Repeat gross errors in judgment prove Pete Hegseth is incompetent. 
Yet Another Signal Chat Fiasco
The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Stands by Hegseth After Phone Call About Newly Revealed Signal Chat
Trump and Hegseth chatted on the phone after news reports detailed how Hegseth used his personal phone to place sensitive military information into a new Signal chat, and the publication of an essay by a former Pentagon spokesman detailing the “total chaos” of the secretary’s leadership. The conversation was positive, officials said, noting that Trump sees no reason to remove Hegseth after only three months in the job.
That understanding was on full display as Trump at the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday said Hegseth was “doing a great job.”
“It’s just fake news,” the president added. “Sounds like disgruntled employees. You know, he was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people, and that’s what he’s doing. You don’t always have friends when you do that.”
“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,” said Hegseth. “Not going to work with me.”
[Notice that Hegseth never denied he was twice an idiot. So attack the media.]
During the first so-called Signalgate, Trump defended national security adviser Mike Waltz for inadvertently adding a reporter into an encrypted chat where senior aides, including Hegseth, discussed imminent attack plans against the Houthis in Yemen.
Now the president finds himself again beating back accusations that he refuses to hold loyal aides accountable for their mistakes. Trump brushed back questions about the second Signal chat involving Hegseth on Monday as “the same old stuff from the media.”
He brought his wife, who isn’t a government employee, to some sensitive meetings at the Defense Department. He authorized a top-secret military briefing for Elon Musk about China strategy, only to downgrade the sensitivity of the meeting after intense White House blowback. Videos of the Tuskegee Airmen and images of the Enola Gay, the warplane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan, were temporarily removed from Defense Department websites as part of what some saw as Hegseth’s purge of anything resembling “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” or DEI.
Hegseth has also fired at least 10 admirals and generals, adding a source of instability and unpredictability in a Pentagon increasingly filled with fear about retribution from the secretary’s office, officials said.
Meanwhile John Ullyot, a former top Pentagon spokesman working under Hegseth, wrote Sunday in Politico that the Pentagon is in “total chaos” and “disarray” under the secretary’s leadership. Ullyot alleged that three fired Pentagon officials—all loyal to Hegseth—were wrongly smeared by anonymous officials as leakers who failed polygraph tests.
Ullyot urged Trump to fire Hegseth. “The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president—who deserves better from his senior leadership,” he wrote. “It’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer.”
Insurrection Barbie Leads the Defense
Barbie Link: We cannot continue to run the government based on the unsubstantiated allegations of news organizations that have a history of lying to the American people in order to push their political agenda.
The insane and coordinated effort to oust Pete Hegseth is no different from Russiagate, or any of the other anonymously sourced allegations leveled by the media that have always fallen apart under scrutiny.
Republicans in office, please don’t be suckers and embarrass yourselves falling for this garbage .
“You’re 100% spot on. This pressure tactic is old and needs to continue to fail. We must stand by our people, said Breanna”.
AviMarius commented “I’d say it’s time to wake up we can’t build policy based on media fiction. Facts ,narratives.”
The Facts
- A reporter from The Atlantic was inadvertently included in a discussion of a top secret military operation on Yemen.
- That was on an unauthorized signal chat.
- Hegseth’s wife was in multiple meetings where she had no business being.
- Now there is a second Signal chat that one one has even denied.
The hypocrites and liars defend this bullsh*t.
My gosh, they would still be screaming for decades if anything like this happened under Biden. In fact the would be calling for everyone involved to be locked up and charged with national security crimes.
Department of Defense Shares Classified War Plan Details With Journalist
On March 24, 2025 I commented Department of Defense Shares Classified War Plan Details With Journalist
The most striking aspect is the MAGA denial and hypocrisy.
The chats over the Signal encrypted messaging service spanned days and included specific information about weapons, targets and timing used in the attack, according to the Atlantic magazine, whose editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently included in the discussion and who disclosed the texts.
National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes confirmed the authenticity of the chat in a statement to The Wall Street Journal. He didn’t respond to questions about whether the chat ran afoul of legal procedures for handling classified information.
Hegseth is Discredited
Please play this Amusing Video of Hegseth arracking Goldberg.
Hegseth made a jackass out of himself.
Here are some Texts Regarding Yemen.
Had the administration acknowledged the serious error, Hegseth would not look so stupid, and I would not be doing this post.
Administration Denies Sharing Classified Data With a Journalist
On March 25, I commented Lie of the Day: Administration Denies Sharing Classified Data With a Journalist
Since none of this is classified, my simple suggestion is: The Atlantic should release 100 percent of it, with one name redacted.
