‘Make America not wash their hands again’: Fox & Friends weekend warrior turned Pentagon chief doesn’t believe germs are ‘real’
The comically surreal nature of Donald Trump’s cabinet picks reached new heights Tuesday with his nomination of Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense—a Fox News host who once proudly declared he hadn’t washed his hands in a decade.
“I don’t think I’ve washed my hands for 10 years… I inoculate myself,” Hegseth announced on Fox & Friends in 2019. “Germs are not a real thing. I can’t see them; therefore, they’re not real.”
Though Hegseth later claimed the comments were meant as satire targeting “germaphobes,” the shocking statements reflect a broader pattern of rejecting basic reality. This trait seems a prerequisite for Trump’s inner circle. The 44-year-old Army veteran’s nomination represents more than just questionable hygiene practices. With no senior defense experience, Hegseth would take control of a $842 billion budget and command of 3 million military personnel and civilian employees.
His main qualifications? Co-hosting Fox & Friends weekends and writing a book denouncing what he calls the military’s “warped, woke and caustic policies.” The appointment signals Trump’s intent to install loyalists—no matter their experience—who will eagerly dismantle diversity initiatives within the armed forces, likely so that he can have an obedient armed force leadership that will commit dutifully to his every whim. Hegseth has openly called for firing military leaders involved in inclusion programs, including America’s top general.
In his recent book, Hegseth questioned whether Joint Chiefs Chairman General Charles Q. Brown Jr., a Black highly-decorated combat pilot with 130 combat flying hours and 40 years of service, earned his position based on merit or race. “Was it because of his skin color? Or his skill? We’ll never know, but always doubt,” he wrote.
Hegseth’s extremist views extend beyond attacking military leadership. In 2021, he was removed from President Biden’s inauguration security detail during FBI vetting over possible extremist ties. He sports tattoos associated with white supremacist movements, though he claims one is “just a Christian symbol.” The Fox News host has also vocally opposed women serving in combat roles, claiming it “hasn’t made us more effective” and that men are historically “more capable” in such positions.
This nomination transforms the Pentagon from the world’s most powerful military headquarters into what feels like a conservative media green room. It continues Trump’s pattern of tapping cable news personalities who have pledged public fealty and political loyalists for crucial national security roles, regardless of qualification. The sheer audacity of nominating someone who publicly rejected the existence of germs to lead the Defense Department would be part of a Saturday Night Live sketch if the stakes weren’t so high. This is the agency responsible for protecting America from very real, often invisible threats—from cyberattacks to biological weapons.
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