In response to President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of a decorated military veteran and best-selling author to head the Department of Defense, U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) says he’s not impressed.
“I haven’t seen a lot that impresses me,” Sen. King said of Pete Hegseth, a 20-year military veteran, winner of the Bronze Star, and Fox News presenter.
Trump announced the pick in a social media post Tuesday.
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“Nobody fights harder for the troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy,” said President Trump.
Hegseth is a decorated combat veteran, having achieved the rank of Major in the Army National Guard.
He fought in both Afghanistan and Iraq, where he earned a Bronze Star Medal for heroic conduct in a combat zone.
He later became a presenter for FOX News and has authored four books.
His most recent book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, published this year, focuses on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion principles infiltrating the military.
Democratic politicians and left-wing media personalities quickly condemned Trump’s pick, accusing him of extremism, and white supremacy, and claiming that he is unqualified for the job.
King, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, expressed his skepticism about Hegseth’s qualifications to serve as Secretary of Defense.
“I haven’t seen a lot that impresses me as qualifications for one of the most complicated and important jobs in the country, if not the world,” said King, a career politician, wind turbine profiteer, and former Bowdoin College professor.
“So I’m going to await, as I always do, the hearings and information,” said King.
He promised to decide on whether to vote to confirm Hegseth only after the formal confirmation hearing process.
In contrast to Hegseth, President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense, four-star General Lloyd Austin, served on the board of Raytheon, a massive military-industrial corporation and weapons manufacturer.
In 2021, King voted to confirm Austin because of, in part, “President Bidenโs faith in his judgment.”
Austin would later cast doubt on his own judgement by attempting to cover up a hospitalization that left him incapacitated and broke the military chain of command, a lapse for which he later apologized.
The Maine Wire reached out to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), asking for her opinion on Hegseth, but she did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Other left-wing politicians and media personalities were less reserved in their criticisms of Hegseth than King.
“Pete Hegseth is not remotely qualified to be Secretary of Defense. The SecDef makes life-and-death decisions daily that impact our 2 million troops around the globe. This is not an entry-level job for a TV commentator. The Senate should do its job and deny this nomination,” said Rep. Jason Crow (D-Color.) on X responding to Hesgeth’s appointment.
Hegseth drew criticism from both the left and the more libertarian wing of the Republican Party for his hardline support for Israel, grounded in his interpretation of the Bible.
“What Western Civilization represents today is an understanding that Zionism and Americanism are the front lines of Western Civilization and freedom in our world today,” said Hegseth, speaking at a National Council of Young Israel event.
Social media users quickly accused Hegseth of antisemitism, claiming that his tattoo of a Jerusalem Cross, a historical Christian symbol, is actually a swastika.
“Trumps secretary of defense…. are we supposed to pretend that isn’t a SWASTIKA ????,” said self-described media personality and “J6th virtual survivor” Claire Foster on X.
The post was quickly met with a Community Note on X, explaining the difference between the Jerusalem Cross and a swastika.
After Trump announced his pick, a clip from MSNBC went viral, showing a guest baselessly calling Hegseth a “white supremacist” and claiming that his book on DEI in the military was actually just about opposing the promotion of Black officers.
Hegseth also caused controversy over his belief that women should not serve in combat roles in the military.
“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat rolls. It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated,” said Hegseth.
Hereโs a list of Trumpโs other picks to serve in the MAGA 2.0 administration:
- Secretary of State: Marco Rubio, U.S. Senator from Florida
- Attorney General: Matt Gaetz, U.S. Representative from Florida
- Secretary of the Interior: Doug Burgum, Governor of North Dakota
- Secretary of Health and Human Services: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., environmental lawyer
- Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Doug Collins, former U.S. Representative
- Secretary of Homeland Security: Kristi Noem, Governor of South Dakota
- Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: Lee Zeldin, former U.S. Representative from New York
- Ambassador to the United Nations: Elise Stefanik, U.S. Representative from New York
- Director of National Intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard, former U.S. Representative from Hawaii
- Director of the Central Intelligence Agency: John Ratcliffe, former Director of National Intelligence
- White House Chief of Staff: Susie Wiles, senior campaign adviser
- National Security Advisor: Mike Waltz, U.S. Representative from Florida
- Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy: Stephen Miller, former senior adviser
- โBorder Czarโ: Tom Homan, former Acting ICE Director
- Ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas
- Special Envoy to the Middle East: Steven Witkoff, real estate executive
- White House Counsel: William McGinley, former Cabinet Secretary
- Deputy Attorney General: Todd Blanche, personal attorney to Trump
- Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General: Emil Bove, former U.S. Attorney
- Solicitor General: D. John Sauer, former Missouri Solicitor General
- Department of Government Efficiency: Elon Musk (Tesla and SpaceX CEO) and Vivek Ramaswamy (entrepreneur)
Lol! King Angus has no experience in combat or the military.