Then we will see who said what, whether Hegseth is a liar, and whether Ratcliffe is either a liar (or has a bad memory or was sleeping during the meeting).
One day later we found the proven liar.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Digs Bigger Hole With More Lies
On March 26, I noted Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Digs Bigger Hole With More Lies
When you are caught with your pants down, and there’s an image of it, it’s best not to deny your pants were down.
In a statement Wednesday, Hegseth said, “The Atlantic released the so-called ‘war plans’ and those ‘plans’ include: No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information.”
And so, since the data is not classified, the Atlantic released more details as I said they should do.
The new messages that were made public by the magazine showed the texts included details about the specific times that F-18s, MQ-9 drones and Tomahawk cruise missiles would be used in the attack and mentions intelligence that an unnamed target of the attacks was at a “known location.”
His texts before the strikes in Yemen, though, included multiple specific details of the looming attack.
In a text entitled “Team Update” on the Signal service, Hegseth wrote that the weather was favorable for the military operation and that “we are a GO for mission launch.”
The text was posted at 11:44 a.m. E.T. on March 15, about 30 minutes before the first U.S. F-18s warplanes that carried out the strikes took off from a U.S. aircraft carrier.
The defense secretary added that “THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP” at 2:15 p.m.
“The information as published recently appears to me to be of such a sensitive nature that based on my knowledge, I would have wanted it classified,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.) the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. “If mistakes were made…they should be acknowledged.”
Earlier this month, the Pentagon sent an advisory to all military personnel warning that a “vulnerability” had been identified in Signal and warned against using it for classified information.
Several U.S. military officials said the strike information Hegseth included was secret when he shared it.
Such information would come from Pentagon planning documents for the operation that are classified, said Mick Mulroy, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East in the first Trump administration.
“Both are classified and highly sensitive,” Mulroy said. “One could actually make the argument that attack plans are more sensitive because they are more detailed and specific on time, place, and manner.”
Bear in mind, the text exchange with The Atlantic included the name of a CIA agent directly involved.
Does anyone in their right mind actually believe this is not classified information.
And the texts were on Signal instead of secure government channels. That’s a massive error in and of itself.
I suggest Hegseth and Ratcliffe be fired for incompetence. He should have been fired the first time.
Unfortunately, that seems unlikely because Trump and his cult value loyalty far more than competence, even when it comes to national security.
One has to be an amazing idiot to let another signal event happen again. Guess what, Hegseth is an amazing idiot.
Clueless Cult Members
Somehow these clueless cult members don’t realize they are clueless cult members.
They have been brainwashed to believe anything and everything Trump says or does, and they believe Hegseth despite the fact he is a proven liar.
They also believe Trump is acting to take down deep state when Trump really seeks to create his own deep state loyal to only one person, Trump, not the nation.
Now watch them attack the Wall Street Journal instead of the facts.
Pathetic.
While we are on the subject of incompetent US Secretaries of Defense, I don’t remember seeing a review of Lloyd James Austin III. Perhaps I missed it; or maybe he really was competent.
I’m thinking of course, of the implementation of DEI through all branches of the US military.
Austin was around long before DEI became fashionable.
Welcome to the full retard leadership, like we’ve had in India for over a decade.
Trump’s “huggy” friend Modi (our PM, who calls him Doland :)), acts exactly this way, though his insanity manifests in different ways.
Let the global circus of clowns and buffoonery begin.
Mish, Biden was brain-dead, hands still at his sides, walking around in a Daze (that can be found from searching his meetings in Europe – – HE WANDERED OFF). So, your point that if this happened with Biden, there would be crazed shouts.
THAT did not happen throughout the Biden brain-dead Presidency, right?
I rest my case.
So you’re saying one moron president justifies ANOTHER moron president?
Are you a moron?
Maybe the entire cabinet should have been sourced from Fox and Friends.
Now that is good humor!
Lions and tigers and bears oh my. Lloyd Austin was absent from his post and no one knew. On the surface, just more deep state smears.
Nothing to see here, so move along…
Trump just came out and said: Hegseth was “doing a great job.” So who cares what the Democrats Spew? They are always spewing lies, hate, and simply making stuff up. This went on for 4 Years! Enough already, as the Democrats are no longer in Power and have very little Control, so of course they are like a pack of Wolves on anything that even sounds like it’s a jab to report on.
