Fox News host Pete Hegseth suggested on Monday that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine “pales in comparison” to the right-wing culture wars being fought on the battleground of American cable television.
Hegseth, who co-hosted Fox’s coverage of this month’s Conservative Political Action Conference, cited attendees who said that while “what is happening in Ukraine is important,” it doesn’t come close to measuring up to “the wokeness I see in my culture.”
While interviewing Hegseth on Monday, anchor Harris Faulkner said the “backdrop was grim” for President Joe Biden’s upcoming State of the Union address as he struggles with “cratering poll numbers.” She also noted that Biden has reportedly made last-minute changes to his speech to address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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“Pete, we do know, at least from reports, that the president will shift in something, in terms of bringing Ukraine into his comments at the State of the Union tomorrow night,” she said.
“Yeah, he will,” the Fox & Friends Weekend co-host responded. “I mean, I don’t envy the White House speechwriter whose task it is to take the last year-and-a-half and try to make it look rosy.”
After agreeing with an Associated Press headline claiming the U.S. is in “a state of disunity, funk and peril,” Hegseth referenced his recent conversations with conservatives to declare that the increasingly deadly situation in Ukraine simply doesn’t compare to the menace of woke society.
“I was at CPAC this weekend talking to conservatives and young people,” the Trump loyalist proclaimed. “And they said, yes, what’s happening in Ukraine is important, but it pales in comparison to the crime I see in my streets, to the wokeness I see in my culture, to the inflation I see in my pocketbook, to the real border I care about, which is the southern border, which is wide open.”
As footage of a besieged Ukraine rolled on-screen, Hegseth added: “On every single issue, the quality of life of average Americans has gone down.”
While mounting a stiff resistance and inflicting significant casualties that have slowed the invading Russian forces, Ukraine has already suffered hundreds if not thousands of casualties to both its military and civilian population. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees have fled the country for safety and the specter of a world war casts a pall across the globe.
