Despite facing the same character assassination playbook Democrats ran against Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary just days after Donald Trump took office.
But in just a couple of weeks’ time, he’s already proving to be the right choice for the job at hand.
And Fox & Friends co-hosts couldn’t believe their ears when Pete Hegseth made this jaw-dropping admission about one Trump plan.
A real war on drugs
Almost immediately after being sworn into office once again, President Donald Trump designated drug cartels who have been trafficking not only tons of fentanyl and other deadly drugs into America but also untold sums of illegal aliens, as foreign terrorist organizations.
By placing such a designation on the cartels, the U.S. can now “take targeted action against them, including financial penalties and even military action,” according to Fox News.
But what exactly would it look like if the U.S. military began taking action against cartels who are operating out of nearby foreign nations, like Mexico?
Some have speculated that special forces could be used to execute targeted attacks that aim to cripple the organizations, while others have suggested that a full-scale military operation could be commenced, particularly if Mexico and other nations don’t attempt to impede an effort that would undoubtedly significantly improve their citizens’ quality of life — which, unfortunately, isn’t a given due to immense corruption.
As a result, when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made his first appearance on Fox & Friends — the show he previously co-hosted — since being sworn in, his former co-host Brian Kilmeade asked whether Trump’s executive order permitted the Secretary to begin going after the cartels, especially in light of recent reports that they’ve begun shooting at Border Patrol from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande Valley.
“If we find that they continue to fire at Border Patrol and they continue to put fentanyl into our country, as a Secretary of Defense, are you permitted now to go after them in Mexico or where they are?” Kilmeade asked.
And while his past military training has rightly engrained in him that it’s never wise to tip your hand to the enemy before taking action, Hegseth made it clear that all options will be on the table for the President to make the best decision for the American people, which the Department of Defense will then execute.
“Brian, I don’t want to get ahead of the President and I won’t,” Hegseth replied. “That’s ultimately going to be his decision. But let me be clear — all options will be on the table if we’re dealing with what are designated to be foreign terrorist organizations who are specifically targeting Americans on our border.”
The Defense Secretary went on to note that for decades now, the U.S. military has gone to great lengths to defend other nation’s borders — at significant costs both in the form of American bloodshed, taxpayer expense, and national security — and declared that under Trump’s leadership, America is securing its own borders one way or another.
“We’re finally securing our border,” Hegseth added. “We’ve been securing other people’s border for a very long time. The military is orienting, shifting toward an understanding of homeland defense on our sovereign territorial border. That is something we will do and do robustly. So we’re already doing it.”
Blood on their hands
Under Hegseth’s leadership, the Department of Defense has thus far sent 1,600 troops to help Border Patrol secure the southern border, while also providing airlift support for flights operated by the Department of Homeland Security to facilitate the deportation of illegal aliens.
“Should there be other options necessary to prevent the cartels from continuing to pour people, gangs, and drugs and violence into our country — we will take that on,” Hegseth promised. “So the President will make that call. I’ll work with him in that decision-making process. Ultimately, we will hold nothing back to secure the American people.”
For his part, Trump has been equally vague about how exactly the military will be used to neutralize foreign drug cartels.
When he signed the executive order, a reporter asked the President if he would be taking military action against the cartels.
“Could happen,” Trump said. “Stranger things have happened.”
Trump previously said in 2023 that the drug cartels “are waging war on America,” and declared that it was “time for America to wage war on the cartels.”
“The drug cartels and their allies in the Biden administration have the blood of countless millions on their hands,” Trump added at the time. “Millions and millions of families and people are being destroyed. When I am back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again.”
Trump Border Czar Tom Homan and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz have both voiced support for unleashing special forces against the cartels.
But only time will tell what Donald Trump will ultimately decide to do to take out one of the biggest existential threats facing the nation.
