Pete Hegseth

FIRE EVERYONE! Trump Rages Over Accurate Reporting of Intelligence Regarding His Iran Bombing

Posted by on June 26, 2025 at 2:07 pm. 0 Comments :

In the wake of the bombing mission that Donald Trump ordered allegedly to rid Iran of nuclear weapons capabilities, the media had the audacity to do their job and report on what was known about the mission and its results. That, of course, drove Trump crazy, because the last thing he ever wants is for the truth about his often reckless escapades being exposed to the light of day.

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Donald Trump

In Trump World it is never permitted to do or say anything critical of Dear Leader. His every word is to be regarded as if gospel, and every act must be glorified with the enthusiasm of an adoring apostle. That’s evident in the worshipful testimony delivered by his devoted propaganda purveyors.

SEE THIS: Trump Cult Priestess, Karoline Leavitt, Preaches the Divine Infallibility of Dear Leader

On Thursday Trump underwent a severe mental breakdown triggered by the press that he hates and regularly maligns as “the enemy of the people.” In a barrage of rancid posts to his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, Trump unleashed a series of demands that journalists he doesn’t like be fired. He seems to think that he’s still on “The Apprentice” and can axe people from his program at will.

The primary target of Trump’s wrath was CNN’s Pentagon correspondent, Natasha Bertrand. Trump began his harangue by lashing out at her on Wednesday saying that…

“Natasha Bertrand should be FIRED from CNN! I watched her for three days doing Fake News. She should be IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out ‘like a dog.'” [And that] “She lied on the Laptop from Hell Story, and now she lied on the Nuclear Sites Story, attempting to destroy our Patriot Pilots by making them look bad…She should not be allowed to work at Fake News CNN….FIRE NATASHA!”

First of all, does anyone really believe that Trump watched CNN for three days? Setting that aside, Trump’s claim that she lied is…well, a lie. She reported what she was told by Trump’s own Defense Department Intelligence Agency. Trump even later admitted that. Although he complained that the DIA assessment was preliminary. Which Bertrand reported saying that “The analysis of the damage to the sites and the impact of the strikes on Iran’s nuclear ambitions is ongoing, and could change as more intelligence becomes available.”

Trump tried to spin this story as an attack on the pilots who flew the mission to Iran. Which is pure bullpucky. He also dredged up a five year old complaint about Hunter Biden’s laptop, which was also correctly reported by Bertrand. Then on Thursday, Trump continued his tantrum with several posts demanding the termination of many more reporters. He whined that…

“Rumor is that the Failing New York Times and Fake News CNN will be firing the reporters who made up the FAKE stories on the Iran Nuclear sites because they got it so wrong. Lets see what happens?”

And that…

“One of the greatest, most professional, and most ‘confirming’ News Conferences I have ever seen! The Fake News should fire everyone involved in this Witch Hunt, and apologize to our great warriors, and everyone else!”

And that…

“FAKE NEWS REPORTERS FROM CNN & THE NEW YORK TIMES SHOULD BE FIRED, IMMEDIATELY!!! BAD PEOPLE WITH EVIL INTENTIONS!!!”

And in a major escalation of his insanity, with zero evidence, Trump fumed that…

“The Democrats are the ones who leaked the information on the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Sites in Iran. They should be prosecuted!“

Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, who is currently playacting as Trump’s Secretary of Defense, held a press scolding Thursday morning, wherein he whined about the media in a manner that would embarrass an eight year old. During that reality TV-style melodrama, Hegseth chastised his former Fox News colleague, Jennifer Griffin, who wasn’t havin’ his asininity. And he demonstrated his pitiful lack of historical knowledge of American warfare…

This is a great example of how everything in Trump world dials up the hyperbole to preposterous levels, where whatever Trump does is the BESTEST in the history of humanity!Hegseth apparently never heard of D-Day, or Hiroshima, or Desert Storm, or getting Osama bin Laden.

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-06-26T17:26:27.476Z

What Trump and his minions are making abundantly clear is that they do not want any credible journalism to be practiced in this country. They regard news reporting as unpatriotic if it isn’t gushing with praise for Trump. But nothing is more patriotic than reporters who speak truth to power.

Unfortunately, Trump’s hatred of the Constitution’s First Amendment is all too apparent in his attempts to get journalists fired when they are less than reverential supplicants to His MAGA-STY. Consequently, this country needs bold journalists now more than ever.

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Trump’s Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, Tries and Fails to Justify Trump’s War on Los Angeles

Posted by on June 10, 2025 at 1:26 pm. 0 Comments :

From the day that Donald Trump first nominated Pete Hegseth to serve as his Secretary of Defense, it was widely viewed as a dangerously inappropriate proposal to elevate a completely unqualified Fox News weekend host with a history of abusing both alcohol and women.

