Late-night hosts discuss allegations of Pete Hegseth’s worrisome drinking and sexual misconduct, as well as outrage over Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter.
Stephen Colbert
On Wednesday evening, Stephen Colbert focused on Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News host and Donald Trump’s choice to be secretary of defense, who by all accounts has a “slight work problem when he shows up at drinking”, the Late Show host joked.
According to an NBC report, Hegseth’s drinking even worried colleagues at Fox News. “Reached for comment, Judge Jeanine Pirro said: ‘ahgusasinfarp’,” Colbert quipped.
In anonymous interviews, several of Hegseth’s former colleagues at Fox said that on more than a dozen occasions during his time as Fox & Friends Weekend cohost, they smelled alcohol on him before he went on air. “Come on, it’s a show that starts at 6am on the weekend – I’m sure a lot of morning hosts are still feeling it from the night before,” Colbert continued.
Though none of his former co-workers could recall a time when Hegseth missed a scheduled appearance because of his drinking, Colbert noted: “That’s great, because you know what everyone says when the drunk guy shows up at work: ‘Oh good, you’re here.’”
Amid cratering congressional support, Hegseth has attempted to defend his appointment by promising to remain sober. “This is the biggest deployment of my life, and there won’t be a drop of alcohol on my lips while I’m doing it,” he said.
“A bold pledge that can mean only one thing: he’s gonna butt chug,” Colbert quipped.
Trump’s support of Hegseth is reportedly teetering – “much like Pete Hegseth at a staff meeting”, Colbert joked – and he is mulling replacing him with Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis. While DeSantis has some defense qualifications, his nomination faces an uphill battle, as many in Trump’s orbit strongly dislike him.
“Wow, that is a weird way to find out I’m in Trump’s orbit,” said Colbert.
Jimmy Kimmel
In Los Angeles, Jimmy Kimmel expressed more frustration over the reaction to Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter on federal gun and tax charges. “I don’t love the idea that the president said he wasn’t going to pardon him and then he pardoned him,” he said. “But I’m also having a hard time digesting some of the outrage.”
“Over the past three, four days, I’ve heard every Republican screaming about this 24/7 on Fox News. And not just Republicans, Democrats too,” such as Adam Schiff, Gavin Newsom and Tim Kaine. “A lot of them are mad, but what I don’t remember – and maybe someone can help me with this – was hearing anyone from the right; I don’t remember hearing any Republican currently serving in the Senate or in the House, wagging their fingers or clucking their tongues when Donald Trump pardoned his friend Steve Bannon, or swindled a bunch of his Maga supporters out of their money for the wall, or for Paul Manafort or Roger Stone or Michael Flynn or Ivanka’s father-in-law Charles Kushner, who hired a prostitute to blackmail his sister’s husband.
“I don’t recall anyone on Fox News or Newsmax or anyone express a single negative thought about those pardons,” he continued. “But I am hearing anchors on CNN, MSNBC, pieces in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Atlantic, lambasting Joe Biden for pardoning Hunter. Isn’t that curious?
“I think Joe Biden made a mistake,” he added, explaining that the president should have justified the pardon by what would happen to Hunter under Trump’s administration. “He said he was pardoning his son because he was selectively prosecuted,” he said. “What he should have said is: ‘I’m pardoning him because I know if I don’t, you animals are going to keep tormenting him for the rest of his life. And the reason I know that you’re going to do this is because you guys are currently doing it.’
“Did Joe Biden do the right thing? No, he did not do the right thing,” he concluded. “If my son was in this situation, would I do what Joe Biden did? You’re goddamn right I would.”
The Daily Show
Trump might replace Pete Hegseth as his defense secretary pick, which would be sobering news if Pete wasn't so s**tfaced right now pic.twitter.com/cCf345HDnA
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) December 5, 2024
“Donald Trump is still constructing his next administration, but he seems to be doing it the same way that that billionaire built the Titanic submarine, because it’s imploding immediately,” said Ronny Chieng on The Daily Show, referring to cratering support for Hegseth after numerous reports of his excessive drinking.
“This would be very sobering news for Pete Hegseth if he wasn’t shitfaced right now,” Chieng joked. “I mean, if Hegseth doesn’t get confirmed, this is really going to make people question Trump’s strategy of giving the most unemployable people on Earth the hardest jobs that ever existed.”
Chieng said he almost felt bad for Hegseth. “He had it made – a cushy job on Fox News, a side hustle selling macho garbage on rightwing Instagram, a loving third family – and then Trump comes along and offers him a job and now his life is kinda fucked up. I mean, who could’ve seen that coming … other than Matt Gaetz, Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Cohen and everyone else Trump has ever come into contact with.”
