President Donald Trump has officially nominated Hung Cao, a retired naval officer who is currently serving as acting secretary of the Navy, to fill the role permanently.
Cao, a failed House candidate and failed Senate candidate, had been serving in the role in an acting capacity since former Navy Secretary John Phelan was fired in April.
Cao is seen as someone who is more in line with the views of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has clashed with military leaders as he has attempted to bring culture wars into the ranks.
But Cao is known for a bit of conspiratorial thinking as well.
In a resurfaced 2023 video, Cao expressed a weird obsession with witchcraft while being interviewed by a right-wing pastor. As he ranted about a location in Monterey, California, called “Lovers Point,” he proclaimed that it was previously called “Lovers of Christ Point,” but after taking out Jesus’s name, the place just has bad vibes.
“Monterey is a really dark place now. A lot of witchcraft and the Wiccan community has really taken over there,” he claimed.
“We just need to mobilize Christians across the nation…we can’t let it turn like this,” he explained.
His claims of witchcraft were later debunked. The area in question is actually a town over in Pacific Grove, not Monterey, and the area was historically known as Lovers of Jesus Point before it was simply shortened to Lovers Point.
Cao was confirmed to his role as undersecretary of the Navy by a 52-48 vote in the Senate last October. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted against confirming him at the time, citing “concerns about his past statements and conduct.”
Trump, who endorsed him in his failed 2024 Senate run in Virginia, has hailed Cao as a “true WARRIOR” in his nomination.
“I can think of no one better than him to make sure our Great Navy and Marine Corps remain the FIERCEST and BEST Force the World has ever seen,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump has even commented on how much he loves his name.
“This is a great gentleman. I love his name: Hung Cao. I love that name. And that name alone can get you elected,” Trump said on the campaign trail in 2024.
His nomination comes at a particularly fraught time for the U.S. military, as morale shrinks amid Trump’s failing war in Iran.
Cao in particular has overseen dire conditions on board the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, as sailors on board were deployed for over nine months and reported subpar living conditions, with some even attempting to go overboard.
The military has also been plagued with leadership infighting as Hegseth has fired senior Pentagon leaders. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned earlier this week after months of clashing with Hegseth.
Still, it appears Cao has some thoughts about how to get morale up in the military, as he gave his own words of wisdom on military recruitment during the 2024 Virginia Senate debates.
“When you’re using a drag queen to recruit for the Navy – that’s not the people we want,” he explained. “What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are gonna rip out their own guts, eat them, and then ask for seconds.”
