Liberal media outlets have recently turned their focus to smearing President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, devoting significant time and energy to criticizing his casual beer-drinking habits, calling it “jarring.” What should have been a celebratory moment for Hegseth and his family receiving the nomination from Trump has been blown out of proportion, with the left seizing on every opportunity to attack Hegseth for something so trivial. This relentless focus on his personal choices appears less about holding him accountable for any meaningful actions and more about attempting to discredit him through manufactured outrage to undermine Trump’s future cabinet.
CNN ran several segments on Thursday highlighting a rare occurrence: Hegseth drinking beer during a Fox and Friends segment on St. Patrick’s Day— one of the biggest drinking days of the year. The outlet highlighted a Washington Post article, which I covered, that claimed several former and current Fox News employees— all of which are “anonymous sources”— have accused Hegseth of being drunk or drinking on the job. They pointed to an instance where the former news host enjoyed a few beers during its St. Patrick’s Day special.
Pete Hegseth allegedly drank beer after work on St. Patrick's Day.
— Angela Morabito (@AngelaLMorabito) December 5, 2024
WaPo calls the incident "jarring." I call it Catholicism but go off pic.twitter.com/9InwzEDuAq
However, it was OK for CNN reporter Anderson Cooper and Bravo host Andy Cohen to get so drunk on-air during its New Year's Eve special that they had to stop serving the hosts alcohol.
In 2023, CNN CEO Chris Licht banned on-air talent from drinking during the NYE broadcast to improve the show's credibility, saying he didn't want hosts to be doing shots on-air.
In 2017, disgraced former CNN host Don Lemon appeared intoxicated live on-air while getting his ear pierced. Meanwhile, in 2019, Cooper was taking shots on-air hours before the ball was scheduled to drop, saying, “It's like burning your lungs.”
However, in 2024, Cooper brought the booze back to the show for its NYE special after staying sober the year prior.
“CNN said the correspondents will not be drinking,” Cohen said. “Anderson and I will be the people partying on CNN, [though] we will be partying responsibly.”
Maybe, just maybe….Anderson Cooper is sh*tfaced. #andersoncooper #cnnnye #NewYear #nye #cnn #andycohen pic.twitter.com/aikyHtl1h3
— AC (@ACinPhilly) January 1, 2022
CNN's Anderson Cooper taking shots while drunk on live TV: "Ah! Gaw! Ah! Aw! It’s like burning your lungs! Aw! [Weird hissing sounds]" pic.twitter.com/5XkM08PReo
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 1, 2019
Double standard, eh? These are the same people accusing Hegseth of being so-called “drunk” on air.