On this particular issue, it has already been dismissed as mostly false information, with no issue worth discussion. Life has moved on for all but the Democrats. Unless or until they have another false or misleading (such as this one) story to tell, their rule is to keep harping on it, until something else comes up. You see they always have to be espousing bad news, fake news, made up news, or anything to disrupt the status quo. Not working…
“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,” said Hegseth. “Not going to work with me.” Many believe much of this stems from the firing of at least 10 admirals and generals. YOU THINK? Right on cue, some (Dems? Or Incompetent Admirals and Generals perhaps?) increasingly filled with fear about retribution from the secretary’s office, or so it was supposedly said, but we know how that works…
Hit the Nail on the head: The insane and coordinated effort to oust Pete Hegseth is no different from Russiagate, or any of the other anonymously sourced allegations leveled by the media that have always fallen apart under scrutiny. Hooray a truth teller!!!
Pleasure vs fear. Fear releases x2 times more dopamine than pleasure. Large traders use the doomsday media to buy stocks at wholesale prices from the weak hands. That’s why the puke media multiply like rabbits.
Mish, this tiresome vitriolic garbage you are writing is not worth anyone’s time to read.
And yet here you are reading it and posting an angry comment about it. Seems like it worked beautifully for Mish.
Checkmate bruh.
When alcoholics are depressed they seek dopamine and momentary pleasure by watching/ reading the puke media again and again. After a while pain accumulate and compound: we get an addicted brain. We are hooked to the puke media. They control us. Prof Kahneman behaviour science
I can’t tell, are you talking about the secretary of defense here?
I’ve been here a long time, and seen Mish take on both sides. I hope that continues. I respect that more than the people who always go knee-jerk for one side, no matter what the facts are.
I recall the “conservatives” who came out so stridently for “W” Bush’s ill-designed “global war on terror.” They are many of the same people now shouting loudest waving a big red-team flag of uncritical approval for Trump’s every move.
Yes, you are spot on there. That WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION fell on its face and they went ahead anyway with the “Shock and Awe” bullshit and then:
THE MONEY FLOWED!
Yet another person who does not understand the complex issues of post 9/11.
How Clinton destroyed the effectiveness of the CIA by affirmative action, and eliminating on-ground activity for satellite spying.How gross incompetence in the TSA/DOT etc enabled terrorists to walk through security checks at Logan AirportHow the US knew Saudi Arabia was implicated by 9/12, yet could not attack an allyHow the US knew it could not attack the Taliban and win on the ground without huge lossesHow the US economy was in free-fall after 9/11How other countries in the Middle East were ripe for similar attacks on the US. The soft underbelly of the US was well known– and hard/impossible to defend.I could go on… However, it was NOT just conservatives who wanted a war on terror. Look at the Congressional Record.
Yes, the Iraq War seems ill-conceived. With minimal US losses, the world saw what would happen if the US was attacked again. It was always about the message to other countries.
I agree that it has been balanced in a large part but his point that if the Democrats were ruling: there would be shouts! THAT did not happen because the Liberal Media OWNS ITSELF!
There are plenty of echo chambers where people like you don’t have to hear anything that contradicts their belifs. You clearly belong in one.
the adjective clown potus claims everything he does not like is “fake” news. and the morons he hires are always doing a “great job”. afraid to admit he has no clue as to who ought to have the jobs? or are the ones who insisted these incompetents be in the job pushing to keep failures? anyone in the private sector doing this would be pink slipped immediately.
Trump is taking our country down by hiring incompetent and contemptuous sycophants. His Treasury Secretary is planning on breaking the financial system so he can hold and create the “Mirage-a-lago Accord”. Of course it will not be planned or have any support from the financial world. Trump will organize the event and no-one will come. By then, trump hopes to have destroyed our financial system.
I personally hope he can not do it. We are a stronger nation than that and the American people will put a stop to the trump madness. I hope trump continues to fail so miserably that he is removed from office for sedition and his outright disregard for the rule of law that he flaunts every day.
Who does trump work for? He works for trump and trump alone…
Remember that trump plans bankruptcy as a business model. Apparently bankrupting our nation is the plan for forcing a financial re-set. His actions are isolating America from its allies and turning the entire world against us. His actions are debilitating to business and trade relations. Trust in America as a beacon of freedom is waining.
$10 trillion are gone from our financial markets already. Pension funds are losing massive amounts of money as assets evaporate.
America deserves leadership that serves the people, not some lying, sneering, dissociated from reality narcissist!
trump needs removed for incompetence. the 25th amendment needs enforced. his creation of dodge to pretend to be looking for “waste” in govt is a facade to pacify the cult minions. his ongoing demented obsession of blaming bidette and democrats for everything he doesn’t like is a serious indication of his dementia.
