By New York Post (Opinion) | Created at 2024-11-28 16:22:58 | Updated at 2024-11-28 18:45:16
2 hours ago
It’s become a familiar story.
A man is about to reach an upper echelon of public life when an accusation from his past resurfaces.
Sometimes it’s a bad joke made in a woman’s presence or a rebuffed advance while the man was in a supervisor role.
Other times it’s far more serious accusations of assault.
The latter is what is happening right now to Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth.
It’s the Brett Kavanaugh show all over again.
Hegseth has vigorously denied the accusation, but that hasn’t mattered.
The media has gone into smear-fest mode and won’t stop until they get a scalp.
Republicans should not let them take Hegseth’s.
The assault story is suspect, and it’s OK to say so.
The police report details that a “Jane Doe” had seen Hegseth flirt with some women at the conference, Doe approached him to tell him off, specifically that she “did not appreciate how he treated women.”
Video surveillance showed them leaving the hotel for the pool area after 1 a.m.
A hotel employee found them loudly arguing shortly thereafter.
That employee says that Hegseth appeared intoxicated.
Doe apologized for the noise, placed her hand on his back and led him away to his room.
Doe’s husband was also at the hotel and texted her close to 2 a.m., wondering where she was.
When she returned to her room at 4 a.m., she reportedly lied to her husband that she had fallen asleep on someone’s couch.
It wasn’t until several days later that she reported what she alleged happened with Hegseth.
Hegseth admits engaging in a sexual interaction with Doe but maintains that it was consensual. His lawyer says Doe was “the aggressor in initiating sexual activity.”
The police didn’t file charges against Hegseth, and the latest twist is that it may be because she made a similar accusation against another man.
Hegseth attorney Tim Parlatore told The Post on Monday, “As part of our investigation, we received credible information indicating that she may have made a similar false allegation against another man in the past and the DA may have relied upon this as part of their determination, in addition to other witnesses who contradicted her story.”
Was Hegseth also in another relationship at the time?
Maybe.
But he’s being nominated for secretary of defense, not for the role of our boyfriend or husband.
His personal life issues should stay personal.
As Megyn Kelly pointed out, “Having difficulty in one’s personal relationship, especially after having served two tours — which it’s not uncommon for these combat vets to come back and not be able to navigate their love lives all that well — is much different than being a rapist.”
Because the accusations are so thin, leftist media personalities are left to mention the assault in passing while mostly trying to paint Hegseth as unqualified.
Steve Benen, a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” posted about Hegseth on the MSNBC site this week pointing to Hegseth’s “thin resume” of the “right-wing television personality” before adding, “Perhaps most importantly, a woman accused Hegseth of sexual assault in 2017.”
Benen was forced to admit, “No charges were filed in the case.”
Trump’s choice of Hegseth was seen as somewhat unconventional.
Liberal media outlets like MSNBC and shows like “The View” got themselves in a tizzy over it.
Why, he’s just a television host, complained the television hosts.
Hegseth is far more than that.
After graduating as valedictorian of his high-school class, he went on to Princeton University for his bachelor’s degree and then Harvard for his master’s.
This is someone who could’ve picked a far more lucrative path but instead chose military service.
He is a decorated war veteran who served in three tours, including one each in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He has been awarded two Bronze Stars for “exceptionally meritorious service to the United States of America.”
He’s a walking, talking war hero.
Making unconventional choices is what the country hired Donald Trump to do, and Hegseth would bring a badly needed change of culture to the Pentagon.
The military missed its recruiting goals by 41,000 last year and warned, “The all-volunteer force faces one of its greatest challenges since inception.”
That language should worry people.
The alternative to an all-volunteer force is compulsory service.
Perhaps putting another dispassionate bureaucrat at the helm isn’t a good idea.
A shake-up is necessary — Trump sees that — and Hegseth is the man to do it.
The latest of his four books, “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” spent multiple weeks on all the bestseller lists.
In it, he argues for meritocracy in our military.
The defense-secretary nominee deserves to be judged on his merits, too, and not discredited with old accusations.
Twitter: @Karol
