Thursday, June 12, 2025. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appears before the Senate to reveal he can't even call out Hitler because Hegseth is just that racist and pathetic. protest gear up to send the message to b-day boy Donald Chump that he is not a king, and much more.
Tuesday, we attended a hearing that did not go well for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (see yesterday's snapshot). As hard as it might be for some to believe, Wednesday saw another hearing where Pete bombed.
He was as uninformed as he was on Tuesday when he appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee and he still tried to run out the clock on even the most basic questions.
How basic? One example, yes or no, Senator Jack Reed wanted to know if Hegseth would authorize force to arrest American citizens in Los Angeles?
Secretary Pete Hegseth: Senator, every authorization we've provided the National Guard -- uh -- and the Marines in Los Angeles is under the authority of the President of the United States is lawful and Constitutional. They are assisting in defending law enforcement --
Senator Jack Reed: So the answer is yes.
Secretary Pete Hegseth: -- officers and law enforcement facilities
Senator Jack Reed: So the answer is yes.
Secretary Pete Hegseth: -- in the execution of their jobs
Senator Jack Reed: So the answer is yes.
Secretary Pete Hegseth: -- in the city of Los Angeles --
Senator Jack Reed: The answer is yes.
He repeatedly did that on Tuesday as well when appearing before the House Subcommittee. One thing learned then is that while he says the assault on Los Angeles had Constitutional authority, he couldn't cite where in the Constitution because he doesn't know the Constitution. That's why the idiot was Chump's choice. Chump wanted to invade US cities in his first term but people in that administration actually knew the Constitution and refused to go along with illegal activities. Pete Hegseth knows nothing, he's a stupid idiot too ignorant to grasp that his job requires him knowing the Constitution and not just citing what some unidentified attorney told someone in the administration and they then went on to tell him.
That is in fact, dereliction of duty. Everyone serving right now is at risk because Hegseth doesn't know what is legal and what is illegal and is too worried about keeping his job to find out.
Hegseth wasn't helped by the fact that Republican senators on the Committee felt they actually had to do their job. There was no one yesterday behaving like US House Rep Ken Calvert in Tuesday's hearing -- no one cuddling and protecting Hegseth, no one doing everything like Culvert to kiss the boos boos and to pull a large meaty breast out for Hegseth to suckle on.
The closest to that would have to be the closest case of the Senate Lindsey Graham who took a lie we already disputed on Tuesday (about military recruitment) and advanced it further by insisting military recruitment was up because men wanted to serve under Hegseth. Go to yesterday's snapshot, we're not going through it again except to note that recruitment began climbing in 2024 and that this fiscal year for recruitment started in November. Hegseth wasn't sworn in until the end of January.
While Lindsey may want to serve under Hegseth, at this point that's just Lindsey's hormonal driven desire. Don't confuse that with any statistics.
Lindsey got his hair cut for the hearing and it looked like he got a blow out too. Primped to look pretty for Pete. However, even Lindsey had to bring down the hammer in that ineffectual way of his when the topic switched to Ukraine. It was probably egged on by the fact that Hegseth struggled with answering whether or not Hitler had been underestimated and answering whether or not Hitler "wrote a book saying he wanted to kill all the Jews" -- struggled to the point that Lindsey went to General Dan Caine who was sitting beside Hegseth and who, for the record, was able to immediately answer the question (unlike Hegseth).
Hegseth couldn't call out Hitler (remember his tattoos and you shouldn't be surprised), he also couldn't call out January 6th insurrectionists.
Senator Chris Coons: Do you support that decision? Do you believe that was the right decision to deploy the National Guard to defend the Capitol on January 6th?
Secretary Pete Hegseth: All I know is it's the right decision to be deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles to be defending ICE agents who deserve to be defended in the execution of their jobs.
Senator Chris Coons: But I think it's important to know if you think it was also important to have the National Guard defending the United States Capitol when there were violent protesters here on the president's behalf to make sure that folks know that you care about protests whether it's against the president or on behalf of the president.
Senator, I was in the Washington DC National Guard when that happened and was initially ordered to go guard the inauguration of Joe Biden but because of the politicization of the Biden administration, my orders were revoked.
We're stopping there On the inauguration of President Joe Biden -- whom Hegseth never called "president" in this hearing or at Tuesday's hearing -- Will Carless (USA TODAY) reported back in November:
Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of defense says he was removed from his National Guard post at President Joseph Biden’s 2021 inauguration because superiors deemed his tattoos to be connected to extremism.
