When President Trump nominated veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, Trump called Hegseth "tough, smart, and a true believer in America First."
The President also said in a statement, "With Pete at the helm, America's enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down."
Hegseth, a graduate from both Princeton and Harvard, and an Army combat veteran who did tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan, was awarded two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman's Badge.
Despite being qualified, Democrats and their media allies came at Hegseth with knives out. The smears came fast and thick, too.
Sherrilyn Ifill, a professor at Howard University, went on MSNBC and declared that Hegseth was a "known white supremacist."
"This is someone who, you know, is known to be a white supremacist, known to be an extremist, whose platform, whose book is basically about his opposition to the advancement of black officers to the top brass," Ifill claimed. Attorney Maya Wiley also said Hegseth was an extremist on MSNBC, saying, "Because let's remember, when we're talking about the Secretary here, and Hegseth and his white supremacist and extremist tattoos on his body, he is also a person, if he is in this job, will be having a discussion about Donald Trump about sending the military into communities to police U.S. citizens."
Hegseth's tattoos, many of them ancient Christian symbols, were of particular concern to Democrats. They called them signs of not only extremism and white supremacy, but Christian nationalism, too.
Those same Democrats later went on to throw their weight behind a guy — Graham Platner in Maine — who had an actual Nazi tattoo on his chest, because consistency isn't their strong suit.
The Left also tried to smear Hegseth as an abusive spouse, using a statement by the ex-wife of Hegseth's brother as proof. Hegseth's actual ex-wife, Samantha Hegseth, quickly debunked those accusations, telling NBC News, "There was no physical abuse in my marriage. This is the only further statement I will make to you." And then they said Hegseth had an "excessive drinking" problem.
It reminded me a lot of the baseless claims the Left made against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing, and with the same outcome: Hegseth, like Kavanaugh, was confirmed to his position.
Angry that they weren't able to derail his nomination, the media spent the first 100 days of Hegseth's tenure making sure all coverage of Hegseth was negative. That's right — 100 percent of the stories about Hegseth during those first three months were all negative. This is despite the fact that Hegseth had a solid track record from the start. By the end of April, the Army had met 85 percent of its recruitment goal and fully met that goal by June. At the end of December, the Army recorded its best December in more than a decade, with 350 daily enlistments and 14,000 in the Delayed Entry Program.
The Navy, for which I — the daughter of a Navy veteran — have a particular fondness, also had a record year, marking 20-year enlistment highs, and the Air Force set records, too.
In June, Hegseth oversaw Operation Midnight Hammer, which obliterated Iran's nuclear program without harming a single American military servicemember. Even CNN had to admit the strikes went "flawlessly."
Removing DEI, transgender troops, and restoring the warrior ethic to our military were also on Hegseth's agenda, and he delivered. In a September speech to military leaders, Hegseth touted his record.
"This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department, to rip out the politics," he said. "No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses, no more climate change worship, no more division, distraction, or gender delusions, no more debris, said before, and we'll say again, we are done with that sh*t."
But yesterday's operation in Venezuela was a masterclass of military leadership, planning and precision. It turns out the Army's Delta Force had built an exact replica of Maduro's safe house and practiced the raid repeatedly before yesterday's operation.
🚨 The U.S. Army's Delta Force built an exact replica of Nicolas Maduro's safe house and repeatedly practiced how they would execute the raid
— Ryan Saavedra (@RyanSaavedra) January 3, 2026
The CIA had an asset in Maduro's inner circle who monitored his movements and gave him up pic.twitter.com/gWsbpKKZAe
And Hegseth joined CBS to talk about the strikes as the "most sophisticated, most complicated, and most successful joint special operations raid of all time."
"The most sophisticated, most complicated, and most successful joint special operations raid of all time."
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 4, 2026
— @SecWar pic.twitter.com/Xj4VRkR1ea
"I saw the best of America. I saw men and women dedicating their lives to defending our country and to accomplishing that mission," Hegseth said.
"I just landed at Joint Base Andrews," Hegseth continued, "had a chance to meet a lot of them firsthand who involved. Walked through the tick-tock as what can only be described as the most sophisticated, most complicated, and most successful joint special operations raid of all time. I mean, nothing of this size, scope, when you actually unpack was done kinetically and non-kinetically...and they got the job done, despite any obstacles in front of them. It is incredible to be able to serve such courageous, brave, and skilled Americans."
The mission lasted only a few hours, cost no American lives, and successfully extracted the target, Maduro, who is now in New York awaiting trial. You could not ask for a better outcome, and that's all thanks to Hegseth and his leadership.
So while the Left can scream "extremist," "white supremacist," and "Christian nationalist" all it wants, the results do not lie. Hegseth not only survived the smear campaign and universally negative press coverage, but he also showed what it really was: an attempt to kneecap a serious and capable leader before he ever took command.
Why?
Well, Democrats do not want a strong America, and they do not want a strong military. Pete Hegseth stood in diametric opposition to the Left's agenda to undermine America, her military, and ultimately, our sovereignty.
Despite that, Hegseth has thrived. From strong recruitment numbers to decisive, flawless military operations that not only damaged America's enemies but didn't harm a single American, Hegseth has proven exactly why President Trump nominated him in the first place. The attacks and hysteria were baseless. Pete Hegseth is qualified, prepared, and competent.
And now, he's also completely vindicated.
