President Donald Trump's effort to overhaul the federal government now features a retired Navy captain and twice failed Congressional candidate who surmised that witches had "taken over" Monterey, California.
Hung Cao lost his 2022 bid for the House of Representatives in Virginia's 10th Congressional District, then lost his Senate campaign last year to incumbent Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine.
A staunch ally of Trump, Cao was rewarded Thursday with a top position in the Navy.
"I am pleased to announce that Hung Cao will be our next United States Under Secretary of the Navy," Trump said on his Truth Social account. "Hung is the embodiment of the American Dream. As a refugee to our Great Nation, Hung worked tirelessly to make proud the Country that gave his family a home. He went to our amazing United States Naval Academy, and later earned his Master’s Degree in Physics. Hung served in combat as a Special Operations Officer for twenty five years. With Hung’s experience both in combat, and in the Pentagon, he will get the job done."
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Cao has a long history of peddling conspiracy theories and outright falsehoods, many of which became the focus of attacks by Democrats in his failed campaigns. This includes accusations he denigrated NATO employees as "lazy" and compared abortion to the horrors of the Holocaust.
"The Nazis did this. They’ll take Jewish babies and just take the legs and just smash the babies and kill them. You think that can’t happen in this country?" he said at a campaign rally, according to The Washington Post.
Additionally, he said witches have taken hold in Monterey, California.
"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, with a lot of witchcraft and the Wiccan community has really taken over and we can’t let that happen in Virginia,” Cao said.