MAGA media ramp up 'full-throated defense' of Trump’s embattled defense nominee

06 December 2024

With the embattled Pete Hegseth facing allegations of everything from sexual assault (the former Fox News host was never charged with anything and flatly denied the accuser's claims) to public drunkenness and severe alcohol abuse, President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering withdrawing his nomination of Hegseth for defense secretary — and nominating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis instead for that position. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, on December 4, told CNN's Manu Raju he would consider "voting yes" if DeSantis becomes the nominee.

But Hegseth is still Trump's pick for defense secretary, and he has vowed to keep fighting for votes from GOP senators.

During an appearance on The New Republic's "Daily Blast" podcast, Media Matters' Matt Gertz discussed the divide between GOP senators who would like to see someone other than Hegseth as the nominee and far-right MAGA media pundits who are aggressively defending him.

When Sargent asked Gertz if there is "any way Hegseth survives this," the Media Matters reporter responded, "I think there is."

Gertz told Sargent, "What we're seeing right now is a test of the power that the right-wing media has within the MAGA movement. Some sort of flair clearly went up over the last 24 hours because after largely remaining passive and backing off from the nomination as all of these damning reports came out, people at Fox (News) and throughout the right-wing media have started rallying to Hegseth's defense."

Gertz noted that a "full-throated defense of Hegseth" has been "coming from the MAGA movement," including "people like Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobiec."

The Media Matters reporter predicted that MAGA Republicans will ramp up their demonization of the mainstream media in the weeks and months ahead.

"When the media actually reports facts about Trump and his administration and his administration figures and policies," Gertz told Sargent, "MAGA will turn everything into a test of whether Republicans are on the side of the liberal media or on the side of Trump. And since Trump has spent years threatening, in another administration, to use the power of the state against the media, he has raised expectations among the MAGA masses that this will happen. So when these big tests start arising, the pressure will intensify on figures in the government to actually do this stuff — not just talk about it, to do it."

Greg Sargent's full interview with Media Matters' Matt Gertz is available at this link.

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