Trump is alert, oriented to time and place. He is very tuned to current events, in his way. Alas, i do not think he is mentally incompetent within the reasonable definition of that term. He is the guy who was elected. That is not to say he might not decline cognitively in the future. His father had dementia. That said, I think he demonstrates glaring incompetence in many fields of activity, but that is more the absence of suitable education and skills, not basic mental capacity. He fancies is is smarter than anyone in every domain, and he is not. He is a hick from the outer boroughs, who overestimates himself by orders of magnitude, like a narcissistic, vengeful Jimmy Carter, but worse. We should not subvert the 25th, the way he tries to subvert any law he gets close to.
I’ve got no problem with him. He is doing what is necessary in cleaning out the DEI nonsense, reestablishing physical norms and getting rid of political generals and appointees who by the way are more interested in getting cushy jobs at defense contractors or think tanks than in wining wars. The last thing you want is a former three-star general that owes favors to half of Washington or a lawyer known for his bureaucratic infighting abilities. Trump will keep him. The Republicans in Congress will support him. The claims that he is incompetent are very weak. The real reason why he is targeted by the Democrats is that he has big Jerusalem Cross tattooed on his chest. They don’t like that because it is not politically correct. They think that makes him the most vulnerable of Trump’s picks. They are mistaken.
imagine having no problems with a fool who hires based on allegiance to himself. as for DEI its just a different term for anti discrimination. you must be in the orange cult that is blind to reality.
Would you hire someone who is disruptive or disloyal to you? Would you retain disruptive and disloyal people on your staff or embedded in your organization?
Right or Wrong, Trump has been elected to counter and address problems that exist.
Yes! He creates “other” problems and it is possible our world and lifestyles could become worse but those who elected him did not continuation of what preceded Trump.
Trump is one operative element. Dynamics in our nation and the world are another. What should “who” be doing?
Actual intelligent people want other intelligent people around them and advising them. The more intelligent you are, the more you realize how little you know. This is something unintelligent people are physiologically incapable of understanding. Thus the confusion here.
Competition should weed out incompetence. Now, apply this to DEI and the real danger is obvious.
In general, I agree. But IQ is NOT the whole issue. There are scads of people with superior Cognitive Abilities on both sides of the political, social and economic themes. Daniel Kahneman wrote a rather boring but insightful book on the issues of error in judgement. Different psychologically driven views of human nature matter big time. It’s complicated.
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/noise/38035912/item/64559425/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=us_shopping_zombies_hvs_21811042479&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=717415192734&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_7OqiYLsjAMVvEf_AR21ciXDEAQYAiABEgI_cvD_BwE#idiq=64559425&edition=65956466
Isn’t Biden Irish?
Sorry to tell you but DEI grossly reduced the effectiveness of the US Military.
Recruitment fell off a cliff in all branches, but especially affecting the core of US supremacy on the battlefield.
If you wanted to destroy the US without firing a shot, DEI is the way to do it.
General Timothy Haugh, the director of the National Security Agency testified before Congress that signal chat was a national security threat because NSA could not break the security. He subsequently perjured himself before Congress by saying that Hegseth’s meeting on Signal chat was insecure. Trump fired him rather than prosecute. There is good reason to use signal chat rather than recommended conference calls because disloyal NSA are surely tapped into their preferred recommended security protocol. The press corps propaganda arm of the Democratic party leaps at the opportunity to sling mud at Hegseth because he is dismissing token quota DEI generals as the Trump presidency was elected to do. Hegseth is doing fine job cleaning house and operating the DOD.
you are not wearing blinders you have a hood on.
Its better than repeatedly being dropped on your head as Trump taunts you in your dreams.
https://x.com/DODResponse/status/1914302139788050922
Sadly, the majority of Mish readers do not understand the extent of the ‘quality’ problem in the US Govt, to which DEI is a major contributor. The problem goes unnoticed until a crisis, when you realize most of your senior officers do not WANT a battlefield command because they realize they are not up to the job.
The crap must be flushed from the can, much the same as before the US entered WW2. Historical FACT.
Fascinating that all this texting is getting so much coverage yet admissions about acts of war being committed in a foreign land to “send a message” to a different country are glossed over or ignored.
the texting needs exposed . in your world watergate was a waste of time looking into.
Read about Woodward’s failed reporting career before Watergate and his CIA connection. Learn not to be satisfied by the ‘official ‘ story.
Sending a message is a problem?
It is far better to drop a few bombs than land an army in a distant land, especially when you don’t have the f*(king ships to do it.
Hint: Google ‘US littoral combat ship’
Committing an act of war in a foreign land with no casus belli isn’t an issue for you? If you think engagement will cease after “a few” bombs prepare to be disappointed.
This is a president authorizing warfare, bypassing Congress, and practically guaranteeing this engagement will expand. Sure it has happened regularly in the past, but now the motivation and goals are all out in the open. Guess even that isn’t enough for some criminal charges.
