Charles C.W. Cooke: Criticism of Pete Hegseth’s Secretary of Defense Nomination is “Cheap and Smearing”

Charles C. W. Cooke, senior writer at National Review and host of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast: A Show About Politics, Music, Technology, Rollercoasters, Golf Carts, and the United States of America, joined The Guy Benson Show today to discuss why he is cautiously optimistic about the incoming Trump administration after voters overwhelmingly rejected Kamala Harris’ campaign, which Cooke deemed was poorly run. Cooke criticized Harris’ campaign as an “expression of arrogance” and noted that Trump “outworked” Harris and Tim Walz on the road. He also agreed with Guy that it’s absurd for some states to take weeks to count votes and weighed in on Trump’s “controversial” pick of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, whom Cook defends. Listen to the full interview below!

Full interview:

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Cooke had this to say on the criticism surrounding Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be Trump’s SECDEF:

“And I mean, I understand that he’s not an insider, but given the way our foreign policy has gone in the last few years and given the way the military has been run in the last few years, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing either. So it’s not as if I woke up yesterday and said, you know, who we should nominate for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth? It wouldn’t have occurred to me. I was surprised. But I think so much of the backlash has been cheap and smearing, really. And I just don’t think he deserved it at all.”