U.S. foreign policy is about to undergo some pretty radical changes as President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Ben Hodges is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General who served as the commanding officer of all U.S. Army forces in Europe. He joined KNX News’ daily political show Countdown 2024 to discuss what another Trump presidency – and Fox News host as defense secretary – could mean for the world.
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Hodges said many security professionals are “a little bit surprised” at Pete Hegseth’s nomination as secretary of defense, given that he “does not seem to have a lot of experience for this.”
“We’re talking about somebody that's gonna be the senior defense official, who will run the Pentagon, run the entire Department of Defense,” he said. “It's an enormous size and complex organization and there’s not many jobs in the government that will be more challenging, I would guess.”
He said the pick might signal that we’ll see a lot of military direction coming from the National Security staff. Trump’s pick for national security advisor, Congressman Mike Waltz, is a retired Green Beret and, according to Hodges, “seems like a pretty serious guy.”
Trump has said he might resort to using the military on U.S. soil to help accomplish his mass deportation plans. Hodges said the question of whether Hegseth would go along with that idea should be asked during his confirmation hearings.
“This is gonna be one of the, I think, most challenging situations that the Pentagon and that our military leaders will find themselves in, if civilian authorities turn to the military to use force inside the United States,” he said. “There is precedent for it, but it's extremely rare, and no soldier I know ever wants to be put in a situation where they would have to use force against Americans.”
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Hodges said that despite the change in administration, “America’s strategic interests are the same,” and he hopes the new secretary of defense will value the country’s alliance with NATO and interest in Ukraine.
Listen to the full episode above to hear more analysis from Tom Nichols, a staff writer for The Atlantic, and catch new episodes of Countdown 2024 every weekday at 2:30 p.m.
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