Hegseth’s Tenure Will ‘Cause Damage to Our Country for Years to Come’
Speaking about C-SPAN’s “ceasefire” on Friday, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s tenure would “cause damage to our country for years to come.”
Host Dasha Burns said, “Given your military experience, given what you’ve seen at the Pentagon, what do you think the administration should do in terms of this role as Secretary of Defense?
Bacon said, “Well, I’ve already been on the record. After SignalGate, I think I’ve seen enough. What I really wanted to see was if anyone would take responsibility and admit a mistake. And then when he blamed the media or the reporter for that story, it just ruined his credibility. And he had some problems before the hearings. But once he was confirmed, I said, ‘Well, let’s give him a chance “But what I saw was what I call just poor decision-making. So, for example, it’s not about taking responsibility for SignalGate, but for its media rules, where there’s now a group of second-rate journalists operating out of the Pentagon, but all of them – you know, Fox, the New York Times, the Washington Post – they’re all outside of the Pentagon.
He added: “And then we have rules that…we have military bases in our districts; they’re not allowed to talk to us because of his order not to talk to anyone in Congress unless the actual issues have been looked at by the Pentagon first. So this is a series of decisions here that really bother me. But the most critical are some of the decisions made regarding Ukraine and NATO. Some of these things are just poor judgment. But these are decisions that have undermined our support for NATO I think is the most troublesome, because we have worked for seventy-five years with NATO, which is the pillar of our national security.
“And I think some of the things the secretary of state is doing – with permission from the White House, but most of it is coming from the undersecretary for policy – a lot of decisions come from there. But it’s going to do damage to our country for years to come, long after they’re gone. It undermines our trust with our allies and a very important alliance. And that troubles me more than anything.”
Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN
