On MSNBC's Deadline: White House, Angelo Carusone describes how Pete Hegseth's “might makes right” worldview appeals to Trump
Carusone: “If you're a media figure … it means you can engage well, and that not only helps you build and rely on support, but it also means that you can then control the story or shape the perception”
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From the December 17, 2024, edition of MSNBC's Deadline: White House
ALICIA MENENDEZ (HOST): Brand new reporting gives us an alarming glimpse into the world of Pete Hegseth, his relationship with extremism and violence, as well as the company he keeps. Just this morning, CNN unearthed clips of Hegseth on former House speaker Newt Gingrich's podcast in the wake of the January 6 insurrection, peddling the completely baseless claim that leftist groups or antifa staged a false flag operation at the Capitol.
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Angelo, your thoughts?
ANGELO CARUSONE (MEDIA MATTERS PRESIDENT): I think ultimately -- to me, the tie-in here, as I look at all this, is that one of the things that Hegseth believes is that “might makes right.” And that's a very compelling argument to a lot of people, especially if you are going to try to transform through brute force our government and culture. And I think that you know, even as the example of this person who is being his security guard, I mean, it's a symbol. He knows what he's doing and that ties in with this larger Hegseth fight, which is that if you're going to have a rising authoritarianism or any authoritarianism, a lot of it is theater, and Hegseth is a central character.
So, for him, to me, the ingredients he brings is “might makes right” -- which is terrifying, we see that play out day to day -- fealty to Donald Trump, and that means that he's going to turn a blind eye or fully execute all the orders that Trump says, even if they're contrary to basic rules of law. And then the third part is his own agenda, which is that -- is to turn the Department of Defense, our military, into a flaming sword for Christ. This guy also has a worldview that has advocated for attacking national and cultural heritage sites, that believes that you should kill civilians when they are Muslims, that that's absolutely necessary, and that you're going to have to roll back a lot of the policies that have softened up the military from what he describes as "lethality, lethality, lethality." And that, to me, is the tie-in here, is that all these little stories that pop up, they are all grounded in this central idea that “might makes right” and then this underlying Christian nationalist worldview.
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MENENDEZ: Angelo, just real quick, when did working at Fox News become a qualification to run a major branch of the U.S. Government?
CARUSONE: I mean, for Trump, that's an important qualification because so much of what he relies on is narrative dominance. So, if you're a media figure, that is the tip of the spear. In practice, it shouldn't be, and his only other relevant qualifications are when he ran organizations and he didn't do a very good job. But for Trump, we've seen this revolving door because ultimately, if you're a media figure, especially if you're a right-wing media figure, it means you can engage well, and that not only helps you build and rely on support, but it also means that you can then control the story or shape the perception. And for Trump, perception is reality. And, in a way it's playing out, right? I mean, you would think that all of these things would've toppled Hegseth so far, but because of the fact that he's a right-wing -- creature of the fever swamps, he's been able to navigate this well. And that's why you see Trump coming back around saying, "Yeah, okay, you've got my support."