Tom Nichols: Our Allies Are Wondering How We Can Tolerate ‘Unqualified, Overgrown Adolescent’ Pete Hegseth as SecDef

EXCERPT:

NICHOLS: “Yeah. You know, when during the First — during the Second Gulf War, Donald Rumsfeld came out and he talked about old Europe, which was from a, you know, a very well known and respected public figure in America, that was considered kind of a zinger, you know. The war that we’re about to embark on is popular, but not with old Europe. And that was practically a diplomatic incident. I think that our allies now look at this guy and they say, this isn’t even an adult. They don’t take him as seriously as they would take somebody like Rumsfeld. So even though Hegseth is saying vastly more insulting things, I imagine what our allies are actually saying is not how could he say such things to us? It’s how can the Americans tolerate having this completely unqualified, overgrown adolescent as their Secretary of Defense? And that reaches down into what kind of country is the United States? How stable is our ally that they can endure having this kind of, you know, completely unserious man in a very serious position?”