This article is part 1 of Technofascism Incorporated, an ongoing series exposing the corporate chieftains, Big Tech oligarchs, oil barons, and Wall Street fixers who have seized control of Trump’s second-term cabinet. Together, they are building a regime where monopoly capital and state power merge to secure U.S. imperial dominance in a world slipping from its grasp.
As Trump’s second term begins, his cabinet appointments read like a bad joke with deadly consequences. Among the most telling is Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense. Hegseth isn’t just another cog in the imperial machine—he embodies the whole blueprint for how militarism, propaganda, and corporate power merge to sustain a crumbling empire.
From Wall Street to war zones to Fox News, Hegseth has worn the many hats of empire’s loyal servant. His Princeton pedigree and Harvard credentialing are badges of a system designed to groom managers of exploitation. As a soldier, he fought in the imperial wars that hollowed out Iraq and Afghanistan. As a media personality, he peddled the justifications for those wars, spinning massacres into missions and plunder into patriotism.
Pete Hegseth’s unabashed advocacy for U.S. military supremacy can be traced to his explicit support for the continued occupation of Afghanistan. In a 2021 Fox News op-ed, Hegseth lamented the U.S. withdrawal as a “betrayal of American values” and a signal of “weakness to our enemies”[1]. His framing completely ignored the colossal human toll of the war—over 170,000 Afghan lives lost and an entire generation left to rebuild amid ruin. Instead, Hegseth’s focus was on the optics of imperial retreat, reinforcing his commitment to a vision of perpetual warfare justified by American exceptionalism.
Similarly, Hegseth has been a vocal proponent of bolstering military aid to Israel, aligning with the most aggressive policies of the U.S.-Israeli alliance. In 2023, he tweeted that “a strong Israel means a strong America,” encapsulating his worldview that U.S. imperial interests are inextricably tied to the subjugation of Palestine[2]. These positions expose Hegseth not as a defender of democracy but as an unapologetic enforcer of empire, willing to perpetuate violence to maintain U.S. hegemony.
Hegseth doesn’t just believe in American exceptionalism; he evangelizes it. His public persona is that of a no-nonsense patriot defending “freedom,” but his career reveals something far darker: an ideological devotion to the perpetual maintenance of U.S. global supremacy at any cost. His nomination as Secretary of Defense is not just a political appointment—it’s a declaration of intent. Trump’s America is doubling down on militarism, repression, and the marriage of state and corporate power to manage the deepening crisis of U.S. imperialism.
Pete Hegseth arrives at the Pentagon during a moment of profound instability for U.S. imperialism. The old tools of dominance—military intervention, economic coercion, and ideological control—are no longer working as they once did. The unipolar world order has fractured, with China and other rising powers challenging U.S. hegemony. The Global South, long subjected to the boot of empire, is finding new ways to resist, through regional alliances, alternative financial systems, and bold defiance of Washington’s dictates.
Hegseth’s obsession with militarizing every facet of society is perhaps best exemplified by his advocacy for expanding the Department of Defense’s role in education. As the chair of Concerned Veterans for America, Hegseth argued in 2018 that JROTC programs should be mandatory in public high schools, claiming they would “instill discipline and patriotism in a generation that has lost its way”[3]. This proposal reflects a deeply authoritarian impulse: the belief that military discipline should replace critical thinking as the foundation of civic life.
His embrace of domestic militarization extends to his support for the militarized policing of protests. In 2020, during the George Floyd uprisings, Hegseth declared on Fox & Friends that “it’s time to restore order by any means necessary,” endorsing then-President Trump’s invocation of the Insurrection Act[4]. This chilling endorsement of deploying the military against U.S. citizens laid bare Hegseth’s vision of governance: one where dissent is met with brute force, and the tools of war are wielded not just abroad but at home.
Rather than adapt to this reality of impeeial decline, the United States is leaning into its most destructive tendencies. Hegseth is the perfect figure for this strategy. He champions a muscular, unrestrained militarism that frames every challenge to U.S. dominance as an existential threat. His vision of defense is indistinguishable from offense: more bombs, more bases, and more surveillance, both abroad and at home. For Hegseth, diplomacy is a weakness, and restraint is a betrayal.
His appointment represents the desperation of an empire in decline. As U.S. imperialism loses its grip, it relies more heavily on brute force to maintain control. But this reliance only deepens the contradictions at the heart of the system, accelerating the decline it seeks to halt.
Hegseth doesn’t just represent a policy of endless war; he embodies the creeping militarization of every aspect of American life. As a media figure, he has spent years turning military service into a cultural fetish, valorizing soldiers while ignoring the human cost of war. His rhetoric reduces complex global dynamics to simplistic narratives of good versus evil, where America is always the righteous hero. This militarization extends beyond foreign policy.
