One of the oddities of Donald Trump’s personnel choices in his second term is how often he has chosen failed GOP candidates for important positions. Indeed, the White House seems to be a jobs program for Republicans who’ve been rejected by voters, hiring so many failed candidates that Roll Call last year said the president had created a “Team of Losers.”
This week, that list grew a little longer, as Hung Cao took the reins at the U.S. Navy, replacing former Navy Secretary John Phelan, who was fired Wednesday by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Cao is known to campaign watchers as a Virginia Republican who ran a failed congressional campaign in 2022, losing to then-Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton by nearly seven points, followed by a failed Senate campaign in 2024, losing to Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine by nearly nine points.
Just months after Cao’s defeat, Trump tapped the Republican to serve as undersecretary of the Navy, and he was narrowly confirmed last fall. Now, he’s the acting Navy secretary, the 10th person to serve in the position across both of Trump’s terms.
Cao’s record, however, is not without controversy. During his 2024 candidacy, for example, USA Today reported that the Republican, a decorated Navy veteran, “made repeated references to becoming disabled after he was ‘blown up’ in combat,” although his military record did not support those claims.
The article added that Cao’s Navy service record “does not show a Purple Heart award, the commendation given to troops who have suffered wounds from ‘direct or indirect result of enemy action’ that required medical attention. Nor does his record indicate that he received the Navy’s Combat Action Ribbon, which requires that a sailor ‘must have rendered satisfactory performance under enemy fire while actively participating in ground or surface combat engagement.’”
Pressed at the time for an explanation, Cao declined to answer specific questions about his military service.
Complicating matters, shortly after launching his Senate campaign, Cao also expressed concerns about, of all things, witchcraft.
During one 2023 interview, Cao said witches had “taken over” a California city, and he wanted to prevent similar problems in the commonwealth.
“We can’t let it turn like this,” he said during an interview with a Christian pastor. “There’s a place in Monterey, California, called Lovers Point. The original name was Lovers of Christ Point, but now it’s become — they took out the ‘Christ,’ it’s Lovers Point, and it’s really — Monterey is a very dark place now, a lot of witchcraft and the Wiccan community has really taken over. We can’t let that happen to Virginia.”
It’s not clear how long Cao will remain as acting Navy secretary or whether the president may consider him as Phelan’s permanent successor. Watch this space.
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