How To Confirm a Defense Secretary

Plus: Office holiday parties and the Eagles’ valuation record

Happy Monday! We hope you’re enjoying the home stretch ahead of the holidays— to close out the year, we zoom in on the confirmation crisis unfolding in Washington in this year’s last edition of Out of Scope. Wishing everyone a happy 2025, with more to come in the next year. But first…

📡 ON OUR RADAR

• The holiday party is back. While its popularity has fluctuated, it’s still a key opportunity to strengthen culture, foster connections, and engage employees— especially Gen Z, many of whom started their careers virtually.

• They may not be heads of state or Hollywood icons, but ensuring executive safety is critical and costly. New reporting shows Meta spends eight figures protecting Mark Zuckerberg, while Apple and Alphabet invest millions to safeguard their CEOs.

• Rising costs of food, housing, and medical care mean lower-income households are spending less. Retailers like dollar stores have attempted to pivot, but consumers aren’t buying it.

💡 ON OUR MINDS: How To Confirm a Defense Secretary

• Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, is facing a complicated reputation management crisis ahead of his potential confirmation.

• A former Army National Guard officer and Fox News host, he’s faced criticism for his POV on women and LGBTQ Americans serving in the military. An additional slew of allegations around sexual assault, alcohol intake, and financial mismanagement haven’t exactly streamlined his confirmation, either.

• As pressure mounts, the Trump camp has circled the wagons, doubling down on his nomination and quickly acting to offset concerns.

• Hegseth has gone on the offensive with the media, publicly declaring women as “some of our greatest warriors” and going toe-to-toe with lefty outlet ProPublica and West Point Academy for poking around in his Military Academy attendance records.

• It’s yet to be seen if this approach will be able to push his nomination forward, but this will be one to watch as the Trump transition continues— and may signal trouble ahead for other nominations on the line.

🥊 QUICK HITS

In case you missed these reads:

• I’m an LLM, AMA— Reddit is rolling out AI-powered answers.

• Netflix is partnering with Duolingo to promote the second season of Squid Games.

• The Philadelphia Eagles are worth $8.3 Billion— the highest known valuation for any U.S. sports franchise.