I met Pete a long time ago. We spent middle of the night waiting to go on during 2016 before the election. With all due respect to my former colleague, we know that there were three cases of adultery for Pete Hegseth and it is relevant. [00:00:16] And the reason why it's relevant is article 134 of the UCMJ considers adultery against the military, which the Department of Defense is part of. You can't lead an entire organization and all these people if you can't lead by example. [00:00:33] Well, that isn't the only reason that Fox News contributor Leslie Marshall believes that Pete Hegseth is a terrible pick to beat Donald Trump's secretary of defense. In fact, she engaged in a pretty impassioned argument against the idea [00:00:50] of Hegseth serving in that position. And I just want to note that she was making this argument on Fox News, which, of course, is the place of work for Pete Hegseth, who hosts the weekend version of Fox and Friends. But I want to give her a lot of credit because she opened up [00:01:08] about her own personal experiences and why she believes that he would be a terrible person to lead the Pentagon. It all started, though, with, Howard Kurtz, host of Mediabuzz on Fox, detailing how Mediaite obtained the police report, which described Hegseth as, [00:01:28] you know, very drunk and more. And, of course, that police report had to do with sexual assault allegations. So let's listen to his framing before we get to more of what Leslie Leslie Marshall had to say. But Leslie Mediaite obtained this police report from California authorities [00:01:43] from back in 2017 and says, you know, Hegseth very drunk. He got into a fight with Jane Doe. That's how she's being referred to that. She repeatedly said, no. And a rape kit confirmed the sexual encounter again. Pete Hegseth says this was consensual. [00:01:59] So I just wanted to show the framing of the question because, you know, oftentimes when we think of right wing media, when we think of Fox News especially, you know, you hear one side and it's typically the side that's more friendly to the right wing. In this case, you have Howard Kurtz just very frankly explaining [00:02:15] that the police report said some pretty terrible things about Pete Hegseth. So I want to give him credit for that. Now, with that in mind, after Leslie Marshall explained, you know, the issues with Hegseth for, you know, infidelity in marriage and all of that. She then went on to talk about something far more serious. [00:02:34] - Let's take a look. - A rape victim. And I can tell you there's a reason 1 in 10 rapes go unreported, and it's very difficult for a woman to go in and have a rape kit done. It's physically, mentally and emotionally very difficult [00:02:50] to go through that process as I have. And I can tell you that just very personal. In my deep core, somebody doesn't do that with their husband and their kids in the hotel texting their husband. Somebody doesn't go into the hospital and subject herself to that. [00:03:09] And I have to say, I as a woman and as a victim, I, I believe the victims and this is a problem for me, the sexual impropriety. And then on top of that, although Pete has an incredible military career, he doesn't have the leadership career in the military that I feel the Department [00:03:28] of Defense requires as their head. So she really seems to side with the alleged victim in the sexual assault. And I do think she brings up some important points here, right? Like the idea that a woman would go put herself through the process of a rape kit [00:03:46] if she was lying about the alleged rape, the fact that she was at this conference with her husband, and how weird it would be to engage in a consensual extramarital affair with your husband at the at the conference. [00:04:02] But as Jen and I talked about previously, when it comes to these allegations, we really have no way of adjudicating it. We're not equipped with that ability. And so we don't know for sure if he did it or not. She seems to, you know, lean in the direction of it's [00:04:17] likely that she's not making this up. Okay. And she also notes that he's not really he doesn't really have the experience in order to have such an incredibly important title and role within the upcoming administration, and I agree with her on that. [00:04:33] He might have served in the military. He might have done well in the military. Doesn't necessarily mean that he is well equipped to lead the Pentagon, but I am curious what you think, Jen, because she came out there likely expressing this to an audience that might not be so receptive to the message. [00:04:49] And she did so while disclosing that she herself was a victim of rape. Yeah, I thought it was courageous of her. And and it's an interesting perspective and it it affects me a little bit in terms of whether I think he did it or not. And, but it's super hard to know. [00:05:05] As we discussed earlier, there's evidence publicly that it did that he did it. He did