spoke often about a medieval military campaign that he saw as a model for today.

The Crusades in which Christian warriors from Western Europe embarked on ruthless missions

to rest control of Jerusalem and other areas under Muslim rule.

As Hegeseth embraced a combative brand of Christianity in recent years,

he wrote that people who enjoy the benefits of Western civilization should, quote,

thank a crusader. In his book, Hegseth also offered a nod to the prospect of future violence,

quote, our American crusade is not about literal swords and our fight is not with guns yet, end quote.

Yeah, Nicole, I think there's something really intriguing about this first round of cabinet

picks that if people are paying attention anymore, it should really matter, which is these

first round of cabinet picks really express the true ethos of Donald Trump.

You know, in 2017, he picked people that were going to be leaders, Tillerson,

Mattis, and others. And we were still figuring out, how will Donald Trump govern, even though

we had some strong clues from the campaign. Now you're just getting the pure Donald Trump in these

picks from Tulsi Gabbard and others, Matt Gates, and on down, you're seeing exactly who he is.

But I would tell you the silver lining and a lot of these nominees with scandal having to withdraw,

and then we end up with, say, the Bondies and the DeSantis and others.

It's not that they bring any less radical ideas about their government.

But it is that now we get to isolate and focus in on their

views of the Department of Defense, their views of the Department of Justice, their views on D&I.

But now having nominees that aren't scandal plagued because of allegations of sexual misconduct

or alcohol abuse or lack of fitness or go down the list, those are a distraction in many ways going

into a nomination hearing. Now when we get to focus on the role of governing under Donald Trump,

...