Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth launched his term as the leader of the Pentagon early on Saturday with a combination of humility and humor — and a warning to potential foes that was deadly serious.
After taking the oath of office thanks to a tie-breaking vote in the Senate cast by Vice President J.D. Vance, Hegseth cracked up the crowd with an allusion to both men’s military service.
Vance is a Marine Corps veteran. Hegseth is a former officer in the Army National Guard.
“It’s not the first time the headline reads ‘Junior Enlisted Marine Bails Out Junior Army Officer,’” Hegseth joked, drawing a laugh from the audience and a visible chuckle from Vance.
WATCH: Secretary of Defense @PeteHegseth‘s full remarks upon swearing in pic.twitter.com/d4ukr5u8qK
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) January 25, 2025
At another point, he joked again, this time noting that his children had been present for the vote — and the drama that surrounded it.
“Sen. Markwayne Mullin was nice enough to take my kids up to the gallery to watch the actual moment the vice president sealed the deal,” Vance said, referring to the Oklahoma Republican.
“And they came running in and said, ‘Dad’ — instead of being sad about it being 51-50 — they said, ‘Dad, you won in overtime.’”
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Considering the route Hegseth has taken to the defense secretary’s job, humor and humility are likely to come in handy.
From the time his nomination was announced, he was a high-profile target by Senate Democrats and the establishment media.
Unidentified sources claimed that he drank on the job with Fox. He was accused of sexual improprieties — beyond his marital infidelity, which was well-documented.
(Hegseth is on his third marriage and has acknowledged drinking heavily in the past.)
In a late-surfacing attack, reported by NBC, the former wife of Hegseth’s brother delivered a sworn affidavit accusing Hegseth of being physically and sexually abusive toward his former wife, Samantha Hegseth.
But Hegseth persisted — with the support of now-President Donald Trump.
Jokes aside, in his address after being sworn in, he thanked his supporters in the Senate and his staffers, as well as his supporters beyond D.C.
“There were so many folks on the inside, and allies on the outside, who stood by us every single moment, and we’re eternally grateful for that,” he said.
And he especially thanked the men and women in the military that will be under his command.
“Other people don’t know what they did in dark and dangerous places, but I know,” he said. “And at the Pentagon, we’re going to remember, and we’re going to know. And we’re going to think about those warriors with every single decision that we make.”
He repeated the philosophy he’s bringing to the office.
“Restore the warrior ethos in everything that we do,” he said. “Rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence.”
And he had some words potential enemies should pay attention to.
“We don’t want to fight wars, he said, “but if we need to fight them, we’re going to bring overwhelming and decisive force to close with and destroy the enemy and bring our boys home.”
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