Donald Trump continues to hire the best people — if by "best people," you mean men with concerning allegations of sexual misconduct and misogyny. And Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, is leading the way. After the Trump administration was reportedly “blindsided” by a graphic, disturbing 2017 rape allegation against Hegseth earlier this month, over the weekend, a 2018 email to Hegseth from his mother resurfaced, in which she called her own son an “abuser of women.”
The New York Times published the 400-word email on Sunday. Hegseth’s mother, Penelope Hegseth, wrote to her son and his second wife Samantha while they were getting a divorce. “You are an abuser of women—that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego,” Penelope said. “You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”
Penelope continued, “For you to try to label [Samantha] as ‘unstable’ for your own advantage is despicable and abusive. Is there any sense of decency left in you? … I don’t want to debate with you. You twist and abuse everything I say anyway. But… On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say … get some help and take an honest look at yourself.”
Since the Times published the email, Penelope told the outlet she regretted it and apologized to her son, while Trump’s communications director called the email “despicable” in a statement. (I, personally, think society would benefit from more mothers reading their misogynistic, potentially abusive sons for filth!) Hegseth has been married three times, most recently to his Fox News colleague Jennifer Rauchet in 2019. He shares three children with Samantha and one with Rauchet. Each of his three divorces was reportedly caused by infidelity, which... was probably a plus to someone like Trump!
The publication of the deservedly scathing email comes at the same time as a lengthy New Yorker report, which detailed extensive allegations of misconduct and workplace sexism from Hegseth at his previous two employers, nonprofit veteran advocacy organizations Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America. Hegseth was reportedly forced to resign from both in 2012 and 2016 respectively. Former colleagues and contemporaneous records say Hegseth was prone to aggressive alcoholism while on the job, frequently showing up to events while intoxicated and, on several occasions, needing to be forcibly carried out of these events. He and his management team also reportedly sexually pursued several female staffers.
The New Yorker reports that under Hegseth’s tenure, a CVA volunteer “was so concerned about the rampant promiscuity and sexism” at the organization “that she sent an email to CVA’s headquarters complaining about a lack of professionalism, an unhealthy workplace, and an atmosphere in which women were unfairly treated.” It’s not entirely surprising that a man who says women don’t belong in combat roles would foster a virulently hostile work environment for women.
Earlier this month, police released their initial report on the rape allegation against Hegseth from 2017. The woman, called Jane Doe, told police she believed she may have been drugged when she found herself in Hegseth’s hotel room during a political convention in Monterey, California. Doe alleged that Hegseth took her phone and trapped her in his room before raping her. She went to the hospital for a sexual assault exam shortly after, and the nurse who helped her reported the assault to police. Hegseth denied the rape, but the police report shows that he acknowledged that Doe “showed early signs of regret” after the encounter. No charges were brought against Hegseth, but this is by no means the exoneration that Hegseth and Trump’s team claim it is: The Monterey County District Attorney’s office simply said in a statement that “no charges were supported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
On November 21, Matt Gaetz, Trump’s original pick for attorney general, withdrew from consideration, facing allegations that he sex trafficked and had several encounters with a 17-year-old girl in 2017. Other Trump picks who face sexual misconduct allegations include Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump tapped to run the Health and Human Services Department, and Elon Musk, who allegedly sexually harassed a flight attendant in 2016 and was appointed by Trump to run a made-up government department to destroy the government. And Trump himself, of course, was found civilly liable for sexual abuse in 2023 and is also accused of sexual assault and harassment by over two dozen women.
Even in the face of this utter mountain of disqualifying allegations, the GOP has stood unequivocally with Hegseth. And… who is surprised, at this point?
