Loyalty over merit: Pete Hegseth’s dangerous military makeover

Alex Wagner

The Hill

March 7, 2025

Don’t be distracted by his cartoonishly adorned suits or slavish focus on imaginary enemies like “DEI.” President Trump’s choice of Pete Hegseth as secretary of Defense represents a dangerous precedent, and not only because Hegseth is uniquely inexperienced for the job. He is weak by design.  

His opening acts prove it: Hegseth orchestrated unprecedented removals of top military leaders, including the first-ever firing of a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the military’s two most senior women. Perhaps even more alarming is his purge of the military services’ senior lawyers — general officers who understand their oath is to the Constitution, not to any individual.