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Pete Hegseth with Drunk Emoji

Hegseth’s experience for the job that Trump sought to give him was his junior officer ranking in the Army twenty years ago, and his management of two military related non-profits that both fired him for his incompetence and malfeasance. But he met Trump’s prerequisites, which were that he would do or say anything that Trump told him without regard to the truth or the welfare of the nation, and that he looked good on TV.

SEE THIS: Pete Hegseth Spends Thousands for a Pentagon Makeup Studio to Fortify America’s Military Might

Following Trump’s declaration of war against the City of Los Angeles, Hegseth appeared before the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. His testimony was about as rife with ignorance and dereliction as one would expect from such an unfit official. He came utterly unprepared for the inquiry that he knew he would face. That includes not having any data regarding the Pentagon’s budget proposal that the Appropriations Committee was expecting.

To make matters worse, Hegseth was also stumped by questions he should have anticipated. Particularly those about Trump’s unlawful deployment of National Guard troops and Marines in response to an overwhelmingly peaceful protest against the hostile excesses of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) in Los Angeles. And in an exchange with Rep. Pete Aguilar, Hegseth provided a chilling demonstration of just how clueless he is about his duties…

Rep. Aguilar: The legal basis that the president used cites three examples in circumstances for the Guard. Invasion by a foreign nation; a rebellion or dangerous rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States; or the president is unable with regular forces to execute the laws of the United States. Which authority is triggered here to justify the use?
Hegseth: I don’t know. You just read it yourself, and people can listen themselves. But it sounds like all three to me.

"Sounds like all three to me" — Pete Hegseth suggests the United States is under invasion by a foreign nation, prompting the need for troops in Los Angeles

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-10T15:34:58.019Z

REALLY? Let’s examine these one at a time, shall we?

Invasion By a Foreign Nation:
There is no evidence whatsoever that any foreign nation had invaded the United States. Hegseth mentioned the presence of some Mexican flags, but that does not infer that the government of Mexico had anything to do with the protests, and they certainly did not. There were no Mexican troops or military assets deployed to take over the U.S. The notion is downright preposterous.

A Rebellion Against the Authority of the Government of the United States:
None of the protesters came anywhere near attempting to usurp the authority of the U.S. government. They were merely exercising their rights as stated in the First Amendment to the Constitution to “petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Which can only be seen as a rebellion by the tyrannical tendencies of the Trump administration, where Trump regards anything critical of him as treason.

The President is Unable With Regular Forces to Execute the Laws of the United States.
The leadership provided by the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, and the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, were more than sufficient to deal with the sometimes rowdy behavior of a few protesters. If Trump was invoking this excuse for his military incursion, than he was, in effect, conceding that he was the one who was unable to execute the laws that he swore to uphold. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone, considering that he literally admitted that he doesn’t believe he has any obligation to do so.

MORE HERE: WTHF? When Asked ‘Don’t You Need to Uphold the Constitution,’ Trump Replies ‘I Don’t Know.’

Later in his testimony, Hegseth was asked about the costs associated with the deployment of troops to clamp down on the people’s right to protest. He tried to dodge the question, but was pressed on it until he finally allowed an aide to provide the answer…

“After persistent questioning about the cost of sending National Guard members and Marines to Los Angeles in response to protests over immigration raids, Hegseth turned to his acting comptroller, Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell, who said it would cost $134 million.”

With that amount of money, we could house and feed more than 4,000 homeless veterans for a year. We could provide more than 9,000 veterans with healthcare for a year. Or we could oppress and intimidate a few hundred advocates for migrants’ civil rights for a month. Spending money on this deployment is an even worse allocation of funds than Trump’s ludicrous and vain $45 million birthday parade that he’s throwing for himself in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. For which he is also threatening anyone who dares to protest it.

Hegseth is not the only member of Trump’s Quack Cabinet to malign the protesters in Los Angeles. His Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, also took a swipe at them and wound up hitting the entire population of the city, saying that L.A. “is not a city of Immigrants, it’s a city of criminals.” Really? All 4,000,000 of them?

However, the views of Noem and Hegseth are not shared by the American people. A new poll has found that “47% of U.S. adults disapprove of deploying the Marines to LA, with 34% approval…45% disapprove the National Guard deployment, while 38% said they approve.”

Not that Trump or his cronies care about what the American people think. But maybe this will get some Republicans in Congress to grow a spine and reject Trump’s totalitarianism. Keep hope alive.

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Pete Hegseth Spends Thousands for a Pentagon Makeup Studio to Fortify America’s Military Might

Posted by on April 23, 2025 at 2:37 pm. 0 Comments :

One of the most prominent parts of Donald Trump’s election campaign was his promise to restore what he said was a depleted American Defense Department and to strengthen what in his opinion were weak and ineffectual troops.

