Pete Hegseth

Molly Butler / Media Matters

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has repeatedly supported using the National Guard to crack down on protests

Hegseth has demonized protesters in the past, claiming they “hate America,” and suggested that police be “allowed to take the actions necessary” to quell demonstrations

Written by Jack Winstanley & Payton Armstrong

Published

When major protests swept the country in 2020, then-Fox host Pete Hegseth cheered President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard as a “show of force” and praised Trump’s threat to send “federal reinforcements” to quell demonstrations. Hegseth has also specifically criticized peaceful protesters and suggested police should be “allowed to take the actions necessary to take on antifa, domestic terrorist groups like that.”

As demonstrations against Trump’s actions in his second term continue to ramp up, here’s a look at what the new secretary of defense said about protests in 2020 and beyond.

Jump to section

  • Trump almost deployed U.S. troops to suppress protests in 2020 and has already started cracking down on protesters in his second term

    • Thousands of people have gathered at rallies to protest the Trump administration’s recent actions, including the mass firing of federal workers, with a nationwide protest planned for April 5. The administration’s move to fire federal employees at several agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Agency for International Development, have already sparked protests outside of government buildings and inside the Capitol. [Yahoo News, 3/25/25; The Guardian, 2/26/25; Fox5 Atlanta, 3/19/25]
    • Pro-Palestinian activists and other protesters have been targeted by the administration, which has revoked more than 300 visas and detained current and former students and professors. “The Trump administration is trying to deport pro-Palestinian students and academics who are legally in the United States,” noted The New York Times. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that “the State Department under his direction had revoked the visas of possibly more than 300 people and was continuing to revoke visas daily” and “there’s a lot of them” who had “taken part in campus protests or acted to support Palestinians.” [The New York Times, 3/27/25]
    • The Washington Post reported Trump’s first administration considered deploying the military against civil protesters by invoking the Insurrection Act, and members of Project 2025 developed “a plan, to include draft executive orders, that would deploy the military domestically” in his second term under the same authority. In June 2020, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy U.S. troops if states did not call up the National Guard to quell protests. He later told two Washington Post reporters, “I think if I had it to do again, I would have brought in the military immediately.” [The Washington Post, 11/6/23; Business Insider, 7/19/21]
    • During the 2020 George Floyd racial justice protests in the capital, Trump deployed the D.C. National Guard — including Hegseth himself — and active duty troops were ready to step in if needed. According to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, National Guard members from 11 states came to D.C., and active duty troops were ready on “the outskirts (of Washington).” He told reporters, “We came right up to the edge of bringing active duty troops here, and we didn't.” [CNN, 12/3/24; NPR, 6/7/20]

  • Hegseth supported Trump deploying the National Guard in D.C. and threatening “federal reinforcements” in U.S. cities to suppress protests in 2020

    • Hegseth praised Trump’s use of the National Guard against protesters in D.C. as a “big show of force,” saying the Guard’s presence was “why you saw it evolve into more peaceful protests.” Hegseth added: “That show of force was part of why we got to Wednesday, the last night that I was there, where it was largely peaceful. Because it was understood we have the numbers and the ability to contain this. You are allowed to peacefully protest, you are not allowed to loot and riot.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/5/20]
    • Hegseth cheered the deployment of National Guard units to U.S. cities, including Trump sending the National Guard into D.C., saying “that is a signal that anarchy will not be tolerated.” Hegseth added, “Antifa running the streets is not OK — the National Guard is here to restore order for the law-abiding citizens who live in those places.” Hegseth also criticized Portland’s mayor and Oregon’s governor for not deploying the National Guard and emphasized that Trump “has said time and time again, ‘I will.’” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 8/30/20]
    • Hegseth: “You have to get serious, whether it’s on the statues or sending in the National Guard, for people to realize that unless the consequences are tangible, their actions won’t change.” Hegseth was replying to then-Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), who said, “When he [Trump] signed an executive order to institute a 10-year prison term on those who tear down statues, almost immediately, those incidents stopped happening. I think if we do something like this it will have the same effect because people will think twice about the activities they're engaged with on a nightly basis if we take away the extra $600 a week.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 8/30/20; CNN, 6/26/20]
    • Discussing the 2020 protests in Portland, Oregon, Hegseth claimed that Trump’s threat to send in “federal reinforcements” was “the only reason” state police started taking action against protesters. He said, “We may get the National Guard, but the only reason we got the Oregon State Police is because the president was willing to send federal reinforcements because the state wasn't taking control of it.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/31/20]
    • While discussing an “autonomous zone” established in Seattle during the 2020 protests, Hegseth said, “The question is do you send in the troops, do you say, ‘Hey, this isn't going to happen anymore,’ or do you let Seattle sort of implode on itself?” Hegseth continued, “It's the idea if you caught your kids with cigarettes under age, and do you take them away right away or force them to smoke every cigarette in front of you in the entire pack to learn the lesson of what's not going to work?” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/12/20; The Seattle Times, 6/10/20]
    • Hegseth: “Without what the president did in calling in the National Guard and the other people, Washington, D.C., would be a very different place tonight.” Hegseth stated, “If the National Guard had not been there, every single monument would have been defaced, every single business would've been looted, and they would've laid siege to the White House in an unending fashion. If not for the National Guard, the mayor in Washington, D.C., would've had no way out of the mess that she and others have helped create.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/5/20]
    • Hegseth praised Trump for offering “federal support and the National Guard” to cities. Hegseth said “the First Amendment affords you the right to peaceful — peaceable assembly. That's not what we are talking about.” He concluded, “Ultimately for peaceful assembly to exist, the people — the lawbreakers have to be held accountable.” [Fox News, Hannity, 9/2/20]
    • In 2020, Hegseth applauded Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-AR) New York Times op-ed that called for the military to break up nationwide protests around the country, calling it a “very mainstream idea.” [CNN, 12/3/24]

  • Hegseth has criticized peaceful protesters and suggested police should be “allowed to take the actions necessary to take on antifa, domestic terrorist groups like that”

    • Amid protests following the police murder of George Floyd, Hegseth asked whether law enforcement needed to be “allowed to take the actions necessary to take on antifa, domestic terrorist groups like that.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 5/31/20]
    • Hegseth suggested there is not a difference between peaceful and violent protesters, arguing, “The ones who are peaceful, and they are peaceful, agree completely with the people that are tearing down the statues, they're just not tearing them down.” Hegseth stated, “I have been on that riot line too, with a riot shield, and I actually don't think they're all that much different. The ones who are peaceful, and they are peaceful, agree completely with the people that are tearing down the statues, they're just not tearing them down. To Katie's point, they are Che Guevara, they are Marxist, they hate America, that's their view, they are using this movement to advance it.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 6/24/20]
    • Last year, Hegseth declared, “If you are stopping traffic, you ought to be arrested, and quickly …. there’s no question there. And if you're waving flags of the enemy, you shouldn't be here.” After Fox host Brian Kilmeade mentioned “Hezbollah and Hamas flags” at pro-Palestine protests, Hegseth said: “Anti-American Islamists, that’s what they are, who are in our country — who knows how they got here, by the way. Do we even know who they are? That is a fair question after three and a half years of an absolutely wide-open border — who have been pumped anti-American views — listen, if you are breaking — if you are stopping traffic, you ought to be arrested, and quickly, and with — there’s no question there. And if you're waving flags of the enemy, you shouldn't be here, it’s fair and especially if they’re a deemed terrorist organization. So we just have lost our minds and so we let all these things go.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/16/24]