In an article published late Friday night, the New York Times revealed a 2018 email from the mother of Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. It does not paint a pretty picture, and the media and internet have snapped it up, as you might imagine, coming from the woman who knows him best.

You already knew Pete as a former Fox News host and as a racist and misogynist. His primary goal as a regular old citizen was to get rid of women and Muslims in the military, so naturally, that’s who Donald wanted to put in charge of the military.

It could be that you even knew about his affairs, including one with another woman while he was still married to the mother of his first three kids, the 2017 sexual assault allegations against him, and the fact that he paid off the woman who accused him.

By all accounts, it’s highly unlikely that you’ve heard anything about Hegseth if you didn’t come away thinking he was a creep.

But this email is so shocking in its straightforward accusation of cruelty that it’s hard to believe it’s from his mom. That’s not to say all moms paint their children in the kindest light possible. Sometimes a mom has to say what there is to say about their kid, good or bad. I just mean, it takes a lot to get to that point.

Right in the thick of his bitter divorce from his second wife Samantha — the one he had three kids with — his mother sent him a message detailing her disappointment. Inside the email were some statements you just can’t make up. Here is the text of the email in full, as obtained by the New York Times, with one sentence redacted by the paper:

Son,

I have tried to keep quiet about your character and behavior, but after listening to the way you made Samantha feel today, I cannot stay silent. And as a woman and your mother I feel I must speak out…

You are an abuser of women — that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.

I am not a saint, far from it.. so don’t throw that in my face, but your abuse over the years to women (dishonesty, sleeping around, betrayal, debasing, belittling) needs to be called out.

Sam is a good mother and a good person (under the circumstances that you created) and I know deep down you know that. For you to try to label her as “unstable” for your own advantage is despicable and abusive. Is there any sense of decency left in you? She did not ask for or deserve any of what has come to her by your hand. Neither did Meredith.

I know you think this is one big competition and that we have taken her side… bunk… we are on the side of good and that is not you. (Go ahead and call me self-righteous, I don’t’ care)

Don’t you dare run to her and cry foul that we shared with us… that’s what babies do. It’s time for someone (I wish it was a strong man) to stand up to your abusive behavior and call it out, especially against women.

We still love you, but we are broken by your behavior and lack of character. I don’t want to write emails like this and never thought I would. If it damages our relationship further, then so be it, but at least I have said my piece. [Redacted]

And yes, we are praying for you (and you don’t deserve to know how we are praying, so skip the snarky reply)

I don’t want an answer to this… I don’t want to debate with you. You twist and abuse everything I say anyway. But… On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say… get some help and take an honest look at yourself…

Mom

If I’m being honest, that’s one of the most devastating assessments of a man’s character that I’ve ever read. If I had to read that about myself and it came from my mother, I honestly don’t know how I could live with myself unless I started seeing a therapist.

In fact, what needs to be borne in mind here is that his mother wrote this without any knowledge of the sexual assault claim against him, since news of it didn’t surface until well after the claim was made.

Had she known about him trapping a woman in her hotel room and forcing himself on her, she may not have written this email at all. She may simply have never spoken to him again.

We can only hope that the newly Republican-controlled Senate, when it is seated in January and begins deliberations for confirmation of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, takes this blistering email into account.

When your own mother takes the side of all the other women in the world, there’s something wrong with you.