Pete Hegseth's Opinion on Women in Combat Sparks Debate

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, reigniting debates over women in combat roles.

Quote Under Fire: "I'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated," Hegseth said in a recent interview on "The Shawn Ryan Show" podcast.

Opinion From the Left: Writing for MSNBC (Left bias), activist and military veteran Charlotte Clymer highlighted allegations of personal misconduct and sexual assault against Hegseth, and said she doesn’t understand why Hegseth’s public comments on women in combat roles didn’t disqualify him for the position before any of the other issues surfaced. Clymer went on to claim Hegseth is “stridently opposed to women in combat” because he “feels threatened by women who do meet the standard of excellence.”

Opinion From the Right: Victor Joecks, writing for The Daily Signal (Right bias), argued Hegseth’s opinion wasn’t popular with the “propaganda press.” He opined that differences between men and women are not imposed by society, but rather by biology, while recognizing that many disagree over this sentiment. He then pointed to U.S. military physical fitness requirements being lower for women than men, saying these differences matter in combat, alluding to a 2015 Marines experiment comparing all-male squads' performance against mixed-sex ones.