Pete Hegseth Quotes

#1. The choices Israelis face and the decisions they make, day in and day out, are literally the difference between life and death. In many ways, I liken their reactions to the way I felt while serving in Iraq.

Pete Hegseth

#2. Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) has called for an audit of the Pentagon, so that we finally have some transparency and accountability in how DOD spends taxpayer dollars.

Pete Hegseth

#3. Combat duty is strenuous and physically demanding, and I'm not the first person to notice that men and women are built differently. And while many will argue that women will only be allowed into combat arms units under the same requirements as their male counterparts, count me as skeptical.

Pete Hegseth

#4. Whether we like it or not, gender differences matter in a combat situation.

Pete Hegseth

#5. President Lincoln chose to fight a bloody and unpopular war because he believed the enemy had to be defeated. He was right.

Pete Hegseth

#6. Political correctness is a poison to our security and defenses. It imposes a willful blindness, both at the macro level when unwilling to engage with radical Islamism or whatever you want to call it - if you're not willing to call it what it is - and at the micro level, at the street level.

Pete Hegseth

#7. It's a sense in Minnesota that we need to get back to common sense. We need to get back to taking sensible looks at positions and understanding the proper role of government.

Pete Hegseth

#8. As the publisher of the 'Tory,' I strive to defend the pillars of Western civilization against the distractions of diversity.

Pete Hegseth

#9. The incremental approach without a strategy doesn't improve the strategy.

Pete Hegseth

#10. As an infantry officer who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, I have led men in combat and trained them on tactics and strategy. The mission of the infantry is to 'close with, and destroy, the enemy.' Our job, in a direct way, is to fight and win wars.

Pete Hegseth

#11. The historic nature of Israel's struggle for self-determination, freedom, and prosperity underscores the gravity of their circumstances and fortifies my commitment to America's responsibility as their ally.

Pete Hegseth

#12. Being a defense hawk and a budget hawk are not mutually exclusive.

Pete Hegseth

#13. When Mr. Obama entered office, he said all the right things about getting Washington spending under control. He even promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. Obviously, that didn't happen.

Pete Hegseth

#14. Peace through strength works; but the flip side is war invited by weakness.

Pete Hegseth

#15. I think standing and fighting and working alongside all of these people that raise their right hand and serve their nation ... really wipes away the distractions of some of the petty things we think are important at home.

Pete Hegseth

#16. Congress will be tempted to wipe their hands of this, go to the Election Day and say 'we've done our part' and that's where groups like ours, Concerned Veterans for America, veterans across the country have to keep the heat on them to say this is just the start. VA is not fixed.

Pete Hegseth

#17. At Concerned Veterans for America, we've made the case that the defense budget could be targeted for spending reform, but in a targeted fashion that genuinely changes unsustainable spending trajectories while preserving U.S. defense capacity.

Pete Hegseth

#18. Veterans are driven by the same frustrations that the public has with what is happening in Washington ... the fiscal irresponsibility and the financial crisis that our country is facing.

Pete Hegseth

#19. I believe, if done correctly, eliminating Saddam and liberating Iraq could be the 'Normandy Invasion' or 'fall of the Berlin Wall' of our generation ... the Iraqi people are eager to be rid of Saddam, and there is equally encouraging evidence that republican principles could thrive there.

Pete Hegseth

#20. With the winding down of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States now has an opportunity to implement real defense reforms without having a serious impact on immediate battlefield needs.

Pete Hegseth