something wrong. There's evidence that he didn't. And I I'm not in that investigation. I cannot judge it. [00:05:20] It's we just don't have enough information. So I understand what she's saying. The reason it moves me a little bit is because she's like, look, the pattern fits someone, of who was assaulted. Not a pattern of someone who wasn't assaulted. Okay, that has some degree of credibility to it. [00:05:38] And that might that moves me in terms of how I view it a little bit, but it doesn't move me enough for me to say I know definitively because I just don't. Right. So I don't know what to do with that. So that's point one. And guys, I always think and I know sometimes it drives folks crazy, [00:05:53] but I always think shoe on the other foot. What if this was a great candidate that we loved on policy and Hegseth is not? And I'm going to get to how terrible Hegseth is on other matters in a second. But if he was on our side and we loved his policies and these same exact [00:06:08] charges came out, what would we think? And I have to tell you, I would say inconclusive. There's just literally no way of knowing. And she mentions her own rape. That's very courageous of her. And I appreciate her doing that. And it's relevant because of how she views those patterns right at the same time. Obviously, Pete Hegseth didn't do that. Somebody else did that. [00:06:26] So I'm just keeping it, you know, just trying to level with you guys on how to view that. Right. I don't want you to then go, oh, okay. Then he's a bad guy because she was assaulted, right? - It's not by another person. - By another. Person. Right? The infidelity point is another interesting one [00:06:42] that I'm not overly moved by. So, yes, she's right. The military has a rule that you cannot commit adultery. And so he has committed adultery on multiple occasions, apparently. And so three at least that we know of publicly that I don't think he denies. [00:06:58] He certainly doesn't deny this one. He said this was a consensual affair. The one that happened in 2017. So I get that that's a rule in the military. I don't really care about that rule at all. And the reason why that rule existed was because it could be used as blackmail, [00:07:14] but it can't be used as blackmail if he said it publicly already. So, again, if we had a great candidate on our side and he had committed adultery or she had committed adultery three times, I wouldn't care. Okay. So and then the last one is not that experienced. [00:07:30] Another one where I have to say I don't overly care because if you put, let's say, you know, we were saying during the break, one of our members wrote in David Sirota applying to be part of the Department of Governmental Efficiency. Right. And does David have, experience in the Pentagon? [00:07:46] No. Not really. He's runs the lever now his speech. Former speechwriter for Bernie Sanders. Well, I think one of the best reporters in the country. If somebody said, hey, would you take a random establishment guy at the Pentagon who knows defense really well, or David Sirota at the Pentagon? Sirota. Sirota. [00:08:02] Right. Not even close. So my so okay, to me, although what she's saying is powerful and courageous, and I appreciate her for saying it, especially to that audience. I don't think it's as germane as the other terrible things about Pete Hegseth. [00:08:18] Yeah, because the other terrible things about Pete Hegseth are confirmed because they're terrible things that came out of his own mouth. And they very much do conflict with what the majority of Trump's base wants, which is America First foreign policy. [00:08:33] Pete Hegseth doesn't really seem to agree with that, based on some of the things he said about foreign policy in the past. And on top of that, you know, look, I don't know how real it is. Okay? So I'm not going to be naive and say, oh, Trump is definitely interested [00:08:48] in unifying the country, or Trump's base is interested in unifying the country. What I am noticing, though, is that this time around does feel different from 2016, in that, you know, since Trump has broadened his coalition of support, [00:09:04] there are a lot of people who voted for him this time around who are not alt right, who are not, you know, Nazis or extremists or anything like that. These are people who are fed up with establishment politicians and are taking a bet on someone different. And Trump is a little less, I mean, he's still combative, [00:09:23] don't get me wrong, but he's a little less toxic and divisive compared to 2016. - In the aftermath of the election. - We're going to see. So he's much better after he wins than after he loses, right? Yeah, I'm talking about. 