One of the alleged positives of Trump winning again was no warfare. Oops.
This is not an administration assembled for the people…
it serves only Trump…
and attacks everything and everyone else…
not just in the US…
but worldwide:
https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/the-targeted-chaos-of-trumps-attacks-against-international-human-rights-law-and-justice
Exclusive: The White House is looking to replace Pete Hegseth as defense secretary https://www.npr.org/2025/04/21/nx-s1-5371312/trump-white-house-pete-hegseth-defense-department
Jesus protected Nazareth and the Galilee/
find a church.
I feel like I am reading the New York Times editorial page. I used to count on you for non-political economic and financial advice. Please go back to your former self.
I am my former self
You have TDS Type II
I am a free market Libertarian, anti-war, small government advocate. Not changed.
Trump is a narcissist nutcase, more willing than Biden to flout the Courts, does not understand a damn thing about trade, is bragging about the biggest military budget in history, is no fiscal conservative, and will hugely increase the deficit while complicating the the tax code to win votes from Democrats.
I don’t give a damn about parties and never did. I discuss policies and although he is better than Harris that is saying zero.
That’s reality
Better than Harris, at what may that be?
She would have at least listen to advisors, he is completely out of it.
would that be drunk or sober?
I don’t think we can safely call him “better than Harris” at this stage anymore. Do you believe Harris would have been this bad through the first 3 months?
I hardly not believe myself what I’m about to say: Harris would have been better simply because she would not have started by tearing everything to pieces!
bully bully, mish. been reading you since panic of 2007. i’m the same. i think 9.11.01 really changed everything in both “parties”. D and R both became unquestioning unitary presidential war party.
better than harris? says who himself? his minions.
If you look like a duck and you quack like a duck you’re a duck.
Mish, you are going off the rails, you have changed, you seem to be particularly het up this year, and your headlines becoming increasingly unhinged, with a flock of defecating bluesky lunatics commenting heavily now.
– I don’t give a damn about parties and never did. I discuss policies and although he is better than Harris that is saying zero.
That’s reality
> He is so much better than Harris (and Biden) by a long shot, but let me supply some facts via Words:
Facts:
1. Open Border Now Closed
2. Rule of Law Firmly in place
3. Countless Millions/Billions? Recovered
Many more, but the point has been made.
Lol this only makes sense as parody
Dow Headed for Worst April Since 1932 as Investors Send ‘No Confidence’ SignalFew think administration’s negotiations with trade partners will yield results soon enough to ease the strainhttps://archive.is/RZ8Rb#selection-2455.0-2459.109
The Secretary of Defense caught Trump’s eye while he was on TV. That’s good enough a recommendation for my CV, isn’t it good enough for yours?
Trump’s worst failing is that he’s a visual creature, not a reader. Today’s world is a world of IDEAS, as expressed in the complex nuances of words, and Trump fails on every count. For all that, he’s surprisingly good a writer for an illiterate. His work must have FORCED him to read more than he was comfortable with, and in the process given him a minimal education.
Daft-made by television, overly obsessed with “friends versus enemies” in his personal dichotomized world, and possessing limited discriminatory power, Trump seems to believe in his own destiny — which goes to show you the power of self-belief and how it often trumps more salient variables. THINK RICH AND GROW RICH may as well have been penned by Trump… or his ghostwriter, at any rate.
=-=-=
You can read more of my writings by visiting: dark. sport. blog — on the net!
the author of think rich and grow was found to have been a charlatan. i think trump has only one motive. being in limelight/headlines. doesn’t matter if it is good or bad, just in the news, is what counts. there is no such thing as bad publicity for trump. that is all it is. nothing more.
Hegseth is also another Israelophile. Israel can do no wrong to those people. Being so partial to another country should disqualify someone from a job of looking out for America’s best interest.
Well then Biden should have never been President with his devotion to Ukraine and his son’s proven connections to China.
The dem establishment hand picked Biden, a huge mistake. Bernie may have been a 10 times better POTUS then Biden. Biden should have kept his promise to be a one term president and never should have run a 2024 campaign.
It’s not just Sec of Defense that’s incompetent. The secretary of health now has measles outbreaks in 37 states because of his koo-koo ideas.
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/measles-outbreak-grows-texas-kansas-indiana-pennsylvania-ohio/3820765/
–
And wait until Trump replaces Powell with an incompetent loyalist. It’s all part of….
The Four Horseman of the Trumpocolypse™
White Horse (“Conquerer” Trump) – behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. (Greenland, Canada, Palestine to start).
Red Horse (“Signal” Segheth) -behold, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from Earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.
Pale Horse (“Wormhead” Kennedy) – behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the Earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the Earth.
