BREAKING: HEGSETH DOUBLES DOWN ON HIS MEDIEVAL MILITARY! With Republicans blaming him for their election catastrophe and seeking favor from Trump, the war criminal-in-chief unleashes a furious five-minute defense of his most EXTREME policies!
Pentagon Pete Hegseth is facing growing calls for his removal after Republicans' disastrous midterm defeat.
His response? A five-minute video in front of his "Department of War" sign attacking his critics, defending his Iran quagmire, demanding MORE Pentagon funding as redoubled his commitment to the hard-line racist agenda he has imposed on America's armed forces.
"Sealing the border and mass deportations are military functions," Hegseth declared, placing domestic immigration enforcement squarely within his vision of the Pentagon's mission.
He also announced that "narco-terrorists should die. Not be caught and released."
By openly embracing mass deportations as a military mission and declaring that suspected drug traffickers should be killed instead of arrested, Hegseth wants to catch Trump’s ear by involving the Pentagon in Trump's domestic political agenda, far afield from its solemn centuries-old mission.
He went on to boast that his department had "crushed" diversity programs, denounce transgender military service, dismiss climate change as a military concern and insist that "patriot extremism, it's not a thing."
"We ended the weird and the woke and elevated patriots and strength," he proclaimed.
Meanwhile, the war with Iran has become a political anvil around the administration’s neck. Republican lawmakers and Trump allies are raising a clamor to blame Hegseth for encouraging the conflict without an exit strategy.
Trump admits his phone has lit up over Hegseth. "I get these calls, you know, about him," he said. Though Trump publicly insists he intends to keep him, the Atlantic reports he is privately on the fence about whether to throw him under the bus.
Far from admitting any error, Hegseth defended the war as a "courageous and historic effort" and pressed Congress for at least $350 billion MORE in defense funding.
"They attack me, they attack us because we are effective," he insisted. "It's not going to work. We will not back down."
He repeatedly invoked Trump, praising the president's leadership and comparing the criticism against himself to Trump's political battles.
"As always, President Trump leads the way," Hegseth declared, recounting Trump's response to the assassination attempt against him.
Hegseth's entire vision of military leadership seems borrowed from an old cowboy movie: bigger guns, tougher talk, enemies to crush, and a heaping helping of bigotry masquerading as patriotism.
Trump gave him enormous latitude to pursue that vision, so long as it delivered the victories and glory the president craves. Now the Iran war has become a political disaster, and Hegseth's answer is more of the same bluster, bullying and chest-thumping.
He has spent his tenure telling everyone else to toughen up. He may soon discover that his commander has a much simpler message for him:
