President-elect Donald Trump is putting together "the most reform-oriented Cabinet" in the "lifetime" of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who expects leftist and even some establishment efforts to "destroy" Trump's pick for defense secretary — Pete Hegseth.
"I'm watching President Trump create the most reform-oriented Cabinet in my lifetime," Gingrich told "The Cats Roundtable" on WABC 77 FM-N.Y. on Sunday morning.
The disruptor nominees are long needed to conduct "a complete overhaul" at the Pentagon, Gingrich told host John Catsimatidis, adding that the choices for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and Hegseth would make an "amazing team."
But Trump's Cabinet picks are going to face potentially historic obstruction, particularly in Hegseth, according to Gingrich.
"It's going to take enormous courage and resilience on the part of Pete Hegseth to survive over there because the whole old order is going to try to destroy him," Gingrich warned. "I've been actively involved in thinking about and working on defense for an extraordinarily long time: And I can tell you, the building needs a very complete overhaul."
All of the three- and four-star generals should be sent out and given retirement papers, a source told Gingrich.
"I had one senior person in the military who retired, who was working with Trump, who said he would recommend the president have every three and four star general retire — and then go down to two stars to pick a whole new generation of leaders," Gingrich said.
"He thinks between Obama and Biden, the whole system has just been undermined and corrupted."
Trump is reportedly weighing an executive order to conduct external reviews of U.S. military generals — potentially having them interview to keep their jobs in the Pentagon that might lead to their dismissals after the deadly Afghanistan withdrawal and wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Gingrich also spoke about the overhaul of Congress, including new Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
Gingrich said Thune is a "good guy" who "bridges everybody" and Johnson has the “hardest job in Washington today" with the slimmest of margins with a presumptive 220-213 majority with two races left to call.
"I think one of Trump's commitments ought to be to try to turn the cities red so that they actually have jobs, have safety and have decent, honest government," Gingrich concluded. "Now, that's a pretty good project."