ProPublica’s Flawed Attack on Pete Hegseth Highlights the Urgent Need to Eliminate Partisanship in the Military

A failed smear attempt against Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth has laid bare the blatant partisanship within both military ranks and the media.

It has demonstrated precisely why President-elect Donald Trump requires a reform-minded individual like Hegseth to lead the Pentagon.

On X on Wednesday, Hegseth highlighted a forthcoming hit piece, stating: “We understand that ProPublica (the partisan hack organization) is set to publish a knowingly false report asserting that I was not accepted to West Point in 1999.”

To eliminate any skepticism, he shared a photo of his acceptance letter from then-West Point Superintendent, Lt.-Gen. Daniel Christman.

ProPublica senior editor Jesse Eisinger responded with condescending arrogance: “We contacted West Point’s public affairs, who stated on the record twice that he hadn’t even applied there. We reached out. Hegseth’s spokesperson provided us with his acceptance letter. We didn’t publish a story. That’s journalism.”

Eisinger followed up with an extensive 11-part thread (capping it off with “This is how journalism is supposed to work!”), yet he never clarified why the outlet pursued this story initially—nor why ProPublica did not investigate other claims, such as those made by Tim Walz.

The reality is that ProPublica functions less as a news outlet and more as a left-wing “opposition research” organization, financed by mysterious “anonymous” donors seeking to unearth scandalous information (some possibly accurate) about Republicans and conservatives.

This is evident in their attacks against Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

It remains puzzling how the West Point public affairs team conveniently provided false information that aligned with ProPublica’s narrative—an explanation that might have breached the Privacy Act even if the information had been true.

A legitimate news outlet might have used these events to expose the forces attempting to derail this nomination.

One has to wonder if someone from within the academy or higher up the chain of command suggested that ProPublica pursue this story.

It is clear that leadership is anxious about Hegseth’s and Trump’s declared plans to dismiss “woke” generals who have ascended to positions as politically minded individuals in uniform.

Hegseth was fortunate to have that 20-year-old letter at the ready: Without solid evidence to counter their claims, ProPublica might have proceeded with publishing the falsehood, only to issue a retraction if absolutely necessary.

With the enthusiastic complicity of senior Pentagon “career” officials, Democrats have for years promoted political correctness and mandatory DEI “re-education” among our troops.

It is even simpler to place political partisans in civilian roles at West Point.

In fact, the military academy “voluntarily” removed “duty, honor, country” from its mission statement in March.

The longer the battle over Hegseth’s nomination persists, the clearer it becomes that someone like Pete is needed to begin restoring integrity at the Pentagon.

America deserves a military focused on fulfilling its mission, not on appeasing the left.