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Fox News, Pete Hegseth, Cleared

Trump’s callous and ignorant insult to the soldiers who put their lives on the line every day was nothing new for him. It was just more of his derogatory rhetoric that cast fallen fighters as “suckers and losers,” from a five-time draft dodger who installed the most dangerously unqualified, and universally reviled, flunky to run the Pentagon in U.S. history.

SEE THIS: WHUT? Trump’s Press Secretary Reveals that ‘the Entire Pentagon is Working Against’ Pete Hegseth

Hegseth has made a lot of noise about returning command of the U.S. military to the warfighters. By which he seems to have meant eliminating anyone who didn’t fit his, and Trump’s, perverse idea of a soldier. Therefore, they had to banish women and LGBTQ troops. And they had to terminate programs that advanced diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as a goal for ending discriminatory promotions.

However, this vision of a stronger, whiter, more masculine fighting force may not be the only thing on Hegseth’s mind to improve the American military. Because it has just been reported that he has spent thousands of dollars to build a makeup studio in the Pentagon. Apparently, our soldiers also have to look good in battlefield photos. Or more likely, when Hegseth and other officers are making appearances on Fox News. CBS News reports that…

“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently ordered modifications to a room next to the Pentagon press briefing room to retrofit it with a makeup studio that can be used to prepare for television appearances, multiple sources told CBS News.

“The price tag for the project was several thousand dollars, according to two of the sources, at a time when the administration is searching for cost-cutting measures.”

The CBS story also noted that a Deputy Assistant to the Secretary for Strategic Engagement (whatever that is), and Hegseth’s wife expressed their approval of the studio. Both just happen to be former Fox News producers. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone since Hegseth himself is former Fox News weekend host. Which is where Trump found him, just like at least twenty other people that Trump recruited for his White House staff…

MORE HERE: Trump’s Nominees Are Largely Fox News Alum, Mar-a-Lago Patrons, and Billionaires

Despite Hegseth’s insistence that the only thing he’s interested in is improving the warfighting abilities of the armed forces and military readiness, his emphasis on more shallow objectives, such as appearance, is noticeably uppermost among his priorities. He said as much Wednesday when he said this about troops to students at the U.S. Army War College…

“They need to be fit, not fat. Sharp, not shabby. Especially our leaders. That’s why we’re reviewing how the department has maintained standards in the past, such as the last four years, and whether those standards have dropped.”

MUST WATCH: Pete Hegseth really thinks a fat officer is more dangerous than traitors leaking war plans or extremists infiltrating the ranks. Not sabotage. Not sedition. Just body fat. This isn’t about standards—it’s about being a performative, fascist little bitch on TV.

— Kye (@gxldsociety.bsky.social) 2025-04-23T19:50:12.630Z

You have to wonder who Hegseth was thinking about when he said “Especially our leaders.” Has he ever actually seen Donald Trump? Furthermore, his reference to the standards of the past administration is one of the mandatory offhand insults of President Biden that all Trump subordinates are required to make in every public address.

It’s clear that Hegseth has other things on his mind than military readiness. That was also evident when he disclosed sensitive attack plans in two separate Signal chats that included people without security clearances, such as a journalist, and his wife. But did anyone expect anything more of a former TV talking head with zero experience in managing anything bigger than a lemonade stand?

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WHUT? Trump’s Press Secretary Reveals that ‘the Entire Pentagon is Working Against’ Pete Hegseth

Posted by on April 21, 2025 at 1:01 pm. 2 Comments :

Who could have imagined a few months ago, that when Donald Trump nominated Pete Hegseth, a weekend Fox News host with no experience whatsoever running a sprawling, bureaucratic institution, to head up the Pentagon, that it would result in being one of the worst fiascos in government administration history?

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Pete Hegseth with Drunk Emoji

The obvious answer to the question above is: EVERYONE! Or at least everyone who had not been indoctrinated into the Cult of Trump. And it didn’t really require much imagination. The predictions of certain calamity and chaos were ubiquitous among military and management professionals. In fact the notion that an incompetent, alcoholic, TV talking head like Hegseth could succeed was preposterous from the start. Even a devoted Trump-fluffer on Newsmax thought so.

SEE THIS: Has Hell Frozen Over? Newsmax Host Shoots Down Trump’s Defense Secretary Nominee, Pete Hegseth

It didn’t take long for the predictions about Hegseth to come true. Last month it was revealed that he participated in a Signal chat with some Trump regime colleagues where he disclosed U.S. plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen. After getting caught leaking such sensitive information on an unsecure platform, Hegseth lied that he had done so, despite the documented evidence.

