5 hours Ago By The Daily Beast
Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Amazon and Stitcher (update links). President-elect Donald Trump appears to be preparing for a culture war on American soil—which could explain why he nominated Fox News TV host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, explained The New Abnormal co-hosts Danielle Moodie and Andy Levy . Hegseth’s nomination has already elicited outrage among some military leaders for comments that “women should not be in combat roles.
” He added that women serving in the military has made fighting “more complicated.” ADVERTISEMENT Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in an interview Wednesday that his comments reflect his “lack of suitability for the job.
” “Anybody that truly knows the military knows that we cannot go to war without over 225,000 women who are serving on active duty right now,” she said. “This is not the revolutionary war where there is some sort of a line in the sand where combat is on one side and the rest of us can stay behind the sun.” She added, “I would ask him, where do you think I lost my legs? In a bar fight? I’m pretty sure it was in combat when that happened, and it just shows how out of touch he is with the nature of modern warfare.
” Duckworth predicts “morale would plummet” in the Pentagon with a “mass exodus of professional military officers” that would be the “hollowing out of our military” if Hegseth is confirmed by the Senate for the role. A “mass exodus” is exactly what Trump’s team wants, said Moodie . “This is exactly what they want because the people that will leave are the people that they want gone to begin with.
” Subscribe to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Google Podcasts , Stitcher , Amazon Music , or Overcast . The fact that Hegseth is unqualified is “the least of it,” added Levy. “He’s actively bad.
He’s not going to be just an empty suit, an unqualified empty suit who has no idea what they’re doing. He’s going to have no idea what he’s doing, but do bad things,” said Levy. Moodie added that she wouldn’t be surprised if they reinstated the draft to bring in militia-minded Proud Boys.
“Because I will say it again: The new goal of a Trump military has nothing to do with being activated abroad. It has everything to do with being activated on American soil,” she said. Plus! Stephanie Mencimer , senior reporter at Mother Jones , delves into Trump’s pick for attorney general, former congressman Matt Gaetz, who resigned just as his ethics report was about to be released .
Subscribe to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Google Podcasts , Stitcher , Amazon Music , or Overcast . Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Amazon and Stitcher (update links)..
