Fourteen Americans dead, billions burned, and a Defense Secretary outmatched, outplayed, and out of his depth, turning war into performance while the consequences keep mounting..
The distinction between bluster and leadership has never been more painfully clear than it is right now. History will not remember Pete Hegseth as a secretary of defense. It will remember him as a television personality who somehow acquired the authority to make headlines from consequence rather than commentary, and who chose spectacle over the sacred obligation.
This is not a political critique. It's a moral one. How long before the institution itself demands better?
Michael-AMEN many many times over!!!!! Just AMEN and dammit that we are here, good men dead and more to die for no reason at all except one foolish and incredibly stupid man’s waaay over the top ego!!!!! Damn.
Great assessment here Michael. Every President since Clinton was asked to do this and the answer of “no” meant “no” until the malignant narcissist came along to boost his deranged illusion of being a dictator. The deranged sycophant who put loyalist morons in the most important positions to secure the US position of being a global superpower, ally of many nations. And here we are. The US has lost most of our credibility having alienated our NATO allies, bullied Canada, Greenland, etal all the while Trump making a mockery of our democracy for which the colonists fought and died for. The thought of an angry and egotistical drunk as the head of our entire military operations turn something unfathomable into reality. The host of a dumbed down Fox tv show who couldn’t even rank weekdays is making every decision to kick hornets’ nests everywhere his cult leader demands. Everywhere his Jim Jones wants to play with his toy soldiers next. From murdering fisherman in the Caribbean, to Venezuela, and now the Middle East. Who doesn’t know that when a war starts in the Middle East, it will go on for years to come. And here is Peter Peter little orange pumpkin eater playing combat with his toy soldiers on his mother’s floor. Except that this is real life, real lives of our military men and women, real world consequences, real world impacts for years to come, real taxpayer money being wasted to feed the ego of a felon, a lifelong con, a rapist who grabs women by the pu**y anytime he wants, a president who illustrates dumping feces on Americans from his toy war plane, who calls legal immigrants “garbage”, who calls women “pigs”.
Can someone tell him and that colon polyp Stephen Miller they are laughable miserable failures as human beings and release the rest of the Epstein files.
I love "Hegseth the Horrible". I think you gave him too much credit. To be horrible usually implies that the person has a good grasp of the problem and chooses the worst option available. IMO, he has NO grasp of anything. Yet he struts around trying to be the powerful Secretary of War. If things get worse, which is likely, they will hurt us more than the other players in the game of war. Game of War. What an obscene concept.
Yesterday I came across a bug-eyed man, propped up against a vacant storefront, shouting threats and slogans that no one takes seriously. That man is Pete Hegseth.
Substitute “Trump” for “Hegseth” and your evaluation is just as devastatingly accurate. Please watch “ Democracy Under Siege”, a one-hr documentary released today.
Exactly. Both mistake cleverness with competence. You can pounce on your perceived enemies, but that doesn't make you right, nor strong. We are all sick to death of these jackals.
This administration keeps the public in the dark. This administration won't even tell the American people why we are at war! In all his incompetence, Hegseth has to stand there and talk his way around the truth, at the order of his boss.
The argument that the war is a "money making machine" is a central point of criticism. Reports suggest that the administration's actions in the Middle East, including securing massive weapons contracts and controlling resources, have led to accusations that the war is being used to fuel the military-industrial complex and generate profits.
The system required a perpetual enemy to justify a perpetual budget. But the Rust knew they couldn’t just rely on covert CIA coups; they needed a permanent industrial pipeline.
Even as he left office, President Dwight D. Eisenhower—the man who commanded the largest amphibious invasion in human history—stepped to the microphone in his 1961 Farewell Address and issued a desperate, chilling warning to the American public. He explicitly named the “Military-Industrial Complex.”
THE REPORT: America must maintain a permanent, technologically superior defense apparatus to protect the Free World from the menace of Soviet communism. Defense spending is a patriotic necessity to guarantee global stability and secure domestic freedom.
