DAVID MARCUS: GOP trio missed the whole point of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth

Pete Hegseth squeaked through his Senate confirmation on Friday and became America’s new secretary of defense, but he needn’t thank Republican senators Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins.

For all three long-time establishment and anti-Trump senators, the main objection to Hegseth stepping into the top Pentagon job was that they believe he lacks the prerequisite experience to run the mammoth organization. Here is how Murkowski put it in an X post: “Managing the Department of Defense requires vast experience and expertise as the department is one of the most complex and powerful organizations in the world, and Mr. Hegseth’s prior roles in his career do not demonstrate to me that he is prepared for such immense responsibility.”

Pete Hegseth in uniform. (Fox News)

Never mind that Hegseth was educated at Princeton and Harvard and served more than a decade in the U.S. Army infantry. Forget that he rose to the rank of major…