“IT WAS APPAULING”: Will Cain SLAMS Democrats For “Embarrassing” Pete Hegseth Questioning

Will Cain, host of The Will Cain Show on FOX News and FNC, joined The Guy Benson Show to share his thoughts on the confirmation hearings of his former colleague and friend Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, including how Hegseth handled personal and nasty attacks from Democrats during the proceedings. Cain also previewed his new 4 p.m. ET show on Fox News Channel, The Will Cain Show, and shared his excitement and plans for its launch. Listen to the full interview below!

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Guy Benson: Joining us now from our New York headquarters is Will Cain, host of The Will Cain Show. I was just on today with him. He’s also been for years the co-host of Fox and Friends Weekend. That’s all changing. Pretty soon, as we told you yesterday, he will be taking over the 4 p.m. Eastern Time slot on Fox News Channel on weekdays with a new version of the Will Cain show. Well, congratulations. Huge, huge deal for you.

Will Cain: Thank you. It’s a huge deal for me, guy. We all go throughout this life with a certain level of ambition and professional hopes. And this achieves for me many of the things I set out to do. But if I’m being really honest with you, your audience, and and, you know, anybody that watches me, it’s also just huge for me personally, meaning my family. I travel a lot. I have been for nine years. Guy, I’ve said this, I haven’t unpacked my dopp kit for nine years. When I was at ESPN or Fox, I’ve traveled half a week pretty much for most of the last decade. And now I get to be home. Now that’s not the main thing, but it’s a big thing for for me and my family.

Guy Benson: So is are you guys going to be doing the show from Texas or are you going to be coming to New York and the family moving here or up there? Have you made that decision yet or it sounds like this is a big family move, as you just said.

Will Cain: This will be the Will Cain show live, 4:00 on Fox News from Dallas, Texas. We are in touch with Middle America. We are in touch not just with the values, but with the people. So, man, I’m just I’m thrilled. Man, I was born and raised a Texan. That’s who I am and that’s who I will die. And the show, which man I’m so grateful to Fox is is trusted me and give me this honor to do this. And I will do my best to make sure it pays off for everyone who ever gave this trust to me.

Guy Benson: I mean, it’s so exciting because, you know, as you know, basically the shows this network, especially on weekdays, they’re all out in New York and D.C. to have in the late afternoon in between Martha and the five a show emanating from the Lone Star State. Hey, awesome for you and your family, obviously. Just be cool and cool and different, right? For the audience. Not something that is a show originating from the northeastern part of the country. Before we move on to other topics and news of the day, I just want to ask you, I’m sure there are still plans afoot and negotiations or discussions underway about exactly what this show is going to look like. But when it hits the air and remind us when it starts, what can people expect in the 4:00 hour on the Will Cain show?

Will Cain: Thank you for asking that. So it starts next Tuesday, January 21st, the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as president. Used a word about just where we’re located in Dallas, Texas, being different, that word is going to be an adjective. Used a lot to describe the Will Cain show. It will be different than what has historically been there at four, but it will also probably be different than everything else that is on the network. Guy, You and I come from a similar background and we both love radio. We both have done radio. I did that at ESPN. I do a digital show here at Fox. It’s on YouTube and Facebook, and we’re embracing that. We’re embracing the the breathy, casual, laid back, sincere, deep, fun vibe of what we’ve all done and and now will bring to the news channel. I’ll still be serious. There’s going to be breaking news. This will be immediate, but it’s also going to be room for depth and debate and and being real. That’s my currency guy. My my currency in life is authenticity. I just don’t feel good even when it’s to my detriment unless I’m being 100% me. And that’s what this show will reflect me.

Guy Benson: Well, we look forward to that starting next week. The Will Cain show 4 p.m. Eastern time. Fox News Channel, huge deal. Again, major kudos. Looking forward to maybe joining some of those conversations. We can work some things out because people can watch your show and listen to this show all sorts of different ways to to get all of the content all at once. And I just so happy for you and for your family. Well, let’s talk about your very, very dear friend, Pete Hegseth, who shared the couch with you for years at Fox and Friends Weekend. Now, he’s been tapped by President Trump, President elect Trump to be defense secretary. And a high stakes hearing earlier today. Spanning hours. You and I talked about it on your show earlier. Now that it’s over, looking back, some of your reflections in terms of how he performed are what you thought of the senators at the hearing and the upshot. Does this change anything?

Will Cain: So, you know, it’s interesting word you chose. It’s not a wrong word, but it’s interesting word. How did he perform? I think he performed perfectly. Now I know the guy and I actually think most people listening or watching know him as well because it’s not performance. He’s not fake. He’s the same guy. He’s the guy on the couch who’s the guy that I hang out with after the show. And you saw that guy in the hearing today? I told you this today, guy. This is what I believe should be the revelation. If anyone wasn’t familiar with Pete. This is a guy that understands priorities. He understands the priorities personally. He said, look, it basically goes God, family, country for me. And and when it comes to the United States military, he understands the priority, which is lethality. It’s representing the warrior class. It is making the United States military the most lethal fighting force on the planet and then being judicious about how you deploy that force. And no matter what was asked, no matter how it pivoted, he won’t lose focus. He’s not going to be distracted by the job he’s nominated for and those priorities. I’ll just say this quickly and, you know, I can dig into it. You asked about senators. I thought it was appalling that a lot of Democratic senators behaved and performed the way they did. I thought Mazie Hirono was embarrassing. I thought Tim Kaine.

