I wrote extensively on Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth’s nomination, his background, and whether he had the experience or fitness to serve as Secretary of Defense. He failed on every single level, from the rape allegation, to the drinking, to the fact that his squadron mates didn’t consider him a leader, to experience, and – this is key, all the way down to the fact that he just didn’t come across as a guy with the intellectual horsepower to get it done. During his confirmation hearings there was a guy sitting at the table who simply wasn’t up to speed with the Senators, clearly out of his depth, sloshing around, trying to sound smart, never quite getting close. Now, that same limitation, the intellectual capacity (Perhaps education, too – lacking an adequate education is another failure) and such led to Hegseth’s complete humiliation in front of other NATO leaders today as he made clear that we had Russia’s back, and that NATO was the actual problem. Or so he sounded.
According to Rawstory, Hegseth made clear that Russia should realize the gains it has made under the war it prosecuted, then – hilariously, he slashed all talk of American values.
“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine, but we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”
Maybe it wouldn’t be so illusionary if the U.S. fully recommitted and let Russia know that it had nowhere to go because this country’s values were such that it wouldn’t allow Russia to profit off an invasion and killing spree. Of course, Hegseth isn’t really moved by values. He noted on the subject:
We can talk all we want about values. Values are important. But you can’t shoot values.”
Okay, you cannot shoot a value but you certainly can abandon it-them to die of exposure or lack of nutrition. Additionally, another country can value itself such that it will shoot at you instead of your values. Either way, he sounds like a fcking moron and he’s giving the whole game away to Russia at Ukraine’s expense. People actually noticed.
“Hegseth is the perfect avatar for Trumpist foreign policy: All about faux-alpha-male bluster and constant assertions of aggressive dominance, all based on the idea that there are no rules or values, there is only power, and the biggest privilege of the powerful is to bully the rest,”
Everything is transactional to the Trump White House and the rules of international play are not much more than “Predator-Prey” – right up and until we talk about Russia and then somehow our national interests perk up and make an appearance, only to be quickly buried again.
According to NYT columnist Jamelle Bouie.
God this guy is an idiot. like, a stone cold idiot who sincerely believes that war fighting and preparedness is about having the biggest dick.
Right, and dick size has nothing to do with whether one should go to war in the first place, which Putin should not have done because the U.S. should run a world in which the Russians and Chinese are afraid of what we might do if they let their aggression run right over other people from smaller nations. They should fear us enforcing our values.
Hegseth sounded more apologetic for Putin than even the American government. When a reporter asked what sort of punishment or penalty should Russia get for invading Ukraine, Hegseth came up with, well – demurring to Vladimir Putin.
A reporter also asked Hegseth what concessions Russian President Vladimir Putin was willing to make for the Ukraine peace talks.
“Um. Well, that’s — I would start by saying the arguments that have been made that somehow coming to the table right now is making concessions to Vladimir Putin outright, or that we otherwise — that the president of the United States shouldn’t otherwise make. I just reject that at its face,” Hegseth answered causing more confusion from viewers.
There’s my guy! He not only didn’t have the intellectual infrastructure to come up with a coherent truth that sort of sounded okay, he couldn’t even put out a completely manufactured argument that doesn’t even tie anything together, never mind actually constitute an answer – even a wrong one. Furthermore, the minimal RAM available to Hegseth results in things like this:
An obvious disconnect here at this NATO summit:
🇺🇸Hegseth tells defence ministers that Europe should take control of its own security.
🇪🇺Then he tells Europe to step aside while Trump takes control of their security for them through bilateral 🇺🇦negotiations with Putin. pic.twitter.com/AwrLpuTR6z
— Dave Keating (@DaveKeating) February 13, 2025
I am not the only one to see it:
This man is completely out of his depth. Embarrassing to put this on the world stage at such a crucial time. Maybe he should stick to renaming bases. https://t.co/vfB4RSSWcu
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 13, 2025
How this man got confirmed is a testament to Trump’s strength over the GOP Senate Caucus because believe me, they saw what we saw during the hearing. They know that there are dozens of fully qualified true loyalists that actually could’ve done the job and they should’ve insisted on one of those. This guy should never have sniffed this level of work. He just doesn’t have it in the tank, and that’s before one even gets to his decision-making.
It is embarrassing to be an American watching the world stage. When NATO meets, one sees some of the world elite dealing with world threatening problems. This is not the type of guy that can hang with the others and do a job beyond reading cliches.
God Bless:Â I can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter – “X” at @JasonMiciak and now on Bluesky
