Amaryllis Fox

To claim that multi-tour combat veteran Pete Hegseth is unqualified to lead our armed forces is the epitome of Beltway elitism. More than half a dozen Secretaries of Defense have had zero combat experience. Men who have never even served in the military -- men with nothing more than academic or civil service experience -- were tapped to lead the Pentagon by Democrats and Republicans, including Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton. War is not academic. War needs no more bureaucracy. Yet fully half of this century’s Secretaries of Defense have been academics and bureaucrats. The result has been disastrous. Our heroic troops deserve a leader who knows the Hell through which he leads them. A leader who endured the same trials for our sacred flag. A leader who, like them, abandoned the comforts of home to risk life and limb for freedom. Maybe @SenWarren would recognize this, if she herself had ever sacrificed the same. @PeteHegseth embodies the ideal of military leadership — a warrior who puts himself in danger before ever asking others to risk their own lives. He has fought for our country, trained our allies, detained those who aim to destroy us, and lifted up our veterans in need. Shame on any politician who calls such an exemplary leader unqualified, while enjoying the freedoms and comforts that he guarded with his life.