World braces for Trump’s ‘clown show’ defence chief

The Iraq and Afghanistan veteran and Fox News host gained notoriety by blaming “wokeness” for US military failures. Now he is set to be in charge.

Mehul Srivastava, John Paul Rathbone and Lucy Fisher

Nov 14, 2024 – 12.03pm

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Pete Hegseth has carved out a lucrative career as a right-wing television personality revealing what he says is the secret flaw behind the US military’s stumbles in Iraq and Afghanistan: wokeness.

Now, as Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defence, the Princeton-educated Fox News host and military veteran is a vote away from managing the world’s largest, most powerful and probably most bureaucratic military.

Financial Times