Making matters worse, on Monday it was reported that the incident above was not a one-off. According to NBC News…

“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used his personal phone to send information about U.S. military operations in Yemen to a 13-person Signal group chat, including his wife and his brother, two sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed to NBC News. He did so after an aide had warned him to be careful not to share sensitive information on an unsecure communications system before the Yemen operation, the sources said.”

This new revelation has prompted more questions from the press about Hegseth’s alleged competence. And the Trump team is reacting in its typical manner by circling the wagons and denying reality. However, in this case, Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, may have said a bit too much. In response to a question by Brian Kilmeade on Fox News, Leavitt let loose insisting that…

“The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon. And this is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and against the monumental change that you are trying to implement. […] Unfortunately, there have been people at that building who don’t like the change the Secretary is trying to bring, so they are leaking and they are lying to the mainstream media.”

Leavitt: "The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth … this is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change you are trying to implement. Secretary Hegseth was nominated because he's standing up for the warfighters."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-04-21T14:17:35.963Z

Leavitt’s declaration that Trump “stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth” is not going to age well when Hegseth is eventually fired. And how could he not be, if what Leavitt says is true. If “the entire Pentagon is working against” Hegseth, his continued employment should be untenable. There are 20,000 people working in the Pentagon. It wouldn’t make much sense to fire all of them and keep Hegseth, would it? And how the heck can he command a workforce of that many people who think that he is unfit to serve?

You have to wonder by what measure Trump and Leavitt regard Hegseth as “doing a phenomenal job.” He has done nothing but embarrass the nation with his malfeasance in office and multiple hits on Fox News. He even took time out from the White House Easter Egg event to whine to the media about the media…

This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees, and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations. Not going to work with me. Because we’re changing the Defense Department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of war-fighters. And anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees on old news doesn’t matter.”

At the WH Easter egg hunt, Hegseth this morning pathetically blames the media for what his own appointees disclosed about his latest scandals.

— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2025-04-21T14:00:50.254Z

There is an abundance of derp in that whine. First of all, how can he blame the media for reporting what they have been told by his own top aides? Secondly, the news is not old. It was reported today. Third, it isn’t anonymous. The names of the sources are in the stories. Finally, those “disgruntled former employees” are people that Hegseth hired himself in the few weeks that he’s been on the job.

This is what you get when you put people in charge of critical government agencies who have never demonstrated any ability or aptitude to perform those jobs. And so many people in Trump’s Cabinet suffer from the same lack of experience and skill. A shockingly large number of them (20 so far) are, like Hegseth, from Fox News. Consequently, it is fair to assume that things are gonna get worse going forward. So buckle up, America. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

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Trump’s Defense Secretary Rages that ‘The Department of Defense Does Not Do Climate Change Crap’

Posted by on March 12, 2025 at 1:55 pm. 2 Comments :

When Donald Trump recruited Pete Hegseth from Fox News to lead his Department of Defense, it was unarguably among the worst nominations in the history of the country. Hegseth had zero experience in military management, or in leading an enterprise on the scale of the Pentagon. He was just a weekend talking head on a propaganda network. So what could go wrong?

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Donald Trump Climate Change

Since his confirmation, Hegseth has proven to be just as incompetent and corrupt as his lack of experience and judgment predicted. In his brief tenure to date he has fully embraced the agenda of Trump and co-president Elon Musk to decimate the Defense Department. And to make sure that nobody gets any reliable information about that, he has banished credible news outlets from the Pentagon and replaced them MAGA media hacks.

SEE THIS: Trump Kicks Reporters Out of Pentagon Offices, Replaces Them with MAGA Media Mouthpieces

Determined to diminish the military readiness of the United States, Trump and Hegseth continue to implement policies that will surely delight Trump’s idol and mentor, Vladimir Putin. Among them is an official rejection of the risks posed by climate change. In response to a news story on the subject, Hegseth posted a tweet that said only that, “The @DeptofDefense does not do climate change crap.”

The CNN article that Hegseth was so cavalierly dismissing was an in-depth analysis of how the climate crisis would impact America’s military engagements around the world. It said in part that…

“As the Pentagon and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] set their sights on climate-related programs at the Defense Department, officials and experts are warning that slashing them could put US troops and military operations at risk, both in the near and long term.”

Despite the well-reasoned insights by experts in military matters and meteorology, Hegseth felt comfortable posting his pithy little reply that wasn’t merely a blind disagreement with the science, but a childish insult characterizing the nearly universal consensus on climate as “crap.” His bullheaded ignorance is very likely going to result in catastrophes for American soldiers, as well as America’s military strength worldwide.

For the record, Hegseth’s views – and Trump’s – are contrary to those of prior secretaries of defense. And that includes one of Trump’s own from his first term, James Mattis, who warned that…

“Climate change is real, and a threat to American interests abroad and the Pentagon’s assets everywhere. [And that] this is a real-time issue, not some distant what-if. Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today.”