[. . .]
Peter Hegseth, who was named this week as incoming President Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of defense, said in an interview that he was removed from a National Guard deployment to Biden’s inauguration because superiors deemed his tattoos were “extremist.”
The revelation comes as the US military has been on a four-year mission to stamp out extremism in the ranks, an effort that USA TODAY has covered extensively.
Please note the question wasn't about the inauguration. January 6th was about the official ballot count and the insurrectionists were attempting to overthrow the vote of We The People. That was January 6th. January 20th is when Joe was inaugurated. As usual, Hegseth tries to run out the clock.
Senator Chris Murphy: But do you support the decision made on January 6th to send the National Guard here to defend the Capitol?
Secretary Hegseth: I support the decision that President Trump made and --
Senator Chris Murphy: You don't -- you do not support -- You do not support the decision to send the National Guard in to defend the Capitol. I think that speaks to the worry that many Americans have that there is a double standard, that you are not willing to deend against attacks made on our democracy by supporters of the president but you are willing to deploy the National Guard to protect against protesters who are criticizing the president.
Ukraine came up repeatedly. The bribe of the airplane from Qatar came up repeatedly. So did the destruction of bridges we'd built with allies over the years that were now just being tossed aside. Senator Chris Coons was one of the senators bringing up that issue and he also brought up this:
Mr. Secretary, I'm also concerned that far more of your time so far has been spent inside the building on culture wars, rather than outside the building deterring real ones. This administration began by firing a long list of qualified uniformed leaders without cause: The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Vice Chief of the Air Force, the head of the National Security Agency, the U.S. military representative to NATO, the director of the Defense Health Agency, the head of the Coast Guard, and all of the Service Judge Advocates General; continues to push out tens of thousands of civilians who should instead be repairing our ships, testing equipment, providing healthcare. It's rooting out fully qualified, combat proven service members solely because they are transgender to satisfy a petty animus, and it's censoring service academy libraries so that no future leader of our military can read Maya Angelou or Janet Jacobs’ book on the Holocaust, even Jackie Robinson's World War II service photo is not safe from culture warriors. In January of this year, any patriotic American who met the qualifications could serve our nation and the Marines at 29 Palms were training for the Indo-Pacific, not the streets of Los Angeles. We worried then about our enemies, rather than each other, and we should return to that model.
I mentioned the bribe that Chump wants to take from Qatar, the airplane. Let's note that when Senator Jack Reed tries to ask questions about that, Hegseth insisted that "any specifics about future aircraft that could be Air Force Once can't be discussed here." As Reed pointed out, the Appropriations Committee is exactly where the matter should be discussed. Senator Chris Murphy attempted to ask on this topic as well He got nowhere as well. Even when asking why the American taxpayers are supposed to spend "a billion dollars on a plane that would then only be used for a handful of months and then transferred directly to the president?"
Hegseth didn't want to answer those questions. So for those keeping track, Hegseth didn't want to answer about the bribe, he didn't want to answer about January 6th, he didn't want to answer about Hitler. These were all topics that Hegseth fears the general public and he disagree on.
On January 6th, we also need to note that he kept hiding behind the claim of not wanting to go back. Yet his hearing before the Senate yesterday and before the House two days ago is nothing but going back and attacking Biden and Tim Walz, and Bully Boy Bush and everyone. Grasp that he went back 25 years in one answer to the House to attack everyone that had been president during that time other than Chump.
He's just a filthy liar. The make up, by the way, was thicker yesterday than on Tuesday. It made it very hard to notice the herpes sore that was still above his lip on the right side, but if you looked, you could still see it.
We're short on time so let's note this from Senator Patty Murray's office on the questions she pursued in the hearing.
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s exchange with Secretary Hegseth***
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, questioned Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Pete Hegseth at a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on the president’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for DOD. Senator Murray pressed Secretary Hegseth on firing skilled Navy shipbuilders, firing qualified and experienced military leaders, Trump’s recent comments to use “heavy force” on peaceful protesters, and his leaked Signal Chat.
In opening comments, Vice Chair Murray said:
“Secretary Hegseth—you oversee one of the largest and most important organizations on planet earth. More than anything, the Department of Defense needs stable, competent, and strategic leadership. And much as I had feared back in January, that is not what we’ve seen under your leadership.