Black Horse (Next Fed Chair) – behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not damage the oil and the wine”.
Where does Noem fit in within these Horsemen?
She’s Secretary of Homeland Security, supposedly defending all the miles of our borders. But her and her Secret Service contingent couldn’t keep a common thief from stealing her bag with her passport and DHS badge from a restaurant table? This should be a fiction best-seller, but it’s the truth LOL
At least, she looks good in her photo ops play-dressed up with actual Homeland Security working personnel. So Trump will keep her for sure
Outward appearance ok but a little closer look reveals her inward ugliness. She is a disgusting human.
MAGA: Measles Are Going Around
Ignorance is bliss and tends to associate with others suffering from a similar affliction.
History may not exactly repeat, but it often rhymes.
Bush: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job”
Before declaring him “incompetent,” I’m more interested in policy where the rubber hits the road than I am in a couple mechanics/procedural mistakes, so far.
But I suppose if one is predisposed to hating the guy, opinions would differ on that.
consider this: this is just the shit you know about. his policies include getting rid of DEI. while i can support that it’s completely irrelevant to anything important. other than that the policy is what Trump tells him it is.
Hegseth i too young and inexperienced to have anything approaching amounting to a “policy”. his military rank was that of a major in the Army National Guard.
Yes, he is beholden to his boss, the CiC.
That’s the way it works; always did.
But your definition of “policy” is probably different than mine…
best I’ve been able to glean, Hegseth’s “policy” was likely well-ingrained by the time he was 18 years old.
Yeah, for you people its better to have a 4 star general calling up the Chinese and letting them know that he will usurp the civilian leadership of the US military.
How about policy of following your own damn security protocols
What’s wrong with informing your wife about the details of US military operations in Yemen beforehand? She won’t get on the phone and tell the Houthis, and this way she can figure out that her husband is now a very big shot. I am sure Trump loves all of this.
Good Lord
This moron had an Atlantic editor on the call and denied it was classified.
This is after the Pentagon said to use secure channels not that chat ap.
Then the idiot did it again.
Are you really that stupid to make excuses for this?
Are you really do stupid to claim that you are an expert on all things military?
I don’t think Mish did that. He pointed to the facts and concludes from them that Hegseth is simply unfit for the role. Which is obvious, unless we value loyalty to Trump over National security.
This is hardly a situation where expertise is required to grasp the level of incompetence on display. Are you really so dim?
All three senior advisors responsible for setting up the call for Hegseth were fired by Hegseth. Whether they set him up or are incompetent is a good question. The fact is they are no longer pretending to serve Hegseth.
If you believe that this Signal chat wasn’t fake, you are a moron, Mish.
You don’t get humor … I at least need humor from time to time to survive the daily Trump news.
Maybe his wife would be a better SoD.
I think it’s worse than incompetence. Why would any politician touch social security in any way? Why would a politician treat veterans as nothing but toys? Why would any politician do things that would only bring his approval ratings down? It’s cause he doesn’t care. He is both giving the finger to the American public who refused to bow, and once he has his 4000 political appointees filled, he is gonna tr
y the biggest bet ever … that we are too lazy, defeated and stupid to deny him his and family the throne. No more elections, no more courts.
If you truly believe what you think is going to happen then you shouldn’t be wasting time posting comments here, you should be planning an exit strategy.
How close are you to the mexico or canada border? What methods have you researched to get out of the country via plane, train, automobile or mule?
What countries do you have in mind that you may be able to move to and what are their visa requirements? How much money do you need to live there? How will you work at final destination? Do you have a second passport to use if my U.S. one becomes worthless?
Those are far more important questions to answer than anything on this blog.
Do you think Canada will let us in?
Any country will let you in as long as you have enough money. That’s why profits are my #1 thing…..
Mom thought her money would always take care of her. Then dad got a knee replacement and couldnt move for awhile. You cant hire someone who just goes up and down the stairs a hundred times a day. Your money wont save you.
Maybe at one time. Now will be more difficult.
I have nowhere to go .. my country (and the Indians) .. and if we wait till something happens, it will be too late to stop it. You cant give people the benefit of the doubt when we know him so well.
i think that is a possibility. but west coast states will secede. we’ll bust up into 50 states by 2029 is my guess. we’ll keep trading and using highways etc, but the governors will ignore many laws and edicts coming out of DC. plenty of banana republics operate like this. plenty of empires have busted up like this.
California has the the world’s 5th largest economy.
There ya go.
Yup – patrimonialism.
The state is his personal property.
And Lloyd Austin? Anthony Blinken? Jake Sullivan?
At least as incompetent if slightly more evil. Yet Biden stood by them for 4 years.