MORE HERE: Trump’s Defense Secretary Says Climate Change Is a Real Threat to American Interests

Mattis wasn’t the first Defense Secretary to issue such a warning. Fourteen years prior, under George W. Bush’s defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, the Pentagon published a report titled ‘An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security.’ that warned that “threats to global stability posed by rapid warming vastly eclipse that of terrorism.”

These views were shared by at least seven of the past Secretaries of Defense (Mattis, Ash Carter, Chuck Hagel, Leon Panetta, Robert Gates, Rumsfeld, and another Trump appointee, Mark Esper), who all subscribed to the policy that climate change is one of America’s top strategic risks. And five of the seven are Republicans.

The military has been crystal clear for decades about the very real consequences of a world where water and arable land become scarce, and nations erupt into chaos and war. Migration, border disputes, and even the habitability of the bases the U.S. has around the world are all risk factors that the military have long recognized as critical to our national security.

While this dangerous rejection of reality is reprehensible, it isn’t surprising. After all, Trump has long been a climate change denier. And a pretty asinine one at that. He still believes that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by China.

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Trump Kicks Reporters Out of Pentagon Offices, Replaces Them with MAGA Media Mouthpieces

Posted by on February 1, 2025 at 11:49 am. 0 Comments :

One thing you can say about Donald Trump is that he is working furiously to assure his place in American history as the nation’s first tyrannical despot. No American leader has ever been more hostile to the U.S. Constitution and its democratic principles, or more determined to destroy it.

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Donald Trump

Trump spends most of his time disparaging American institutions and the patriots who serve them. He despises the justice system, the military, free enterprise, academia, science, and even unbiased practices of faith. But perhaps the liberties that he is most averse to are those specifically cited in the First Amendment that protect freedom of the press. He is laser focused on turning the whole of government into a propaganda factory to attack his foes and exalt himself.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Press Secretary Pledges to Plant Pro-Trump Crackpots in the White House Press Room

On Friday Trump issued a new decree to banish several media organizations from offices that they have occupied in the Pentagon for decades. The Department of Defense provided the office space to facilitate access for journalists to the stewards of the nation’s military. However, the message sent by Trump’s DoD is an unmistakable threat to press freedom, and an embrace of shameless propaganda. NBC News, one of the news outlets ousted reports that…

“NBC News, The New York Times, NPR and Politico must vacate their office spaces in two weeks for other news organizations — including at least one that did not request to be added.”

[And that…]

“The new outlets rotating in are One America News Network — which will take NBC News’s spot — the New York Post, Breitbart News Network and HuffPost.”

Needless to say, the Trump-fluffing One America News, Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, and MAGA’s own Breitbart News, are not exactly paragons of journalistic integrity. But that’s who is moving into the office space previously reserved for more mainstream media sources that, even with their own imperfect records, are at least not brazenly sycophantic toadies who exist only to kiss Trump’s…let’s say ring. The NBC report added that the Pentagon…

“…did not include further details about the process of the new ‘rotation program,’ including how officials chose which outlets needed to vacate office space first, how the new outlets were chosen and which are next.”

Based on the disreputable outlets that are moving in, we hardly need much elaboration as to how they were chosen. And this is one of the first command decisions of Trump’s new Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, whose confirmation squeaked by in the Senate, despite his history of abusing women and alcohol, and his woeful lack of relevant experience.

This assault on freedom of the press is consistent with Trump’s long held belief that the media is “the enemy of people.” However, it is not the only assault he has made targeting a variety of American liberties. In the short time since he has reoccupied the White House, Trump has…

And this is only the beginning. He is dead set on transforming America into the sort of totalitarian dystopia that his heroes – Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, etc. – are lording over. But he isn’t going to have a clear path to his dictatorial dreams. The American people are not going to sit still while he dismantles democracy. And they already have a decidedly negative opinion him…

MORE HERE: Trump 2.0 Begins with Approval Ratings that Rank Below Every Other President Dating Back to 1953

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Has Hell Frozen Over? Newsmax Host Shoots Down Trump’s Defense Secretary Nominee, Pete Hegseth

Posted by on January 15, 2025 at 2:57 pm. 2 Comments :

The parade of nominees for Donald Trump’s reoccupation of the White House is in progress on Capitol Hill. Confirmation hearings are being held by the Republican controlled Senate that is almost certainly going to rubber stamp every last one of Trump’s choices to serve in his Politburo…er…Cabinet. And once in place they will swear their allegiance to Trump, rather than to the Constitution.

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Pete Hegseth with Drunk Emoji

Among those being questioned by the senators is Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense. He is a standout among the roster of Trump’s ultra-loyalist, but dangerously unqualified nominees for being particularly unfit for the post to which he aspires. Not only has he never had any experience managing anything on the scale of the Pentagon, his personal history is one replete with sexual misconduct, drunkenness, financial mismanagement, and general ethical and moral bankruptcy.

