Victor Davis Hanson: Pete Hegseth’s Military

The Daily Signal Podcast

The Daily Signal

News, Government, Politics, Daily News

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Pentagon’s budget is going to shrink and Americans are going to get a better “bang for their buck” under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “Did you notice that of all the controversial Trump nominees—Kash Patel, Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, RFK, Tulsi Gabbard—the Left went after Pete Hegseth the most vehemently? And he required JD Vance to break that tie. There was a reason for that. He is proposing radical changes in the Pentagon. Remember where we are right now with the Pentagon. We spend $820 billion a year. It's about 14% of the entire budget and it's immune to criticism. It really is. “And we are building $14 billion carriers. We're building $85 million F-35s. We have built $140 million F-22s. And we're watching, in Ukraine and the Middle East, the entire mode of 21st-century warfare being revolutionized. It's more of—not that we're going to have bad quality, but it's more quantity than quality. They're flooding the zones with cheap drones—cheap drones on the ocean, in the air, and on land. “And we're not there yet. We're not doing it. So, what Pete Hegseth wants to do is change the entire manner of procurement.” For Victor’s latest thoughts, go to: https://victorhanson.com/ Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHqkXbgqrDrDVInBMSoGQgQ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:29.8	Did you notice that of all the controversial Trump nominees, the left went after Pete Hacks said,
0:36.3	the most vehemently, There was a reason for that.
0:38.3	He is proposing radical changes in the Pentagon. What we have now is more or less a monopoly.
0:43.3	We have Raytheon, we have the Boston Military Group, we have Northrop, we have General Dynamics, we have Lockheed.
0:50.3	And the way it has worked is that four-star generals rotate out, they work for these consortia,
0:56.0	and then they use their contacts of subordinate officers to favor their procurement.
1:01.0	I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but it's an inherent conflict of interest.
1:05.0	And Pete, Hexeth, is going to stop that.
1:24.6	Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. I'd like to speak a little bit today very briefly about the about the Pentagon under new defense secretary, Pete
1:28.8	Hexeth. Did you notice that of all the controversial Trump nominees, Cash Patel, Pete Hexeth,
1:36.8	Pam Bondi, R.F.K. Tulsi Gabbard, the left went after Pete Hexeth the most vehemently,
1:43.4	and he required J.D. Vance to break that tight.
1:46.1	There was a reason for that.
1:48.0	He is proposing radical changes in the Pentagon.
1:50.9	Remember where we are right now with the Pentagon.
1:53.5	We spend $820 billion a year.
1:58.2	It's about 14% of the entire budget. And it's immune to criticism.
	...

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