As well as every other member of his Cabinet. Incompetent and evil to the core.
Mayorkas anyone?
Is Hegseth incompetent? Probably. But then so is every member of Congress save maybe a handful. And almost all other people in Government
We are likely doomed as a nation
what about… what about… what about… doesn’t prove your point, doesn’t prove Hegseth is anything other than what Mish said he is.
Mish is a biased, ignorant anti Trump person with TDS and zero military experience.
None of which proves Mish’ point wrong. In fact, because you’re making an effort to smear Mish but not actually counter his arguments, it only makes Mish’ case stronger. If you could counter his arguments, you clearly would. But you can’t because the facts are too obvious.
Trump’s military experience involved dodging the draft. That’s probably a good thing.
You left out that Biden issued them all a blanket pardon before departing.
Catherine Austin Fitts addressed this line of reasoning recently.
In response to all the insider trading on the part of the Trump insiders, the response from the faithful was:
“Look at what Nancy Pelosi did!”
My comment will likely NOT be understood and likely misunderstood. But why stop now.
An example of what is necessary in history relative to Power Politics could be Yeltsin, who had to have the military on his side to put those 6 T8 tanks on the bridge to blast out Russia’s parliament. Over 100 died.
Given:
1. The monetary/economic order is breaking down because there is too much existing debt, the rates of adding to it are too fast, and existing capital markets and economies are supported by this unsustainable large debt.
2. The domestic political order is breaking down due to huge gaps in people’s education levels, opportunity levels, productivity levels, income and wealth levels, and values—and because of the ineffectiveness of the existing political order to fix things.
3. The international geopolitical world order is breaking down because the era of one dominant power (the U.S.) that dictates the order that other countries follow is over.
Given:
The other choice was Harris and the continued engineered decline of America’s self-sustainability, despite Trump’s errors and flaws, he needs a loyal military to survive and lead America to it’s survival. “They”….have tried to kill him twice. “They”…will try again.
There is little chance Trump can bolster himself and what he thinks America needs without significant noise and resistance.
Under Obama and Biden, there was an opaque revolution. Trump is leading a counter-revolution. He’ll probably fail. Without the military on his side (like Yeltsin) he’ll definitely fail – or be taken out.
I honestly can’t remember Mike. Did you do an opinion piece on the US pull out from Afghanistan? That is my definition of an incompetent SecDef. That one had real life and death consequences.
Yes
I praised Biden for getting it done but said the way it was done was incompetent.
I found it myself Mike thanks to the search feature on your website, which is very well done by the way. I don’t see any specific criticism of the SecDef or that Biden was “Standing by” him despite his incompetence. Somehow you found a way to blame Trump rather than the planners who BTW faced no consequences for their screwup. https://mishtalk.com/economics/out-at-last-us-troops-leave-afghanistan-after-20-years/ Hegseth’s screwup cost no one there life.
This prediction is pretty good. I forgot about it
Biden Has a No-Win Position in Afghanistan No Matter What He does
https://mishtalk.com/economics/biden-has-a-no-win-position-in-afghanistan-no-matter-what-he-does/
Refreshing Honesty: Ron Paul Praises Aspects of Biden’s Speech on Afghanistan!
https://mishtalk.com/economics/refreshing-honesty-ron-paul-praises-aspects-of-bidens-speech-on-afghanistan/
Kabul Falls to Taliban, Afghan Leader Flees, Army Built by the US Surrenders
https://mishtalk.com/economics/kabul-falls-to-taliban-afghan-leader-flees-army-built-by-the-us-surrenders/
Messy Exit But Congratulations Anyway
Finally, at long last we are out.
Blame whomever you want, for whatever you want, but no more US military will lose their lives on the ground in a place we should not have been once Bin Laden was killed.
Please give thanks to that.
https://mishtalk.com/economics/out-at-last-us-troops-leave-afghanistan-after-20-years/
Trump-Biden Similar Positions
https://mishtalk.com/economics/in-how-many-ways-are-president-biden-and-trump-alike/
“Hegseth’s screwup cost no one there life.”…..Yet, that we know about.
that was 95% Trump’s fault.
He made a deal with the Taliban in February 2020 to be out by May 2021, and released 5,000 imprisoned Taliban soldiers as part of that deal, which the Afghan president said would be very dangerous and kill moral of Afghan forces.
Trump then withdrew US troop level to a couple thousand, abandoning many baes completely.
Meanwhile 70,000 Taliban soldiers were massing in the mountains ready to invade if we weren’t out. the Afghan president was telling Biden that the afghan military was ready. And Biden was suppose to do what, say forget it, deal’s off and bring back 30,000 soldiers? he was put in a no-win situation by Trump’s idiotic deal and troop drawdown. no one in the US wanted to start sending tens of thousands of US soldiers to fight another war with Taliban after we already gave up and agreed to go home.