SEE THIS: Fox News Buries Reports of Trump’s Unsavory, Unqualified Defense Secretary Pick, Pete Hegseth

Despite Hegseth’s dreadful resume, he is being lauded by MAGA World and fawned over by GOP politicians and press. However, there is one notable exception to this lock-step march to Grandmaster of the Military. Greg Kelly, a host on the Trump-fluffing Newsmax network, has come out in opposition to Hegseth. And he has some pretty well thought out reasons. Media Matters reports his reservations delivered on his primetime program. He prefaced his commentary saying that…

“I love President Trump, but he has sometimes gotten it wrong when it comes to the military. Who remembers General Milley? General Milley was Donald Trump’s pick for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And what happened? He turned around and called him fascist to the core and basically waged a coup against Donald Trump while he was in office.”

For the record, there was no coup against Trump, and all Milley did was tell the truth about him. But Kelly was just getting started. He also noted that one of Trump’s defense secretaries during his first term, Mark Esper, was “a bad call, a guy who was totally beholden to the swamp and turned around and called him a threat to democracy.” And then there was “General Mattis [another Defense Secretary]. He turned on President Trump big time.”

Maybe there were good reasons that all of these faithful, heroic, military officers were repulsed by Trump once they got to know him. Kelly then offered some detailed arguments against Hegeth’s nomination…

“I think the regulations suggest that since he paid money in a confidential settlement to a woman who accused him of assault — I — it’s akin to blackmail. And when you’re when you pay blackmail, I don’t think you’re eligible. […] We have all kinds of regulations that say if you’re vulnerable to blackmail, you shouldn’t be in a high level national security position. And that’s what his own attorney has called it – blackmail and extortion.

[And that…]

“[Hegseth] went on The Megyn Kelly Show and he made a case that he didn’t have a problem drinking.” [And also that] “he told [Fox News host] Will Cain in 2021 that, yeah, he had a problem.”

MORE HERE: Pete Hegseth’s Fox News Co-Host Admits He Had a Drinking Problem, But It’s Now ‘Under Control’

Kelly’s arguments for nixing Hegseth are compelling and ought to taken seriously by the senators considering his confirmation. His vulnerability to blackmail and/or extortion would create an existential threat to the nation’s national security. Add that to his moral vacancy and glaring inexperience, and you have a portrait of someone who should never be in charge of the U.S. military.

The question is, will enough senators have the integrity and patriotism to vote “NO”? Or will the Republican majority kowtow to Dear Leader Trump out of cultish devotion and/or fear?

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Pete Hegseth’s Lawyer: His Misconduct Was Due to Stress, So Let’s Make Him Secretary of Defense

Posted by on December 27, 2024 at 4:07 pm. 1 Comments :

The Cabinet of Donald Trump is shaping up to be an even more frightening version of the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, with all of the twists and turns of that psychological horror story populated by inmates of an asylum.

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Pete Hegseth with Drunk Emoji

If Trump gets the Republicans in Congress to capitulate to his commands, the U.S. government will be run by incompetents and sycophantic flunkies who have little to no experience for the jobs they are tasked to perform. They include Kash Patel at the FBI, Tulsi Gabbard heading Intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, in charge of healthcare, and a madhouse of MAGA minions who have scant relationships with the lives of average Americans.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Nominees Are Largely Fox News Alum, Mar-a-Lago Patrons, and Billionaires

Featured in this cast of circus psychos is Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense. Hegseth has zero experience managing anything on the scale of the Pentagon. But he has had a presence on Fox News where Trump found and recruited him. He also has a history of managerial failure, excessive drinking, and alleged sexual assault. Which makes him an ideal candidate for a job in the Trump administration. They have so much in common.

On Friday morning Hegseth’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, was interviewed by Pamela Brown on CNN. It was a revealing discussion during which Parlatore offered up a peculiar defense of his client in the following exchange…

Parlatore: The FBI background check is really going to strip away the false allegations and focus on just what the evidence is. And the evidence is he didn’t do any of these things that he’s been accused of.
Brown: But he’s also openly admitted he’s a changed man from several years ago. So how does that square? If you’re saying he didn’t do any of it, but he’s a changed man?
Parlatore: I’m saying he didn’t commit any of the misconduct they’re alleging. The sexual assault, totally false. All of this stuff at CVA (Concerned Veterans for America) where they said that he was climbing on the stage at a strip club. Yeah that happened, but it was somebody else. […] The fact that earlier in his life when he was a young recent combat veteran who came home and dealt with the demons by drinking too much, that’s not uncommon.

In order for Parlatore’s denials to be valid, you would have to dismiss the testimony of the woman who filed the police report against him, as well as all of Hegseth’s colleagues and coworkers who witnessed his shenanigans at the strip club, and suffered through his mismanagement of organizations like the CVA, that he brought to near bankruptcy.

The core argument that Parlatore is making is that Hegseth behaved badly because of the stress he encountered during his military deployment. He goes on to say that Hegseth overcame his problems because “that which drove him to drink is not driving him anymore.” Perhaps that’s because he’s been a weekend host on a Fox “News” program for the past eight years. So the stress of combat wasn’t affecting his behavior.

However, if his duties in the military were sufficiently stressful to result in years of drunken depravity, how might the stress produced by running the entire Pentagon – with an $850 billion budget and the responsibility of millions of soldiers and civilians, none of which he has any experience with – affect his ability to cope emotionally and to refrain from the deviancy of his past? Surely there’s no stress involved in any of that, right?

Parlatore also claimed that Hegseth’s excessive drinking wasn’t a “drinking problem.” Which is reminiscent of the Tom Waits lyric “I don’t have a drinking problem. Except when I can’t get a drink.” Although he did promise to abstain if he were to be confirmed. Which suggests that he is still drinking, but is willing to stop if he’s handed the nuclear codes. That should not fill any senator with confidence that Hegseth would be up to the job. The question is: Will Republicans vote to confirm him anyway?

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Brave Sir Hegseth, Trump’s Pick to Run the Pentagon, Runs Away From His Own Hateful Opinions

Posted by on December 13, 2024 at 2:33 pm. 1 Comments :

The reasons to oppose Donald Trump’s nomination of Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense are impossible to refute by any rational standard. Which may be why neither Trump, nor any of those purporting to support him, have offered any coherent argument for confirming him. All they can muster is their blindly obedient opinion that it is what Dear Leader Trump wants.

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Fox News, Pete Hegseth, Cleared

First and foremost, Hegseth has absolutely zero experience relevant to running the biggest bureaucracy in the United States federal government. His past work record contains nothing that would demonstrate the management, financial, legal, personnel, or international diplomacy skills required of a defense secretary. In addition to Hegseth’s lack of work experience, he is also lacking the moral and ethical character to perform at the high standards necessary for a top national security post.

SEE THIS: Pete Hegseth’s Mommy Steps Up to Shield Him From His Life of Alcoholic and Sexual Debauchery

As Hegseth strolls the halls of Congress to meet with the Senators who must confirm him, he has been questioned by the press about his fitness for the job. In one such incident he engaged in the following exchange with a reporter seeking his response to recent revelations about his objection to gay soldiers…

Reporter: Do you believe that gay people should be allowed to serve in the military?
Hegseth: Yes.
Reporter: Can you just respond to the CNN report this morning highlighting some of you previous comments?
Hegseth: I don’t feel the need to respond to CNN.

That brief exchange revealed two glaring examples of Hegseth’s cowardice. First of all, his response that he believes that gays should be allowed to serve contradicts his previous comments on that subject. He is clearly afraid to be honest about his opinions. And it isn’t the first time that he’s reversed himself due to his fear of public backlash. He has also tried to walk back his statement that “we should not have women in combat roles.”

Secondly, his dismissal of the follow up question that sought his clarification of his past remarks exhibits his fear of CNN, or any other media that he disapproves of.

To be clear, contrary to Hegseth’s flippant dismissal, the question wasn’t asking him to respond to CNN. It was asking him to respond to himself, and what he said in the past. CNN’s reporting was not their opinion. It was about what Hegseth wrote concerning gays in the military. According to the CNN report…

“In his 2024 book ‘The War on Warriors’ and in subsequent media promotions this year, Hegseth described both the original ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ (DADT) policy and its repeal in 2011 as a ‘gateway’ and a ‘camouflage’ for broader cultural changes that he claims have undermined military cohesion and effectiveness.”

What’s more, the prospect of a Cabinet member refusing to address a serious matter by asserting that he doesn’t “feel the need to respond” to a particular news network is a flashing red light alarm. He’s saying that he doesn’t feel that he has any obligation to be accountable to the citizens he is supposed to be serving. That is not acceptable behavior in a democratic society. Which, of course, is something that Trump hopes to dispense with.

Hegseth’s nomination has been in trouble from the start. And comments like these aren’t going to help him gain favor with the senators whose votes he needs. And it surely doesn’t help that he is also unpopular with the public…

“A new survey from the Associated Press and National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago suggests that Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense, has almost no popular support. According to the poll, only 17% of those surveyed said that they approved of Hegseth’s nomination.” […]

“In general, just 27% of the public is confident in Trump’s “ability to appoint well-qualified individuals to his cabinet and other high-level positions,” while 55% say they are not confident.”