“In a matter of months, you have lost top aides and reportedly struggled to hire new ones. You have fired highly respected top military officials. You shared highly-sensitive attack plans over Signal—and apparently with people in your own personal circles. And you have not taken responsibility for these mistakes.
“All the while, the security challenges we face have grown larger—not smaller. And in the face of these challenges, you have taken a series of actions that weaken our posture.
“For example: in my home state of Washington, which is home to many DOD installations critical to our Indo-Pacific strategy, you have pushed out almost 2,000 highly trained civilian, including at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
“Mr. Secretary, you talk about returning the Department to its mission of ‘warfighting.’ But I am repeatedly hearing that your policy and personnel changes at the Pentagon are only undermining–not strengthening–our military’s preparedness to protect our country.
“You are deploying the American military to police the American people. Sending the National Guard into California without the Governor’s request. Sending the Marines—not after foreign threats, but after American protesters.
“And now President Trump is promising ‘heavy force’ against peaceful protesters at his D.C. military parade. Those sorts of actions, and that sort of rhetoric from the President—should stop every one of us cold. Threatening to use our own troops—on our own citizens—at such scale is unprecedented, it is unconstitutional, and it is downright un-American.
“We should all be speaking out against this—and demanding accountability.
“Now Mr. Secretary, I have to say, for people who tout their commitment to transparency and efficiency, I have never seen an administration more hell-bent on hiding basic facts from the American people. Your Department has been unresponsive to Congressional inquiries and oversight requests. And all the while you are working to muzzle the free press, denying journalists’ access to the Pentagon.
“Now before I turn to my questions, let me also just note: it is now mid-June—and we only, just days ago, received some—but not all—important portions of your budget request.
“It should not have taken this long to get a request—and we still need to see the justifications, in order for this committee to do its work. We are missing those. Not having a full budget at this juncture is unacceptable.”
[CIVILIAN CUTS TO SHIPYARDS]
Senator Murray began her questioning by noting how the Trump administration’s staffing cuts and attacks on the civilian workforce are undermining key defense initiatives: “This administration has put the civilian workforce under attack from day one: encouraging resignations, firing probationary employees, instituting a hiring freeze, requiring OPM to approve any new hire one-by-one, and—new last week—requiring prospective employees to explain how they would, ‘help support the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities.’ We have spoken with military installations across our country. Almost all of them have been forced to fire skilled, civilian employees who are badly needed. And all of them also have hundreds—in some cases, thousands—of new hires ready to bring onboard but now have to have individually reviewed by OPM—apparently to ensure they ‘support the President’s priorities.’”
Senator Murray asked Secretary Hegseth, “Will you be firing more shipbuilders? Yes or no?”
Despite firing probationary employees at our shipyards, Secretary Hegseth falsely claimed no shipbuilders have been fired—and dodged Senator Murray’s question, instead arguing the Department is merely letting thousands go through its buyout program: “We haven’t fired shipbuilders. We’ve offered through a right-sizing of our civilian position, which everyone on this Committee would acknowledge the Defense Department has had a bloated bureaucracy for a long time. Have given a voluntary process by – which some people can choose to take a DRP [deferred resignation program].”
Senator Murray interjected to ask: “Mr. Secretary, do we need more or fewer shipbuilders?”
Secretary Hegseth dodged the question, instead claiming—after letting go more than 2000 civilian workers at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard alone—that: “We are investing historically in our shipbuilding industrial base and workforce and ships in this budget—more than anything the previous administration ever did.”
Senator Murray said, “Well you managed to fire highly skilled workers, including in my home state of Washington, for no reason, so let me just say: the Navy needs welders, not people who can recite the President’s Executive Orders.”
“If the Navy wants to hire a qualified candidate for the role—but that candidate happened to vote for or donate to Democrats—would they be hired?” Senator Murray asked, referred to the administration’s new, first-ever requirements that prospective employees explain how they would help support the President’s orders and policies.
Secretary Hegseth replied, “there’s never been a litmus test for hiring welders”—but did not respond to Senator Murray’s question about whether there would be a litmus test going forward—or how the new requirements will be effectuated.
Senator Murray responded: “That is what they are being asked. Mr. Secretary, I just have to say: we need to drop the politics in our military. We need to hire the best people—we do not need to force them out.”
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