THE RECEIPT: The “cost-plus” contracting model became the bedrock of American defense. It guaranteed defense corporations a profit on top of their expenses. The longer the war, the more expensive and delayed the weapon system, the higher the guaranteed profit margin. They installed the “revolving door”: generals began retiring from the Pentagon directly to the executive boards of Lockheed, Northrop, and Boeing to sell weapons back to their former colleagues. It is the ultimate subsidized void. The state guarantees the market, the taxpayer funds the R&D, and the corporate board privatizes the profit.
What was most revealing was not just what he said, it was what he could not say. Basic program costs were deferred. Strategic coherence was missing. Consistency with prior statements was nonexistent.”
What is most striking and upsetting to me is that Hegseth’s word is accepted. Or more so, his non-word. How can these committees accept his words? He is so unprepared, he lies, he gets defensive when pushed, he acts like a victor when in fact he is the most dangerous person in the room. Why are people backing off? Can Congress throw his ass out? They need to. Enough people have died already. The school they hit was with 3 strikes. 3. How can this be acceptable? I don’t understand.
Wake up Trump. Your pretty boy Pete is going to be your real demise so get him out! FIRE HIM!
But, who pray to God, should we ask him to bring in to replace Hegseth as head of the defense department? Somebody please tell me who you think would be good since I know nothing about this.
So many times I said to friends of mine brothers and whomever ...my God you could have been in that position you're as unqualified and uninformed and as dumb as they are LOL
You nailed it this time! Truth! Every word. The man is extremely unqualified and it’s extraordinarily dangerous! Thx for your keen eye and well-written vivid analysis.
I completely agree- Hegseth must go, and the sooner the better for the Nation. How do we make this happen?
Michael-
The distinction between bluster and leadership has never been more painfully clear than it is right now. History will not remember Pete Hegseth as a secretary of defense. It will remember him as a television personality who somehow acquired the authority to make headlines from consequence rather than commentary, and who chose spectacle over the sacred obligation.
This is not a political critique. It's a moral one. How long before the institution itself demands better?
-Mika
Michael-AMEN many many times over!!!!! Just AMEN and dammit that we are here, good men dead and more to die for no reason at all except one foolish and incredibly stupid man’s waaay over the top ego!!!!! Damn.
JoJoK
Great assessment here Michael. Every President since Clinton was asked to do this and the answer of “no” meant “no” until the malignant narcissist came along to boost his deranged illusion of being a dictator. The deranged sycophant who put loyalist morons in the most important positions to secure the US position of being a global superpower, ally of many nations. And here we are. The US has lost most of our credibility having alienated our NATO allies, bullied Canada, Greenland, etal all the while Trump making a mockery of our democracy for which the colonists fought and died for. The thought of an angry and egotistical drunk as the head of our entire military operations turn something unfathomable into reality. The host of a dumbed down Fox tv show who couldn’t even rank weekdays is making every decision to kick hornets’ nests everywhere his cult leader demands. Everywhere his Jim Jones wants to play with his toy soldiers next. From murdering fisherman in the Caribbean, to Venezuela, and now the Middle East. Who doesn’t know that when a war starts in the Middle East, it will go on for years to come. And here is Peter Peter little orange pumpkin eater playing combat with his toy soldiers on his mother’s floor. Except that this is real life, real lives of our military men and women, real world consequences, real world impacts for years to come, real taxpayer money being wasted to feed the ego of a felon, a lifelong con, a rapist who grabs women by the pu**y anytime he wants, a president who illustrates dumping feces on Americans from his toy war plane, who calls legal immigrants “garbage”, who calls women “pigs”.
Can someone tell him and that colon polyp Stephen Miller they are laughable miserable failures as human beings and release the rest of the Epstein files.
I love "Hegseth the Horrible". I think you gave him too much credit. To be horrible usually implies that the person has a good grasp of the problem and chooses the worst option available. IMO, he has NO grasp of anything. Yet he struts around trying to be the powerful Secretary of War. If things get worse, which is likely, they will hurt us more than the other players in the game of war. Game of War. What an obscene concept.