As a side issue, the video above was posted by Will Cain, a co-host of the Fox News morning program, “Fox and Friends Weekend.” Which is the same program that Hegseth co-hosted prior to his nomination. Cain’s comment with the video is especially ironic. He apparently doesn’t see that it is his own network that has gone “from biased…to agenda…to propaganda…to embarrassment.”

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Pete Hegseth’s Fox News Co-Host Admits He Had a Drinking Problem, But It’s Now ‘Under Control’

Posted by on December 7, 2024 at 2:26 pm. NO Comments :

The ongoing formation of the Cabinet of Donald Trump continues to limp along with fits and wheezes. The historically unprecedented roster of billionaires, unqualified hacks, and shamelessly sycophantic Trump loyalists, portends a dire future for the nation.

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Pete Hegseth with Drunk Emoji

Not only would Trump’s administration lack anyone who would stand up to him when he’s wrong, they don’t have the experience or intelligence to implement his agenda, which is actually one of the rare positive aspects of his cadre of crackpots. What they have is unflinching fealty to Dear Leader and a direct hook up to his Ministry of Propaganda, Fox News.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Nominees Are Largely Fox News Alum, Mar-a-Lago Patrons, and Billionaires

On Friday Kristen Welker of NBC News released a few teaser clips from her interview of Trump that will air Sunday on Meet the Press. In these clips Trump displayed his famously dishonest and/or delusionary perspective when discussing the state of Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense.

Trump told Welker that “Pete is doing well now,” despite the fact that he still doesn’t have the votes from Republicans to be confirmed. Trump also offered his praise for Hegseth saying that “I’ve known him through Fox. But I’ve known him for a long time. And he’s basically a military guy,” because he talks about the military a lot. If that were the criteria required to run the Pentagon, Gomer Pyle would be qualified.

Hegseth has never managed anything like the Department of Defense, with 3.4 million people and an $850 billion budget. But he was fired from two veterans charities for alcohol-fueled misconduct and financial mismanagement. So he may have the skills Trump wants in order to dismantle the institution. With regard to Hegeth’s alcohol issues, Trump said that…

“I’ve spoken to people that know him very well and they say he does not have a drinking problem.”

Well, then that settles it. Because Trump would never lie, would he? Were those people big strong men who came up to him and hugged him with tears in their eyes? And why is okay for Trump to cite anonymous sources, but it’s not okay for anyone else?

These comments by Trump were played on Saturday’s episode of Fox and Friends, the program that Hegseth quit in order to become Vladimir Putin’s fave choice for U.S. defense secretary. And immediately following the clips, the current hosts discussed them and their relationship with Hegseth…

Cain: Just to be clear, people who work with him, there’s three – two here who have been with him on an hourly basis for five years – not a drinking problem. And that’s on the record with our names. So anonymous sources at NBC who work with him, you can value that for what it’s worth.
Campos-Duffy: I’ve actually seen Pete’s transformation over the time that I’ve worked here in terms of his own personal life. The man that he’s become. The way he comports himself as a father, as a husband over the last seven years. […] Pete does cling to his bible because he’s humble enough to know he needs it. And, no, he does not have a drinking problem. He has that completely under control.”

So Hegseth’s fellow “Curvy Couch” potatoes are with him all the way. What a surprise, and not at all a biased testimonial. Although Campos-Duffy may have done him more harm than good. Her assertion that his drinking problem is now “under control” is an affirmation that he did have a drinking problem. She now claims that he has overcome it, but provides no evidence for how he did so. It is extraordinarily difficult to overcome any substance abuse problem without professional help. Did Hegseth undergo therapy? Did he join Alcoholics Anonymous? Or did he just ask Jesus to free him from his addiction?

What’s more, why do they think that their testimony is more credible because they are on the record? They are also still employed by Fox News, and their jobs depend on regurgitating the company line. Which also happens to be the Trump line. Furthermore, we know that Fox News hosts lie because they were caught and had to pay a $787 billion dollar settlement due to their flagrant dishonesty.

The testimony of the inside sources in the independent reporting by the New Yorker and elsewhere is far more credible because they are speaking without the pressure or intimidation from their employers, Trump, or his MAGA thugs. And they are not anonymous. They are confidential. There’s a difference. The identity of anonymous sources is unknown. The identity of confidential sources is known to the journalists and editors. It just not disclosed in order to avoid retribution.

The bottom line is that the stories of Hegseth’s debauchery have now been essentially affirmed in part by his own former Fox News co-hosts. There is little reason to have confidence that he won’t backslide if he is entrusted with the stress and responsibility of being Secretary of Defense. And this doesn’t even address his inexperience, or the allegations of sexual assault, or the criticisms by his own mother that he’s a liar and a cheater who abuses women. However, it’s clear to see what Trump likes so much about him. They are two of a kind.

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Fox Nation vs. Reality:
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