Tuberville expresses support for Hegseth

January 14, 2024 – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Trump nominee for Secretary of Defense was subjected to a battering confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) questioned Hegseth about his plan to improve military recruitment numbers. Tuberville sad that the Pentagon should be focused on winning wars, not on pushing a woke agenda.

"Thanks for being here today-and with your family," Sen. Tuberville said to Hegseth. "I know this is tough. That's what it's all about, though. You're a tough guy. [I've] been here for a while [and I've] never seen this many people here for support of a nominee."

Tuberville on Monday met with a group of SEALs and other veterans groups that are supporting Hegseth's confirmation.

"They are very passionate," Tuberville told Hegseth of his supporters. "So, thank you for [being] willing to take this on, and congratulations on your nomination."

"I'm worried about recruiting," said Tuberville. "I mean, we can look at everything out there and talk about all these things, these narratives. But at the end of the day, I came from a team sport where the people, the players actually win the games. And that's what's gonna happen here."

"We've lost all sight of what we're doing in our military. Lost all sight," said Tuberville. It starts with leadership, and it starts with recruiting. Why would a young man - used to [be] when I was growing up - if you couldn't afford to go to college, you had the opportunity to go to the military where you could learn a trade. You could learn. You could make a living for your family and eventually, possibly get an education. That was a good alternative. We've forgotten that. We've forgotten it. We can't give up on our young people. Young people are our number one commodity in this country. And they're the ones that's gonna live and die for the freedom of this country in the future."

"Our service academies are meant to serve as our primary commissioning source of officers," said Tuberville. "It now appears that they are a breeding ground for leftist activists and champions of DEI and Critical [Race] Theory. Not all, but some and some is way too much. How are we gonna eliminate this, Mr. Hegseth? How are we gonna get this back on track to where we grow our leaders?"

"I think it comes down to leadership," answered Hegseth. "Clear leadership from President Trump, through me, should I be nominated. And that's what soldiers Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Guardians see. It's clear leadership. It says, this is what we believe, this is the mission we're gonna give you, here's the equipment we're gonna give you, and here's how we're gonna support you. Because the military at a lot of levels, Senator, has been for generations a family business. You know, my grandfather served, my father served, I served, my daughter served. That chain has started to break. With generations of people my age and older talking to their kids and grandkids, wondering, pondering do I want them to serve? Will my country use them responsibly? When that kind of doubt is cast, you get serious recruiting problems like we do right now. You get questions about whether I want my son or daughter to follow my path in West Point, which I've heard multiple times. Would I want my [child going to school there]? And so, you have to rip, root and branch, the politics and divisive policies out of these institutions. And then focus them on creating and preparing actual future military leadership."

"West Point traditionally is focused on engineering. And rightfully so because in our fighting forces across all surfaces we need the best and brightest minds in engineering, in addition to military studies, that's what I did at ROTC at Princeton, military science," said Hegseth. "That and we need more uniformed members going back into West Point, the Air Force Academy, the Naval Academy, as a tour to teach with their wisdom of what they've learned in uniform. Instead of just more civilian professors that came from the same left wing woke universities that they left and then try to push that into service academies. When that changes, Senator, I truly believe under Donald Trump, we will have a recruiting renaissance. That sends signals to the world-to our enemies and our allies alike, that America's back. And thankfully, then we have the men and women of our country willing to wanna serve."

Tuberville said that it is about attitude.

"Why would you fight for a country that you don't love?" Tuberville said. "That's what I keep hearing from a lot of our college kids that they're getting from these woke universities that they go to [...]. That is one of the excuses I get from our kids. We've got to break that. Another one, according to the Pentagon between 2001-2024, the number of civilian employees in the Office of the Secretary of Defense has nearly doubled from 1,500 to 3,000. Civilians on Joint Chiefs has increased from 191 to almost 1,000. Our military in strength goes down, our staff numbers are exploding. What are you gonna do about that?"

Hegseth answered: "Senator, we're gonna address that. We won World War II with seven four-star generals. Today, we have 44 four-star generals. There's an inverse relationship between the size of staffs and victory on the battlefield. We don't need more bureaucracy at the top. We need more warfighters and power at the bottom. So, it's gonna be my job working with those that we hire and those inside the administration to identify those places where fat can be cut so it can go toward lethality."

Hegseth, a veteran former Fox News host, faced a lot of criticism over past comments and alleged inappropriate conduct from Democratic Senators.

Democratic Senators Tammy Duckworth (Illinois), Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire), Kirsten Gillibrand (New York), and Jack Reed (Rhode Island) blasted Hegseth, claiming that if confirmed he would lower the Defense Department's high bar for leadership and integrity. They also attacked his past criticism of putting women in combat roles.

"You can't seem to grasp that there is no U.S. military as we know it without the incredible women that we serve, women who earn their place in their units," said Duckworth. "You're not qualified, Mr. Hegseth."

Hegseth denied reports of sexual misconduct, mismanagement while working with veteran nonprofit organizations and episodes of excessive drinking.

After Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) withdrew his nomination to be attorney general, Hegseth was seen as the most controversial of Trump's cabinet secretary picks. Hegseth now appears to be headed for an easy confirmation. A vote of the full Senate is expected Monday.

No Republican members of the Armed Services Committee displayed any interest in attacking Trump's cabinet pick. Trump does not need Democratic votes to get his cabinet picks through.

No Democrat voted against ANY of Biden's cabinet picks four years ago even though, with a few exceptions such as DoD pick General Lloyd Austin, that was largely an unremarkable group better known for their loyalty to the Democratic Party than their intellectual or governing prowess. The hypocrisy of the Democrats has not been lost on their Republican colleagues.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) has bipartisan support to be Secretary of State.

Tuberville represents Alabama on the Armed Services Committee.

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