Hegseth: Bluffster of Defense.
Accurate as always. Thank you.
Michael
Great article! I couldn't agree with you more.
Excellent article
Yesterday I came across a bug-eyed man, propped up against a vacant storefront, shouting threats and slogans that no one takes seriously. That man is Pete Hegseth.
Kegbreath. Another serial assaulter
Pete’s got one foot out the door!
Substitute “Trump” for “Hegseth” and your evaluation is just as devastatingly accurate. Please watch “ Democracy Under Siege”, a one-hr documentary released today.
Exactly. Both mistake cleverness with competence. You can pounce on your perceived enemies, but that doesn't make you right, nor strong. We are all sick to death of these jackals.
This administration keeps the public in the dark. This administration won't even tell the American people why we are at war! In all his incompetence, Hegseth has to stand there and talk his way around the truth, at the order of his boss.
The argument that the war is a "money making machine" is a central point of criticism. Reports suggest that the administration's actions in the Middle East, including securing massive weapons contracts and controlling resources, have led to accusations that the war is being used to fuel the military-industrial complex and generate profits.
The system required a perpetual enemy to justify a perpetual budget. But the Rust knew they couldn’t just rely on covert CIA coups; they needed a permanent industrial pipeline.
Even as he left office, President Dwight D. Eisenhower—the man who commanded the largest amphibious invasion in human history—stepped to the microphone in his 1961 Farewell Address and issued a desperate, chilling warning to the American public. He explicitly named the “Military-Industrial Complex.”
THE REPORT: America must maintain a permanent, technologically superior defense apparatus to protect the Free World from the menace of Soviet communism. Defense spending is a patriotic necessity to guarantee global stability and secure domestic freedom.
THE RECEIPT: The “cost-plus” contracting model became the bedrock of American defense. It guaranteed defense corporations a profit on top of their expenses. The longer the war, the more expensive and delayed the weapon system, the higher the guaranteed profit margin. They installed the “revolving door”: generals began retiring from the Pentagon directly to the executive boards of Lockheed, Northrop, and Boeing to sell weapons back to their former colleagues. It is the ultimate subsidized void. The state guarantees the market, the taxpayer funds the R&D, and the corporate board privatizes the profit.
https://commonsenserebel.substack.com/p/1944-1971-the-shadow-rebuild?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=jvnom
https://substack.com/@krassenstein/note/c-233340961?r=jvnom
Very informative. Thank you Suzanne
Great assessment, Michael.
“Spoiler alert. Everyone noticed.
What was most revealing was not just what he said, it was what he could not say. Basic program costs were deferred. Strategic coherence was missing. Consistency with prior statements was nonexistent.”
What is most striking and upsetting to me is that Hegseth’s word is accepted. Or more so, his non-word. How can these committees accept his words? He is so unprepared, he lies, he gets defensive when pushed, he acts like a victor when in fact he is the most dangerous person in the room. Why are people backing off? Can Congress throw his ass out? They need to. Enough people have died already. The school they hit was with 3 strikes. 3. How can this be acceptable? I don’t understand.
Wake up Trump. Your pretty boy Pete is going to be your real demise so get him out! FIRE HIM!
But, who pray to God, should we ask him to bring in to replace Hegseth as head of the defense department? Somebody please tell me who you think would be good since I know nothing about this.
Susan, you said "I know nothing about this" so apparently you would qualify for the job in this regime!
So many times I said to friends of mine brothers and whomever ...my God you could have been in that position you're as unqualified and uninformed and as dumb as they are LOL
So sadly, tragically, and horribly true. Hegseth is not competent in a job that literally affects millions of lives.
You nailed it this time! Truth! Every word. The man is extremely unqualified and it’s extraordinarily dangerous! Thx for your keen eye and well-written vivid analysis.