Pete Hegseth's "warrior ethos" is plain old cowardice

[marmar]

Pete Hegseth’s “warrior ethos” is plain old cowardice
He calls himself the "Secretary of War" and plays a tough guy on TV, but in real life he's a major weenie

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published December 3, 2025 6:45AM (EST)


(Salon) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth really wants you to think he’s a tough guy. The former Fox News host and reported makeup-studio enthusiast is forever bragging out how brave and manly he is, with a length and volume that screams “overcompensation” to anyone actually possessing internal fortitude. With his perfectly coiffed hair and belligerent posture, Hegseth has long made it clear that his idea of “strength” is strictly a matter of showmanship. He eschews the term “soldier” in favor of “warfighter.” He rejects the term “defense” in favor of “lethality.” He even tried to rename the Defense Department the “Department of War,” which is the bureaucratic equivalent of buying an oversized pickup because your wife left you for her spin instructor.

....(snip)....

The Washington Post reported this week that in one such attack on Sept. 2, U.S. forces launched a second missile to kill survivors of the initial strike, which would be a war crime at best and likely just straight-up murder.

The details of that incident couldn’t offer a clearer illustration of what cowardice playing at toughness looks like. After literally blowing up a boat under Hegseth’s reported instructions to “kill them all,” military commanders reportedly ordered a second strike to kill men who were clinging to the wreckage. Shooting unarmed, helpless and likely injured people in the open sea is certainly evil and probably criminal, and it’s also pathetic. It’s the behavior of someone who’s afraid of a fair fight, and enjoys killing people from afar by pushing buttons. Unsurprisingly, War Secretary Warrior-Ethos-Man appeared on Fox News the next day to brag about this pitiful behavior, acting as if he’d won a wrestling match with a grizzly bear.

“I can tell you that was definitely not artificial intelligence,” Hegseth giddily recounted of the attack that killed a reported 11 people. “I watched it live!”

That’s how a man who deigns to lecture actual soldiers about “warfighting” makes himself feel big: ordering the long-range killings of defenseless civilians, and watching it all on video. And Hegseth’s subsequent reaction to the Washington Post report has amounted to acting like a huge weenie. First, he lied about it, calling the report “fake news.” Now that it seems he can’t hide from the story entirely, Hegseth is trying to wriggle out from responsibility by blaming an underling, Adm. Mitch Bradley. In true quisling fashion, Hegseth won’t even admit that’s what he’s doing. He’s disguising the buck-passing as praise, and writing that he will “stand by” Bradley, as if it were the officer, and not his boss at the Pentagon, who is the focal point of the scandal. As Bill Kristol mockingly posted on X, “I pretend to stand by Admiral Bradley as I distance myself from him and throw him under the bus.” ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/12/03/pete-hegseths-warrior-ethos-is-plain-old-cowardice/

[Dave Bowman]

1. What a man. 🤢