I can’t say I’ve been a fan of NYT columnist Maureen Dowd. Maybe I’m just mean but she always seemed too full of herself. Professionally/writing talent, intellect, looks, etc. Still, she gave us some insight into ‘Bushworld’ during the Bush 43 years. And yes, now and then she pops up with something I enjoy like her brutal takedown of SecDef Pete Hegseth. The title of her piece calls him a muttonhead and given its slang usage as a fool, dolt, stupid person and other unflattering things, it sure as hell fits. My only worry is that Hegseth is so stupid he won’t know what it means. I’d have used the term meathead but a helluva lot more people read Dowd than me so what do I know?
Dowd writes for the New York Times and like most of their stuff her OpEd is hidden behind a paywall. Fortunately Newser.com did a recap that summarizes what Dowd wrote about our totally unqualified, drunken and rapey Secretary of Defense. Dowd gave Hegseth the kind of beat-down that will have him trying to talk his boss into aiming some of those cruise missiles Trumpty (shamefully) decided to hold back from Ukraine at the NYT building. And Dowd’s home too.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd goes after newly rechristened war secretary Pete Hegseth in unwithering fashion in her new column. Among the insults hurled: “muttonhead,” “utterly unqualified and looking like the third lead of a cheesy spring-break movie,” “paranoid,” “immature and unconfident,” and thin-skinned. The piece is pegged to Hegseth’s new move to boot journalists from the Pentagon who don’t agree to get permission before writing stories, which Dowd predicts will backfire in spectacular fashion.
Dowd goes on to add something important, something I believe she is absolutely right about:
“He is going to spur some superlative Pentagon coverage. Because nothing gets a bunch of reporters going like being forced out of the building where they work and being told they aren’t allowed to do their jobs.”
Hegseth is even dumber than we thought, to think he’ll stop negative coverage of him and his juvenile “We’ve got to all be WARRIORS 24/7” nonsense. Or the damage he’s doing to our national security with his loyalty purges. If, heaven forbid, we find troops deployed to actually fight somewhere, how many will die because of the mess Hegseth has made of our armed forces already? (And he will keep at it until Trump finally fires him) Most of the Pentagon Press Corps has more experience in that building than Hegseth.
They have sources they’ve known for years. If they can’t chat with them in the halls or other places at the Pentagon, it’s easy enough for them to meet up outside the building. Noem has most federal agents out with ICE beating on women and children or guys who’ve been peacefully living their lives and contributing to their communities! Hegesth can’t have ALL the high level sources at the Pentagon monitored round the clock. Also think about this: Petey has openly told our top officers and enlisted they are wimps. Not tough enough. Not “warriors” like he and Cadet Bonespurs (aka Donald Trump) are. He’s been tossing colleagues out on their asses and often those who’ve been sacked have lots of friends left behind.
So Hegseth has gone and pissed off a lot of talented and knowledgeable people both in the ranks of journalists AND our armed forces. Somehow I think having done so won’t end well for him. Well, the linked article includes a link to Dowd’s full piece. As I said, it’s hidden behind a paywall but I managed to get around that and it’s worth the effort as well as the time to read because she gives an excellent analysis of how things have worked (and how well most of the time) until now. If it offers you a chance to sign up for a limited trial just be careful to turn down the part where signing up suggests providing credit card info.
In the meantime, get ready for some blockbuster reporting. As Dowd (and others) have noted, sometimes Pentagon reporters can be a bit too deferential even though having been burned by Bush 43 they’ve been more willing to tackle and publish tough stories. Now? I predict the gloves will come off, and more importantly if a reporter doesn’t publish something that reveals operational classified information that can get people killed, the sources won’t cut them off.
Hegesth, and Trump too think they’ve gotten their way on something huge. They wanted this kind of authoritarian ‘crackdown’ and now they’ve got it. They are about to get a very unpleasant “Be careful what you ask for” lesson.
******************************************
Zoomers, we are always in need of donations. We work hard to get you analysis that you will not find in the mainstream media, but all media have been hit hard since the big companies have gobbled up and monopolized commentary. Anything you can spare will be immensely appreciated. And thank you to all who have donated generously already. UrsulaÂ
they’ll figure it out when the info they want to get out doesn’t get widely diseminated. or maybe they won’t. they find some else to blame.