2016 right. After he won in 2016. Like, you know, he was ready to go to war. But put Trump aside. [00:09:41] It's more about his base and the way they're behaving. And I really do think that there's a possibility of pushing this country to a better place where people will disagree, but it won't be as dangerous as it was in the past, like as we were barreling toward a potential civil war. [00:09:58] Yeah. Dangerous? Yeah. So, look, I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. I just know that some of the things that come out of Pete Haig's mouth goes against what I'm noticing right now with the Trump base. So that's exactly right. Trump and his base are different and and his base is very varied. [00:10:14] It's not a monolith like it was in the past, but we're going to talk a lot about that as the Trump administration goes on. I want to just really quickly get to if you haven't seen all the terrible things about Hegseth, the Guardian summarized his book. And I'll just give you a couple of quick parts that we did a much larger segment on [00:10:29] it on Friday, which you should check out. They explain at various points in that book, Hegseth describes leftists, progressives and Democrats as, quote, enemies of freedom, the US Constitution, and America and counts Israel among the, quote, [00:10:44] international allies who can help defeat such domestic enemies. So apparently Pete Hegseth would use Israel to defeat domestic enemies on the left here in America. [00:10:59] I don't know how he would use them. And at his confirmation hearings, I hope to God that he's asked, would it be the IDF in the streets and arresting Americans like were Palestinians? Or what does he mean that Israel can be used to defeat the left here in America [00:11:16] that he describes as domestic enemies? And my guess is that no one will ask him, because that's the part of the book that the Democrats and Republicans both probably love. - Yeah. - I mean, look, it's anti-American, right? Like if there was someone on the left, let's say Bernie Sanders. [00:11:31] Right. Which I can't even imagine, but Bernie Sanders saying that a foreign country should step in and help us defeat our political opponents here in America, our fellow brothers and sisters. We might disagree politically, but that a foreign country should come [00:11:48] in and help us defeat them. I'd be disgusted with Bernie Sanders. I'll give you an example to make your heads explode if you're on the right, or really anyone. But imagine if Bernie said, oh, if I win, I'm going to pick a defense secretary who's going to have the Cubans help us to defeat the right wing domestic enemies [00:12:03] in this country? No, that would be insane. Okay, right. Everybody would. But he says it about Israel and everybody. My guess is it won't even be mentioned in the hearings. All right. Last couple of years. So you get a full sense of how much he hates half this country. Elsewhere in the American Crusade, he writes. And yes, it's called American Crusade. Quote, the hour is late for America. [00:12:23] Beyond political success, her fate relies on exorcizing, the leftist specter dominating education, religion and culture, a 360 degree holy war for the righteous cause of human freedom. And he continues, our weapon is American Nationalism. [00:12:41] The left has tried to intimidate us into thinking that nationalism is a relic of a bygone era. But as he says it in the context of a holy war and a crusade, it sounds like Christian nationalism, which means no, if you're Jewish, Muslim, atheist, whatever the hell you might want [00:12:57] to be, you don't get freedom. You get a holy war led by Pete Hegseth, the frickin lunatic against half of this country when he's supposed to be our defense secretary. And finally, he says, for leftists, calls for democracy represent a complete rejection of our system. [00:13:12] What Republican legislators should draw congressional lines that advance pro that advantage pro freedom candidates and screw Democrats? Yeah, that is him saying I'm against democracy and we should rig the system. So we always win and the Democrats are screwed over. [00:13:30] No, my answer to that is hell no. Screw Pete Hegseth. I don't want any part of him. And I hope to God that he's not our defense secretary. Yeah, I. Agree with you wholeheartedly. And I don't think it's going to be beneficial for Trump to have someone [00:13:45] like that in his administration. I have no doubt that he'll probably get involved in something that will be controversial, and it will be a headache for Trump. I think that there are better appointees. I'm sure he'll pick someone else that I don't favor. And it's not about me, right? But at least pick someone who isn't interested in engaging in that kind [00:14:03] of disgusting, toxic, divisive rhetoric, especially at a time when Trump has managed to increase his support among people who traditionally didn't vote for him or support him. So something to keep in mind. Thanks for watching The Young Turks really appreciate it. Another way to show support is through YouTube memberships. You'll get to interact with us more. There's live chat emojis, badges. [00:14:22] You've got emojis of me Anna John Jr. So those are super fun. 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