Pro-Trump Reporter Presses Hegseth on His Message to MAGA Supporters Who Are ‘Very Worried’ About ‘Boots on the Ground’

The Daily Wire’s chief White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for his message to MAGA supporters who are “very worried” about the idea that President Donald Trump may order “boots on the ground” in Iran – but the Pentagon chief remained guarded on the issue.

Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine held a briefing on the conflict on Tuesday morning and noted that “the upcoming days will be decisive” in the conflict.

The prospect of deploying ground troops to Iran has divided Republicans and the president’s voting base supporters.

Recent polling underscores the political sensitivity surrounding any escalation involving US ground troops in Iran. A new survey released this week by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that while 63% of Republicans support airstrikes on Iranian military targets, just 20% back deploying American troops, including roughly two in ten within Trump’s own base.

While Olohan did not raise the polling figures, she pressed Hegseth on the issue during a Q&A session at the end of his formal address.

“Without asking you to comment on things that you can’t talk about, what is your message to Americans who love the president and strongly believe in him, but are very worried about this notion of boots on the ground?” she asked, after an initial question about reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Hegseth, however, after addressing the scenario in the strait, provided little in the way of reassurances on a ground invasion and instead argued that at least the threat of optioning “boots on the ground” was important in the fight against the regime.

“As far as President Trump and boots on the ground, I don’t understand why the base, which they have already, they understand, wouldn’t have faith in his ability to execute on this. Look at his track record of pursuing peace through strength, America First outcomes,” the defense secretary began.

He added: “What he’s simply saying, and it’s exactly true, and I’ve said from this podium too, we’re not going to foreclose any option. You can’t fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do or what you are not willing to do, to include boots on the ground. Our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we could come at them with boots on the ground. And guess what? There are! So if we needed to, we could execute those options on behalf of the president of the United States and this department. Or maybe we don’t have to use them at all. Maybe negotiations work, or maybe there’s a different approach.”

Hegseth concluded: “But the point is to be unpredictable in that, certainly not let anybody know what you’re willing to do or not do, but if anybody has internalized the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan as the first one, President Donald Trump, to call them out what they are, he’s not going to repeat those lessons and I think I’ve been very clear about that from the podium.”

Watch above via CNN.

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