That's an interesting way to put it. Lefty media wants everyone to believe Trump is a "Putin Sympathizer" and "Hitler," which of course is just insane. They've spent a lot of money making people believe that. But really, the establishment is no longer in control. They have no control over how they want things to go and how they may profit off the situation, when Trump wants to end war, to save lives, etc., or whatever he is saying, which does not allow financial interest for the establishments. This is a radical idea given the amount of underground war and networks of corrupt persuasion in the world.
The left doesn't want to come out and say it, some do, but there is a lot of money to be made if we do go to war, which they'd like to be a part of, which they currently are apart of. The billions sent to Ukraine wasn't necessarily because of what was right, but because of alternate benefits and investments in doing so. Some would say immoral benefit. It is profitable to keep Russia as an adversary for many, many reasons, and Trump wants diplomacy, which many would argue is the moral high road, yet perhaps not financially the best for the U.S. There are ways to offset this, however by dealing internal production etc.
So really, Hegseth isn't thinking something as low level as your argument at all. He is brand new to the white house and discovering ACTUAL foreign policy for the first time and likely thinking, holy sh!t.