The debut of United States Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, abroad attracted attention, but annoyed some republicans and allies from Europe, where his comments on Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) fell like a bomb.
His blunt speaking, however, made him win the approval of an important interlocutor: US President Donald Trump.
Hegseth, who this Saturday ends a trip over a week to Belgium, Germany and Poland, delivered a message that is present in the heart of the Agenda “America First”, Trump’s slogan.
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Speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, Hegseth said the return of pre-2014 Ukrainian borders is unreal, and that the Trump government does not see Ukraine’s affiliation to OTAN as part of a solution to the war that was Started by the Russian invasion in 2022.
Trump supported Hegseth’s comments on NATO affiliation, saying, “I think it’s probably true,” because, according to him, Putin would not allow Ukraine to enter the military alliance.
“I think his comments were good yesterday, and they are probably good today too,” said the president.
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But not all were so positive.
“I don’t know who wrote the speech. It’s the kind of thing Tucker Carlson would write, and Carlson is a dizzy, ”Senator Roger Wicker, a Republican who leads the main committee that supervises the Pentagon in the Senate, told the politician. Carlson is a conservative personality of the American media and was a commentator of Fox News.
Wicker defended Hegseth’s appointment during his confirmation, when Democrats joined the nominee and three republicans joined them. Questions were asked about their qualifications, temperament and opinions about women in combat.
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Asked if it was spent a lot of political capital to confirm Hegseth, a military veteran and former Fox Newscoming, Wicker said: “I certainly spent, yes.”
Republican parliamentarian Mike Turner said issues such as the future of Ukrainian affiliation to NATO should not be taken from the table.
“We don’t need members of the Cabinet, President Trump’s office to define it in public,” Turner told CNN on Friday.
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Republican congressman Don Bacon responded to Hegseth’s comments saying that there should be moral clarity about who the war began.
“There are consequences in rewarding the invader, even if its leader has taken more than 700,000 of its citizens to the massacre,” Bacon said at X.
Trump minimized any tensions. On Friday, he said he had not seen Wicker’s comments, but would contact him and Hegseth.
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“Roger is a great friend of mine and, Pete is obviously he has done a great job,” said Trump.
