Commentary
If I had a nemesis as a conservative political commentator, I guess it would be Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan. While I have been critical of the positions she has taken on issues and individuals, I have frequently remarked about her wordsmithing talent, dating back to the Reagan administration, where she was a speechwriter.
On November 28, 2024, I couldn’t help but reflect on her disdain for President Trump as she commented on his selection of Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, noting that past SecDef’s were “substantial and serious men who understood the thing they were running. They were serous diplomats,” she says. “Pete Hegseth? That’s crazy.”
I wrote that “Noonan was too quick to write off Hegseth,” forgetting some past losers as SecDef – William Cohen, Chuck Hagel, Ash Carter, and most recently, Mark Esper.
As a member of the Journal’s editorial board, she signed-on to its September 30, 2025 opinion piece, “Pete Hegseth and the Generals,” in which the group essentially stated that Hegseth and Trump talk a good game about the “warrior ethos,” and “peace through strength,” but that they would have more creditability if they also gave them more and better weapons to fight with.”
But that wasn’t biting enough for Noonan, who followed with her own bylined opinion piece on October 2, 2025, “The Embarrassing Pete Hegseth,” highly critical of the staging of his speech to the generals and admirals last week relating it to actor George C. Scott’s portrayal of General Patton.
She claimed Hegseth didn’t need to “summon” the brass to Quantico for the speech writing “he could have delivered it on video.” I’d like to ask her how memorable Reagan’s Pointe du Hoc speech would have been if it were shown on a screen at Normandy.
Hegseth calling the generals in gave her the opening to write about a phone call she received from a former general referring it to it as “just flat out bizarre.”
Readers may recall my suggestion to those serving under the Biden administration to resign if they couldn’t work in his defense department, knowing how but they enjoy the comfort of those stars on their shoulders.
Hegseth told the brass that they could resign if they disagreed with his decision to eliminate woke diversity policies, but Washington insiders believe the will simply “wait out” the Trump administration. They may have a long wait.
The way I see it, the generals and admirals may not like what they heard, but the rank and file of military guys like the idea of Hegseth and Trump having their backs. That was shown in the reception by the Navy of Hegseth, the First Lady and President Trump aboard the USS H.W. Bush.
And I’m confident that that “the boys of Pointe Du Hoc,” referred to in the Noonan speech written for Reagan’s 40th anniversary at Normandy, would too.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