He’s a carpetbagger.
Like my grandmother would have said, he really thinks who he is.
Angus King has done nothing in his life that didnโt enrich Angus. As governor he brought his home town a new high school. He made millions on promoting wind turbine before they became the savior of the left. Heโs a giant phony. Independentโฆ.my ass. Heโs as independent as Rush Limbaugh was a centrist. I especially loved his re-election commercial with his wife and step daughter. โOh daddy, daddy please let me slut myself out and kill my babyโฆ..please, please, please daddyโ. Heโs a piece of dung of the highest order. Remember, he gave us a president whose mental capacity was diminished way before 2020 and the stupidest democratic candidate in history.
A lifelong political hack like King, who never served in the military, should learn to keep his crony capitalist mouth shut. Only his Leftist sycophants care what he has to say, no one else does.
If he doesn’t impress libs like the so called independent then he must be the right man for the job.. King never did a thing to impress me except maybe his ability to enrich himself while living on the tax payers dime.
If that bumbling half-wit King opposes him, I’m for him.
All you need to know about Angus ,is that he is against the electoral college .
Itโs simple.and so is he . Iโm afraid we are stuck with him . Maybe Trump could appoint him ambassador to Haiti . He could go live there .
Susan collins and King both seem not to support any of his picks. Too bad its doubtful we could replace collins with a real republican.
Maine isn’t impressed with Anus King!
Hegseth didn’t buy his way to where he is, like Anus did!
And Hegseth hasn’t conned and scammed the state of Maine like Anus has.
Hegseth is more man than King will ever be!
As I was raised: If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all. Angus aside, I do wonder about Hegseth, if he thinks the job is too much for him, he can gracefully decline.
Maine should be ashamed, voting this guy back in
And Donald Trump was unimpressed with Senator John McCain’s military service…
Career politician, thatโs the problem. Itโs time to shake it up & drain the swamp.
“Angus King — a career politician, professor, laser beam enthusiast and green energy profiteer”. You forgot enemy of the 1st Amendment, trying to silence people that disagree with him. F.U. Anus, how he keeps getting elected to anything is beyond me. At least Bellows and the Czarina Mills have the guts to admit they are socialist demoKKKrats.
Well look at all the years this ass has been in office and I’m sure as hell not impressed just can’t get rid of this King guy he’s like a fly on s–t.
Angus King a self described Independent (from Maine) who moved here from Maryland, shows nothing that remotely represents Maineโs second district and shows no resemblance to the values that I know of the people, of which I am one, born and raised here. I fully support Mr Hegseth, and his views on people working hard, and earning their position in our military on their merit, regardless of race or gender. We need the best defending our country and nothing else. Our military as it exists now is a disappointment and I use our Afghanistan withdrawal as one example, i do not support Sen King and his DEI views
Kinda funny Angus, there seems to be zero military service in YOUR background. Since you were a democrat before becoming independent and with your age being what it is, you must have been one of those draft dodgers – to much of a pusillanimous pile of human dreck to actually put your own neck on the line. Oh, and by the way, I fail to see much of anything on your resume that impressed me at all.
I’d venture to say that Hegseth isn’t very impressed by Anus King either. I personally don’t know no veterans who are impressed by the Dem in Independent clothing.
king at confirmation hearing โWould you be willing to join in on a no holes barred 4sum with collins, pingree and myself? because thatโs what itโll take for my voteโ
Angus has always been a pompous fool, and it shows forth fully in these comments. As if he knows anything about defense or the military.
Swamp creatures are now terrified. America has spoken.
The military is unlike any other government entity. Equity, DEI and fairness simply don’t apply. We should expect to have the biggest, baddest, most prepared and skillful victory oriented forces to protect and defend the United States. We need to shut out the pablum and blather from the hard core political extremists and move change forward.
Pete Hegseth is an American patriot . Angus King is Carpetbagger from away .
Over 385,000 Maine voters were not impressed with Angus and voted against him . I was one of them Angus should shut up and go take another nap . Nobody but the democrats are impressed by HIM .
You know that Angus King has at best, a passing acquaintance with the truth, because he votes with the Democrats over 98 percent of the time and claims to be independent. He voted for both the American Recovery Act and the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act, both of which caused and exacerbated the Inflation that’s caused working class Americans to pay through the nose for energy,housing and food, but when you’re a multi millionaire crony capatalist, you and your family don’t have to worry about that, instead you can focus on abortion and all the rest of the craziness that cost your party, the Democrats, this last election.