At home, Hegseth’s ideology dovetails with the authoritarian tendencies of Trump’s second term. The Department of Defense under his leadership will not just be a tool for global domination; it will be an instrument of domestic control. Surveillance, border militarization, and the suppression of dissent will likely escalate under Hegseth’s watch. In his worldview, the military is not just a defender of the nation but the enforcer of its hierarchical order.
Hegseth’s role as a propagandist for U.S. militarism is amplified by his savvy manipulation of media platforms. As a host on Fox News, he frequently champions military contractors like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, once stating in a 2019 segment that their technologies are “essential for keeping America safe”[5]. This blatant cheerleading for the military-industrial complex glosses over the obscene profits these companies reap from endless wars and the devastating consequences of their weapons systems on civilian populations worldwide.
Moreover, Hegseth has consistently praised Big Tech’s collaboration with the Pentagon, particularly in advancing drone warfare. In a 2022 interview, he described AI-driven drones as “the future of combat,” praising companies like Palantir for their innovations[6]. What he neglects to mention is the human cost of these advancements—the countless lives lost to indiscriminate drone strikes, often based on flawed algorithms and faulty intelligence. Hegseth’s enthusiasm for these technologies underscores his role as a mouthpiece for a system where profit and power take precedence over human life.
Hegseth’s rise is inseparable from the broader trends reshaping capitalism in the 21st century. The fusion of military power, corporate greed, and digital surveillance—what can only be called technofascism—is the defining feature of the new imperialism. Hegseth has been a loyal foot soldier in this system, leveraging his platform to defend Big Oil’s destruction, Big Tech’s intrusions, and Big Banks’ plunder.
While he criticizes tech companies for “censoring conservatives,” his critiques conveniently ignore the deeper issue: the monopolistic power of these corporations and their integration into the imperial project. Social media platforms, far from challenging the system, have become indispensable tools for managing it. They shape narratives, police dissent, and enable the surveillance state that Hegseth enthusiastically supports.
In this sense, Hegseth is not a critic of Big Tech; he is its accomplice. His appointment signals the further integration of technology into the military-industrial complex, a partnership that will enable new forms of violence and control both abroad and at home.
Hegseth’s nomination is not surprising; it’s inevitable. He is the natural choice for an empire that cannot escape its own contradictions. His career reflects the central dynamics of U.S. imperialism in its current stage: the reliance on force to compensate for declining legitimacy, the militarization of domestic governance, and the deepening alliance between the state and corporate power.
But Hegseth is also a symptom of a deeper rot. His ascension reflects the bankruptcy of an imperial system that has lost the ability to justify itself. His rhetoric, filled with bluster and bravado, cannot mask the reality that U.S. imperialism is no longer a project of global leadership—it is a desperate attempt to maintain dominance in a world that no longer accepts its rule.
Hegseth’s personal trajectory embodies the moral bankruptcy of U.S. empire. His tenure as CEO of Concerned Veterans for America saw the organization become a tool of Koch-funded lobbying, pushing for privatizing the Department of Veterans Affairs under the guise of “choice”[7]. Hegseth’s rhetoric about supporting veterans masks his role in dismantling the very services they rely on, prioritizing corporate profits over the well-being of those he claims to champion.
Even more damning is Hegseth’s casual glorification of violence. In 2017, he threw an ax during a live Fox & Friends broadcast, nearly injuring a West Point cadet[8]. While dismissed as a harmless stunt, the incident reveals a deeper truth: Hegseth’s cavalier attitude toward violence and recklessness. This is the man who may soon oversee the largest military in the world, a sobering reminder of the empire’s decay, where theatrical machismo is mistaken for leadership.
Pete Hegseth’s appointment should be understood for what it is: a declaration of war, not just on America’s perceived enemies abroad but on working people everywhere, including within the United States. His vision of “defense” is a vision of endless violence, repression, and exploitation.
But the system he represents is not invincible. The contradictions of U.S. imperialism are deepening, creating opportunities for resistance both globally and domestically. The fight against Hegseth’s Pentagon is not just a fight against one man or one administration; it is a fight against the entire apparatus of empire.
The challenge before us is immense, but so is the potential for change. Hegseth’s rise is a reminder that the old world is dying. It is up to us to ensure that what comes next is not another iteration of the same, but something new, something just, something revolutionary.
1. Hegseth, Pete. “The Afghanistan Withdrawal Betrays American Values.” Fox News, August 2021.
2. Hegseth, Pete. Tweet, January 2023. Accessed at https://twitter.com/petehegseth.
3. Concerned Veterans for America. “Hegseth Proposes Mandatory JROTC for Public High Schools.” CVA Press Release, May 2018.
4. Hegseth, Pete. Fox & Friends, June 2020.
5. Hegseth, Pete. “Why Raytheon and Lockheed Keep America Safe.” Fox News, July 2019.
6. Hegseth, Pete. Interview with Fox Nation, September 2022.
7. Concerned Veterans for America. “The Case for Privatizing the VA.” CVA Policy Paper, July 2017.
8. Hegseth, Pete. Fox & Friends live broadcast, June 2017.
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