Guy Benson: She always.

Will Cain: Is. And you pointed that out. Well, I mean, I’m not as familiar with her. Was that me? I wasn’t. I’m sorry. I wasn’t familiar with your work. I wasn’t familiar with her work. It was quite a performance by one.

Guy Benson: Lucky you. Lucky you to not be familiar with her work, because, unfortunately, I have been more acquainted with it. I mean, go back and watch some of the Kavanaugh stuff, but I digress.

Will Cain: Yeah. Same thing with Senator Kaine from Virginia. Same thing with Senator Gillibrand. From New York to lesser degrees. Same thing with Senator Blumenthal from Connecticut. You did really well on my show. You’ve probably done it here today. How dare Blumenthal, who’s lied about the wars that he’s been in? Question A 20 year war fighter.

Guy Benson: Yeah. Have a seat. And the thing is, I’m not I’m not at all objecting to tough questions or even some hostile questions from the opposition party. That is part of what happens. Right. It’s part of the vetting process. I think that it can be frustrating. It is what it is. But Blumenthal in particular, if your lies about your service mean anything to you, if there’s any sense of shame in your bones at all. Right. Any contrition whatsoever. This is the type of hearing where you take a seat, maybe mute your microphone and let other people take the shots. But he couldn’t resist performance. Again, there’s that word.

Will Cain: And you’re right. And again, you did this today on the Will Cain show. Go check it out on Spotify or Apple. You said this. There are legitimate questions to be asked. I am biased. I believe in Pete Hegseth. This is my friend. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think there are fair questions to ask, like, hey, have you ever managed anything this big? What in your resume suggests that you’re capable of managing something this big? That’s a fair question, which he can adeptly answer. And, you know, Tim Kaine asked questions that are tough and it was tough to watch. And most of them were completely inappropriate, but not all of them. But the way that he did it revealed he’s not interested in an earnest answer or a vetting process. He was interested in the performance in dragging Pete through the mud. And there was Tim Kaine in the middle of the pigsty, just wallowing and hurling mud in every direction. And that’s the image we should have of that senator, that he is in the middle of a pig sty, squatted, wallowing.

Guy Benson: You know, there was an interesting back and forth. Tim Sheehy is a brand new senator, freshly minted Montana Republican. He replaced Jon Tester, won that election out there just in November. Tim Sheehy is part of is a younger guy, kind of like a peer, if you will, and ABC in a lot of ways, right? Navy Seal, he is part of the war fighter class that you were talking about. And there were an awful lot of them packed into that hearing room. Pete had a lot of supporters. He talked in his opening statement. We actually played on this show well, the entire opening statement, 4.5 minutes start to finish in our first segment. I wanted people to hear that without any color commentary on the side. No other noise, just Pete making the case for himself in his own voice. There’s own history. And he. Talked about people having his back figuratively and literally. And the literally was in reference to all those people sitting behind him there to support him and others out in the streets on his behalf. Today here in Washington, DC, Tim Sheehy is one of those war fighters, one of those warriors. There had been a bit of a pop quiz from Blumenthal on some of the numbers and stats and statistics that Pete, I think, aced or at least got a solid B on. He did well. Then Tim Sheehy asked a very Siri, a very different series of questions. And I think it actually reveals something about Hegseth and his approach to the job if he gets it. I want you to listen and react. Cut. 36.

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Will Cain: Wow.

Guy Benson: Well, I think what’s interesting about that I’d love for you to just to go off on this a little bit. I’m not saying that every little piece of information that Pete knew there in response to the questions from Senator Sheehy is going to be relevant to the day to day work of managing a gigantic institution like the Pentagon. There are different skill sets involved, but in terms of authenticity, there’s a word that you used authenticity and life experience about what our war fighters go through. I would doubt if any of the senators on that stage, on on that podium, aside maybe from Sheehy, could have answered those questions in rapid succession, the way that he accepted.

Will Cain: They couldn’t have answered any of those questions and they couldn’t have answered whether or not a rifle was semi-automatic or automatic. They couldn’t distinguish. I think the vast majority of them couldn’t distinguish between a rifle and a shotgun. And here’s what you should take away from that. That’s not fake. That’s a man that’s used those tools in war. And the reason for his familiarity is in part also because he he continues to be familiar with guns in his post-military career. But he knows about war fighters. Guy. And you talked about she I know the guys here in the gallery. I swam the Hudson with them as his Pete and I’ve got to know them through Pete. He has their support. Like I’m telling you, Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marines. I can’t speak to 100% because I don’t know, 100% of them. But the ones that I do know, overwhelming support from the trigger pullers, the war fighters. And you know what? I do think the secretary of defense should be able to answer those questions. He should be able to answer more and know more. But you know what? It makes me pretty proud. The second defense answers that pop quiz so competently.

Guy Benson: And I would also say to the point of the people in that hearing room today, all the supporters, people who have put on the uniform, put themselves in harm’s way, who were there on his behalf, then some communist streakers of Code Pink on the other side. It’s quite a juxtaposition. Will Cain is host of the upcoming forthcoming Will Cain Show on Fox News Channel 4 p.m. Eastern every weekday starting January 21st next week. Well, again, congrats. We’ll have you back here soon.

Will Cain: Okay. Thank you.