The corrupt media’s multifront war against Defense Secretary-Designate Pete Hegseth continues apace. On CNN’s State of the Union, host Jake Tapper tried to air the anonymously-sourced alcohol abuse allegations against Hegseth during his interview with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), and got stopped cold.
Watch as Mullin reminds Tapper that D.C. (including the media) is awash in alcohol click “expand” to view relevant transcript):
CNN STATE OF THE UNION
12/8/24
9:23 AM
MARKWAYNE MULLIN: What he was describing is what most combat veterans have faced and- and for- for the- for the media to go after him and start describing that as a drinking problem is individuals that doesn't understand combat veterans because they've never been there. They've never been in combat, they've never seen the horrific stuff that comes by that. They've never tasted the dirt in their mouth. They've never heard the horrible sounds in their ears. They never had the sights that they can't get rid of. They've never had the dreams in the middle of the night. And I think it's hypocritical for them to even question that.
Now, if he did have a drinking problem, that would be obvious. But to make something out of it that isn't there just because he's going through Secretary of Defense, the media should be ashamed of themselves. They should put themselves in their shoes and every other combat veteran's shoes before they go out there and criticize him.
JAKE TAPPER: So I have done a lot of coverage of veterans and a lot of coverage of combat. And while I have never worn the uniform, I think I do have an understanding of the need of our valiant troops when they come home to self-medicate. What I'm saying is, when you're talking about drinking at ten in the morning, that's a drinking problem. Now it doesn't mean that there should be a stigma. It-
MULLIN: Well, there's a lot of politicians that have a drinking problem. Jake.
TAPPER: Yes, um, of course, but I guess my question is-
MULLIN: Yeah- and then there's probably a lot of media that has a drinking problem too. And now I don't drink. I've never, I haven't- well, I haven't tasted alcohol in many, many, many years and, and never have drank at all in my life really. And so I really don't understand that. But there's a lot of alcohol that flows through Washington, D.C. on a regular basis. And I wouldn't say that people are alcoholics or -- or they have a drinking problem because of that. I don't see it at all. I don't see that being a problem. And I really wish that the media would move on and start focusing on what- on focusing on what he can bring to the secretary- at Secretary of Defense because he has a lot of good attributes, too. But we only focus on the negative.
As we noted at the outset of the media’s coverage of the personal and unverified allegations against Hegseth:
What we are watching unfold in real time is nothing less than the Kavaborking of Pete Hegseth. On the one hand, there is the drip-drip-drip of unsourced allegations of excessive alcohol consumption and sexual impropriety, similar to what we saw during the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court.
On the other, the ferocious ideological opposition to the nominee. In performing his credentialist disqualification attack, CBS’s John Dickerson revealed the TRUE objection to Hegseth’s nomination, which is that he isn’t a card-carrying member of the D.C. Blob.
Had the Secretary-designate supported the continuance of transgender soldier policy, and drag shows on board military bases, and the supremacy of DEI and CRT training at the expense of basic operational readiness. Consider, for example, the USS Bonhomme Richard, a $1.2 billion dollar amphibious helicopter carrier that had to be scrapped after suffering catastrophic damage in a shipboard fire while docked in San Diego. Subsequent investigations revealed a lack of training and accountability. It should be noted that the experts are currently in charge at the DoD.
But Hegseth is a reformer at odds with D.C. consensus on how the Department of Defense should be run. Hence, he must be destroyed.
Mullin put Tapper on his back foot by tying the unfounded allegations to the trauma endured by our combat veterans while dismissing the allegations of alcoholism against Hegseth. Second, he exposed the hypocrisy of these unsourced allegations by pointing out the functional alcoholism in D.C. and in the media.
In all likelihood, the media will continue to try to kill the Hegseth nomination. That doesn’t mean that they have to do so unabated.