Hegseth was a counterinsurgency trainer in Afghanistan (training Afghans) for 8 months after the withdrawal was announced. heckuva job he did there. not suggesting it was Hegseth’s fault, but it was definitely Trump’s, who literally withdrew US troops as the enemy was massing and threatening to invade, then blamed the guy he handed that mess to.
Biden ordered the abandonment of Bagram AFB in favor of evacuating from HKIA. Bagram had two runways, extensive hangars, and a large perimeter, capable of handling multiple aircraft types and high-volume evacuations. HKIA had one runway, limiting throughput and increasing vulnerability to delays or attacks.
Bagram’s rural location, 40 miles north of Kabul, offered a secure perimeter with natural barriers, making it easier to defend against attacks. HKIA, in Kabul’s urban center, was surrounded by civilian areas, complicating security and exposing it to threats like the August 26, 2021, ISIS-K suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops and over 170 Afghans. Biden did that on the advice of Milley, Austin, Sullivan and Blinken. The commander on the ground, 4 star General Scott Miller was relieved of duty on July 31, 2021, two weeks before the debacle due to his rumored dissent.
i go to college(for fun) a block from ground zero in nyc. the entire “global war against terror” was idiotic. like waging a war against scary stuff. bush/cheney/rummy crime family looked the other way after august 2001 chatter. that attack was no surprise. neither was using commercial aircraft as missiles. the G8 meeting in Genoa beforehand went to battle stations against that threat beforehand. the entire department of war became just a cash register for the elites on wall street and suburban DC. the rest is eyewash. all empires collapse. usually they all do similarly. history does rhyme. yawn. trump is just an entertainer. a true blue amerikan hero for an empire of idiots weened on gilligan’s island and F troop.
ok. o that’s the 5% that was his fault. and so HKIA was chosen because it was obviously stupid? i don’t know about the issue and so can’t comment, but you don’t list any reason why HKIA was chosen, and I am sure there were reasons.
Trump made strategic mistakes that doomed the enterprise altogether. Mistakes in tactics should be criticized, but to ignore the larger error and to blame it all on the details of how some doomed enterprise could have been made less disastrous is unfair and unreasonable.
We deport for reasons including ones tattoos yet: https://newlinesmag.com/essays/pete-hegseths-tattoos-and-the-crusading-obsession-of-the-far-right/
While I agree with the analysis, if Trump feels he’s being pressed to fire him and he does, he will take revenge on us all by appointing an even bigger idiot. that’s how he is.
Nothing sums up Trump better than the fact that if he had his way Matt Goetz would be Attorney General .this is someone who showed other republicns on the floor of the House photos of himself partying it up with prostitutes. his legal experience was working for just 3 years for some third rate Florida personal injury firm. this is the man Trump wanted to be the highest legal officer in the land.
Hegseth is not quite as bad a chouce as Goetz was, but he also had no real leadership or organizational experience, and apparently he has no respect for the office and doesn’t get why op sec is so important.
Totally agree with Anthony
At the risk of being band from your site Mish, I feel like a political bias has overwhelmed your usual steady hand and logic based mindset, though I am sure you will disagree.
My two cents for whatever it’s worth.
“Trump Stands by His Proven Incompetent Secretary of Defense” I still can’t find where Mike posted a headline “Biden Stands by His Proven Incompetent Secretary of Defense” after the botched Afghan pullout.
You’re deranged when you think reasonable criticism is bias
Secretary of Defense Gutfeld? In all seriousness, one of the challenges of putting combat veterans in as SecDef is most of their career was spent TAKING orders from much higher-ups, not commanding large bureaucracies. Could see how the changeover could be a problem. We once had an area politician who emphasized his military career and then when showing up for the high level position behaved as if he was reporting for orders instead of reporting to GIVE them. Would also imagine Hegseth is one of those high-testosterone types more comfortable with being in the action rather than being behind the desk.
JFK must have been an outlier in your theory. But you were right on when describing the community organizer President.
JFK wanted to go to harvard and become a writer/poet after his brutal war experience. read how he saved so many men on the PT boat. his old man forced him into politics. very sad reading about that. joe kennedy was a brutal human being. the robert caro books explain it best.
I’d hire Bernie Goetz as Sec of Defense in a heartbeat.
ha ha ha. as a fella who has spent half his life in brooklyn i have to LOL. started here and left for half a life and now back. getting ready to leave again. poor bernie goetz. in most countries and even many us states he would have been given the key to the city.