HUGH HEWITT: A perfect first week for President Trump (with an asterisk)

Only President Donald Trump and his inner circle could have expected such a successful first week of his presidency. Trump did the governing equivalent of batting 1.000 or hitting 10 for 10 from behind the arc in the NBA. It was a perfect first week for the returning president —with a big asterisk. 

There are a score of actions and a couple of speeches, including the inaugural address and the blunt remarks to the Davos crowd, that I could list as big wins for Trump, but his most significant steps are (1) his announcement of the goal for all NATO nations of defense budgets at 5% of their GDP, and (2) his Executive Order on ending DEI in the government and within those institutions receiving federal dollars. 

In the U.S., the defense hike would mean a national security spend of $1.45 trillion on the military compared to the current level of $886 billion. We must do this to protect ourselves from the gathering storm that is the alliance of our enemies: China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. 

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All four countries are led by evil governments that exploit their people. Iran is the most obviously malevolent actor among them and Iran is —right now— trying to kill Americans at home here, including the president himself, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Special Envoy on Iran Brian Hook and others. Everyone on Iran’s target list should have 24/7/365 protection. 

Pulling security from anyone who is a target of an enemy state is weakness on parade and constitutes waving a red flag in front of the mullahs and the IRGC.

Thus, the asterisk. It’s a big one. Late in the week, the president and newly minted Secretary of State Marco Rubio ended the security for Pompeo et al. No reasons were given. Supporters of the president, including me and, far more importantly, many senators were stunned. 

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First, the threat from Iran against Pompeo, Hook and others is very real and ongoing. Even Bill Clinton hammered Saddam Hussein with massive bombing when Hussein mounted an attempt against George H.W. Bush. That was probably Clinton’s strongest moment as president. The decision to strip security from targeted Americans, if not reversed, could well be President Trump’s weakest in both terms and a defining moment if the Iranians, who have tried before, try again and succeed against one of their targets. 

The consequences of the withdrawal of the security details on the ayatollahs must be that they perceive a provocation —a taunt— and an invitation to strike here. Such a strike would be terrible for the targets and by-standers, but also for everyone who wants to deter war with Iran, not go to war with it. 

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If the mullahs and the IRGC succeed, our response would have to be war. Foreign nations simply may not attack our homeland or our former officials. The same standard applies to former President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Kerry though they are not known to be on Iran’s hit list. 

What are the details about the hit list? Joe Kent, who is now chief of staff at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and slated to lead National Counterterrorism Threat Center, testified Friday in a classified setting. Kent immediately said "Yes" when asked by Sen, Tom Cotton, R-Ark., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, if Kent would want security for himself or his family if he were in the reports the Senate Intel Committee reviewed that day. (The intelligence they were discussing is classified but not that Q-and-A, and many people in the room heard it and can confirm.)

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So President Trump and Secretary Rubio—neither of whom could have had a briefing on these ongoing, very specific threats given the timing of the decision to pull security— were very poorly served by whomever made this recommendation to them on whatever grounds. 

I can’t believe that, if either the president or the Secretary of State gets the briefing, both don’t instantly restore the security and rebuke whomever said the Iranians had been deterred. Trump and Rubio both understand Iran and how Iran reacts to perceived weakness. Pulling security from targets is weak. 

The Iranians still want to kill President Trump and everyone involved in the decision to stop Qasem Soleimani in Iraq on January 3, 2020, before the Iranian general killed more Americans there. Iran has more than once tried to take out people on their payback list, and the crazed theocrats never stop coming at their targets. 

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Pulling security from anyone who is a target of an enemy state is weakness on parade, and constitutes waving a red flag in front of the mullahs and the IRGC. If God forbid anyone, much less a former Secretary of State, is attacked, wounded or killed by Iran, it will forever tarnish the reputation and legacy of the president and Secretary Rubio.  It should also mean instant and massive retaliation against Tehran, but why invite the attack or not harden the targets? Does someone actually want a war with Iran?

The president and Secretary Rubio should blast whomever in their circle made the recommendation for this decision for endangering not just the targets but the whole country, which would be greatly damaged if the assassins got through the threat. 

Hopefully, the president will reverse the State Department’s orders immediately and also talk specifically to the Iranians: "If you even think about this, I’ll flatten you." Trump’s "hell to pay" comment got the attention of Hamas. POTUS and Secretary Rubio need to get the attention of the mullahs as well, not send the signal that has been sent. Restore the security details and let the ayatollahs know there is the brightest of red lines around the targets past and present.

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Some have argued that private citizens should pay for their own security. That’s a stupid and reflexively anti-Trump comment. Trump is going to issue a bunch of hard orders over the next four years, especially against the cartels. Who is going to relay those orders and organize their execution if they doubt for a moment the U.S. will stand by them and most especially their families for however long it takes? Moreover, "private security" is simply far below that which our government provides because "private security" doesn’t know what’s coming at a target. Our Intel agencies tell federal security details what’s in the works. They don’t tell private armed guards. 

Clinton set the standard more than 30 years ago when on June 27, 1993, 23 Tomahawk missiles were launched by two Navy warships into downtown Baghdad after Saddam Hussein had tried to kill the first President Bush, while 41 was on a visit to Kuwait in April of that year. Trump shouldn’t want to lower the standard, and certainly doesn’t want to Pompeo or others attacked, America drawn into a war, or be perceived as weak or ill-informed. 

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Hugh Hewitt is host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show," heard weekdays from 3 pm to 6 pm ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990.  Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting.