in to provide the same amount of pressure so Pete Hegseth’s nomination is roadblocked as well. After you sign our petition, forward this email to your friends and family so they can sign on as well and post the link to social media.
Thank you for speaking out and using your voice!
-Elyssa, Ruth, Kristin, Donna, Jenny, Nate, Sue Anne, and the whole MomsRising.org & MamásConPoder Team
References:
[1] “7 Things to know about Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defense secretary pick.” PBS News, November 18, 2024.
[2] “Police reports new details from sexual assault allegations against Trump’s defense secretary nominee.” CNN, November 21, 2024.
[3] “Pete Hegseth’s Secret History.” The New Yorker, December 1, 2024.
[4] “Pete Hegseth’s Mom Once Called Him ‘An Abuser of Women,’ Adding to His Controversies As Defense Sec Nom.” People Magazine, December 3, 2024.
[5] “Military Leaders are Rattled By A List of ‘Woke’ officers that a group urges Hegseth to fire.” Politico, December 7, 2024.
[6] “Hegseth, advocate for firing ’woke’ military leaders, picked for defense secretary.” Reuters, November 13, 2024.
[7] “Hegseth is the wrong leader for women in the military, warn women veterans and lawmakers.” The 19th, December 5, 2024.
[8] “Former Rep Matt Gaetz withdraws as Trump’s attorney general pick.” NPR, November 21, 2024.
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