For the mainstream media, questioning the role of women in the workplace is alright as long as they’re c-words—conservatives, that is.
This week’s target is Jennifer Hegseth, wife of Secretary of Defense Pete, whose husband evidently relies on her for professional advice and guidance. According to a Washington Post report published April 30, Jennifer Hegseth “has informed her husband’s staff of media interviews he planned to do, underscoring a belief among some officials that she wields outsize influence over certain Pentagon operations.” The horror!
As the Post writes, such responsibilities typically “fall to dedicated media-engagement professionals employed by the Defense Department, not the secretary’s wife,” who in this case is a former Fox News producer with nearly two decades of television experience.
Hegseth’s devotion to his wife is such that he displays “jumbo photographs of his wife and family in his office” and “has been unequivocal about how important his wife is to him,” and while the Post clarified that it is common “for a defense secretary to display some photos of loved ones,” Hegseth’s collection is “atypical” and “especially striking.” Somebody stop this man.
This sort of coverage is hardly unique. During President Donald Trump’s first term, Politico’s Nahal Toosi produced in-depth reports raising questions about the role of then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s wife, Susan. Why did she accompany him on overseas trips? “Her close involvement in his career has attracted unwelcome scrutiny,” Politico reported. Sure—from Politico.
Then there was Florida’s first lady Casey DeSantis.
“Her role in Ron’s political and governing life has no exact limit or shape,” the Post wrote during the 2024 presidential primary campaign. “It is in the air in which he moves.” The governor and his wife were “insulated,” with a “level of distance between Ron and Casey and everyone else.” Weirdos!
What didn’t merit scrutiny from the mainstream press was the role DOCTOR Jill Biden played in the previous administration. First lady runs a cabinet meeting? Nothing to see here. (Now we know that in the Biden White House, her word “carried the most sway.”)
As it turns out, these ace reporters don’t have a great handle on what Americans expect of public figures when it comes to their relationships with their spouses. And conservatives can take comfort in the fact that the media’s endless simping for liberal women from Dr. Jill to Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton—and, in the case of the latter two, their predatory husbands—has been self-defeating.