Donald Trump’s has nominated former Army National Guard Major and Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense. The first question that jumps out is, why Pete Hegseth? While Hegseth’s National Guard career was honorable it was hardly distinguished. Hegseth would arguably be the least accomplished individual to serve as the top civilian administrator of the Department of Defense, the largest bureaucracy in the world.

Further complicating matters is Hegseth’s record of reckless and potentially illegal personal conduct. No aspirant for any presidential US cabinet post has ever been nominated with anything like Hegseth’s record of misconduct, let alone confirmed by the Senate. The charges by themselves, even without a judicial finding are so serious as to be preemptively disqualifying.

The first clues about Trump’s attraction to Hegseth are the remarks made by the military affairs administrators that served during the first Trump administration. One concern that was raised by all White House military administrators was that Trump repeatedly talked about using military personnel against civilians on U.S. soil. Most noteworthy were both former Secretaries of Defense James Mattis and Mark Esper. Both pushed back on Trump’s requests to deploy the military domestically citing constitutional and federal legal precedents.

Mattis said, “Militarizing our response sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part.”

Esper put it this way, “The option to use active duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations.”

John Kelly Trump’s first and longest serving Chief of Staff in a recent New York Times interview expresed clear concerns about Trump’s interest in using the military against protesters, saying: “And I think this issue of using the military on — to go after — American citizens is one of those things I think is a very, very bad thing — even to say it for political purposes to get elected — I think it’s a very, very bad thing, let alone actually doing it.”.

Hegseth however has said repeatedly that he does in fact support using US military forces and against protesters, specifically. Suggesting the protesters be punished by military units like children caught smoking cigarettes. Hegseth put it this way: “It’s the idea of you caught your kid with cigarettes underage. Do you take them away right away or do you force them to smoke every cigarette in front of you in the entire pack to learn the lesson of what’s not going to work?”

Trump’s fixation with using the military against protesters came into focus during the protests that erupted in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police starting in 2020. The protests enraged Trump and he sought support for using US military units to quell the demonstrations from his military advisors. Mattis and later Esper were deeply concerned and apparently pushed back. So clearly one advantage Trump sees in Hegseth is a DoD chief who will use the Military domestically if and when demands it.

But it wasn’t only the White House military administrators Trump clashed with regarding use of the military against protesters it was Pentagon officials as well and specifically General Mark Milley then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Trump and Milly had an epic confrontation in the Oval Office on the issue. The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Bender in his 2021 book, “Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost.” recounted the tense exchanges.

Trump apparently wanted to utilize the Insurrection Act of 1807 to justify sending US military troops to quell the George Floyd protesters and most notably those in Portland and Seattle. Bender recounts Trump literally screaming at Milley during their highly combative confrontation. Here’s an excerpt of the exchange from an article published in the hill:

“I said you’re in f—ing charge!” Trump reportedly yelled at Milley, who shouted back, “Well, I’m not in charge!”

According to the book, the response infuriated Trump, who told Milley, “You can’t f—ing talk to me like that!”

“Goddamnit,” Milley said to others in the room, which included former Attorney General William Barr and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper. “There’s a room full of lawyers here. Will someone inform him of my legal responsibilities?”

Other choice Trump quotes from the exchange included assertions like: “That’s how you’re supposed to handle these people. Crack their skulls!” … “beat the f— out” [of the civil rights protesters] and “Just shoot them.”

Why Hegseth? Because Hegseth will say yes. In addition Hegseth is on record as being willing to fire any and all high ranking military officers he chooses. The criteria for firing would be “wokeism.” If you are a “woke” General then you should be fired according to Hegseth. That standard applied without the constraints of regular order could be used to hollow out or purge the US of potentially its entire top military leadership. Presumably replacing them with officers who would carry out the orders of Trump, without regard to Constitutional law or federal statute.

If someone as unprincipled as Hegseth rises to the position of Secretary of Defense he could and likely would at the command of Donald Trump ignore the law and deploy US troops on the streets of American cities and potentially purge America of its top military leadership with war raging in Europe.

Incompetence and lack of discipline are always dangerous things in positions of responsibility but they are particularly dangerous in military affairs. Whoever oversees the Pentagon has to be an individual capable of great judgement, principle and restraint. Pete Hegseth is not that individual. Hegseth’s fealty to Trump and desire for power make him a potentially catastrophic choice for Secretary of Defense. Treat this nomination with the greatest caution.

Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.