It has been a long, long time since any of the Maine publications, mostly now owned by Soros and his fellow travelling communists, have recalled the $102,000,000 federal government loan that allowed King and Gardiner to build their wind towers. Thank you Maine Wire for bucking the trend! “Just a day after Angus King announced he was divesting his stake in his wind energy company, a Congressional Oversight Committee has called into question the basis for a $102 million loan guarantee granted to Kingโs Record Hill Wind project.”
I do not remember seeing you in a uniform. Should I be impress with the way you handled the illegal children who are now lost in America. Not an independent but a Louser Democrat. You have never talked about the kids.
Anguish Kinkโฆ. A phony baloney independent that fooled southern Maineโs โfrom awayโ low intellect voters again. Independent my arse.
๐คฃ๐คฃ๐คฃ๐คฃ๐คฃ Angus “windmill” the d o u c h e king , dhat sn old usless winding who in his long unaccomplished career in Washington has done and gotten nothing done or passed into law! The only thing he’s done is polluted maines mountian tops with windmills that font work, just like him ! Go away you old wind bag, retire already , don’t be a feinstein!
Iโm not impressed with Angus king
King is a fake independent and a disgrace. He is a run-of-the-mill democrap neo-neocon. I was hoping to see him defeated this election, but oh well….
Angus King is an irrelevant old deep stater. History won’t remember him He hasn’t done anything important to help Mainers in his long professional political career.
King is a useless, corrupt faux Independent, who votes with democrats 99% of the time. He has done nothing productive for the state of Maine but did manage to enrich his millions with windmill projects. Maine is a mess and King and faux republican Susan Collins are a disgrace, cpmplicit with Gov. Mills.
Hegseth: 20 years military, decorated combat veteran, 2 deployments, veteran advocate, Princeton grad, best selling author.
Angus: 50 years sucking on the public teat. No accomplishments to show. Never had an original thought.
Iโm going with Hegseth.
The joke is going to be on King and Collins, there is a little-known provision in the US Constitution that will allow Trump to bypass the Senate completely. They won’t even get the chance to vote against Trump’s appointees. Both of these two Senate Clowns have a bad case of TDS, they know that this time around Trump will finish draining the swamp. They are not looking forward to the trip to their new retirement home at Gitmo.
I recall S
๏ปฟen. Bill Cohen was Sec of Defense under Clinton. So tell me how much he knew about military mattersWell, let me think about the people in Government with whom I am “unimpressed.”
Starting with those with Maine roots. Gee, with the snap of my fingers, five names came to mind, and King,Angus was the first one that comes to mind, though J.Mills is fighting to take over first place.
Angus King couldn’t carry Pete Heseth’s jock strap.
Here is Angus’s statement when I questioned hinm about defending a Biden nominee who was an apologist for eco-terrorist tree spikers
Dear Jonathan,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts about the nomination of Tracy Stone-Manning to serve as the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). As a former governor, I believe that leaders should have latitude in picking their advisors. As a current member of the Senate, I take the role of advise and consent very seriously and look forward to confirming a new leader of BLM who is strongly committed to the Department of Interiorโs mandate.
I am approaching President Bidenโs nominees the same way I have every other administrationโsโwith an open mind and with a desire to learn about their experience and skill set. While BLM does not oversee the management of any area in Maine, their work is critical across the western United States and the agency has not had a Senate-confirmed leader since 2017. I supported Ms. Stone-Manningโs nomination in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and on an initial procedural vote to bring the nomination to the floor. As you may know, Ms. Stone-Manningโs nomination was recently confirmed by the Senate in a vote of 50 to 45, and I again supported her nomination.
Thanks again for your message and please be in touch on other matters before the Senate in the future.
King can go screw in another windmill, heโs done nothing for Maine but destroy Forrest and mountain tops with his windmills. Just go away!
“Independent” King. What crap.
Angus King..an Independent Socialist Democrat, thinks it’s NOTHING of someone getting awarded a bronze star.
What did you expect from a strong Democrat Angus King? I now expect swamp creature,globalist, Never Trump, Rino Collins, who supported Biden’s Cabinet picks, corrupt Mayorkis, and Garland to do her best impeding most cabinet choices, policies Trump proposes to “Make America Great Again”
He has always unimpressed me as a pompous, condescending prig.
Angus calls himself an independent. He is a joke. He questions Hegseths credibility, yet he voted for Mayorkas and against Kavanaugh.