“Trump wants a team of outlaws: likeminded pals who ignore laws, boundaries, ethics, norms, civility, respect, and manners,” writes Jill Lawrence of many nominees for top jobs in the second Donald Trump administration. “People whose unforced missteps, mistakes, and worse are now a badge of honor; a mark of achievement; a prerequisite for the job.”
Of all the nominees for Cabinet positions, Pete Hegseth, the likely next Secretary of Defense, best communicates the dangers of choosing unqualified and inexperienced people for positions of great power. Hegseth is a decorated Army National Guard veteran who served overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantanamo Bay. He has no experience helming any large organization, though, let alone the biggest organization in the world. He resigned from the veterans’ organizations he did lead after accusations of financial mismanagement and inappropriate behavior, which Hegseth denies.
Add in allegations of excessive drinking and sexual assault (he reached a settlement with the accuser but maintained his innocence and wasn’t charged), and he is the last person one might think would be put forth for the Secretary of Defense role –that is, if you are seeing things in a democratic frame.
When we think like an autocrat, however, Hegseth’s nomination makes more sense. Authoritarian states abound with examples of engineered incompetence, when leaders appoint individuals to Cabinet positions who lack the skill-set and high-level connections needed to succeed. This makes those individuals more dependent on the leader and creates more space for the leader’s powerful cronies to influence the institution to their own benefit (one could imagine that Elon Musk, who is an interested party due to his many defense contracts, might prefer Hegseth as Secretary of Defense over a tough and seasoned professional).
Appointing someone whose main credential is the ability to smile and repeat propaganda lines convincingly (Hegseth is a former Fox News weekend host) also accelerates the autocratic process of “hollowing out” institutions by replacing expert and nonpartisan employees with zealots loyal to the leader. Project 2025 tellingly makes no exception for the Department of Defense in its purge and hollow-out plans for the U.S. government.
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