8mo ago

Pentagon stunned after Trump picks Pete Hegseth for defence secretary

www.theguardian.com

Summary

Trump’s nomination of Pete Hegseth, a Fox News presenter with minimal managerial experience, as defense secretary has stunned the Pentagon.

Hegseth has been a vocal critic of the military, calling for a purge of generals and questioning the appointment of Gen. Charles Brown as chair of the joint chiefs of staff.

Hegseth’s nomination is seen as a boost for the far right in Israel, as he has shown support for territorial expansion and suggested the construction of a new temple on the Temple Mount.

159 comments

Hegseth’s nomination is seen as a boost for the far right in Israel, as he has shown support for territorial expansion and suggested the construction of a new temple on the Temple Mount.
Let me know, protest abstainers, when it sinks in how fucked palestinians are.
- Yea, anyone who didn't know that Trump's immediate policy would be to glass Gaza is a fucking idiot. He was extremely transparent about it.
  
  His son in law Jared kushner is a practicing orthodox jew, and his daughter Ivanka literally converted to Judaism for him. They are both practicing orthodox jews, check Kushners wiki.
  This is the daughter trump adores. Anyone supporting Palestine who voted trump or didn't vote is an idiot.
  
  "I will never vote for genocide" Yeah, and you didn't help stop it either.
  
  "I thought 'finish the job' meant peace!"
- They were always astroturfers
- Someone from an Arab group was saying on the radio that they basically didn't care if it meant more deaths in Gaza if they encouraged their members not to vote for Harris, they would blame the Democrats... That's some twisted logic if I've ever seen it.
  
  The same strategy is Hamas's primary MO. If Israelis die, it's good for Hamas. If Gazans die, it's good for Hamas. On one hand, Israel should get a hell of a lot more blame than the Democrats. On the other, you can see how this powers Hamas strategy.
  
  That’s a pretty extraordinary claim, do you happen to remember any information about the group or radio show?
  
  They're bound for Paradise
- The new temple will be the seat of the world government headed by the Antichrist. That's why far-right evangelicals want to rebuild it. You'd think he'd be able to just do it himself after conquering the world. And of course, the outcome of the final battle between God and Satan is actually uncertain.
  
  Gods and devils always need people's help to accomplish their goals. It's just a coincidence that it would be the same if people were doing things on their own with no gods or devils at all.
- Are any Palestinians even still going to be alive come January?
  The State Department said on Tuesday that it did not plan to decrease weapons aid to Israel, as a 30-day deadline set by the Biden administration passed without the country substantially improving the humanitarian situation in war-devastated Gaza.
  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/12/us/politics/israel-weapons-gaza-aid.html
  
  Yes. As bad as it is now, not everyone is projected to be dead.
  
  "There's really no such thing as a Palestinian"
  -The next US ambassador to Israel
- By the time that happens they'll find another single issue to focus their energy on.
- It literally can't get worse. Have you watched the news lately? The good news is the second in command of the world's most ravenous, vicious, blood thirsty empire will soon be an unqualified blowhard--and the first in command will be similarly (un)qualified. Death to America.
  
  There's a thing about rock bottom...it can always get worse until there is nothing left to feel.
  
  I suppose, then, that when "Palestinian" is only applicable in the past tense, it won't be a worse end-state, only exactly the same as the current state? That when people, like yourself and your entire family, are rounded up, that it "literally" won't be any worse than it is right now when you can still walk freely and aren't being literally tortured?
- You sure sound gleeful that a bunch of people’s lives are about to be ruined.
  The Dems could have done much more to prevent this. Letting a Muslim American elected democrat speak at the DNC would have been the smallest bone thrown.
  Stop voter blaming.
  
  Trump got fewer votes than the year he lost. Democrats did not show up to vote.
- It's so gross how much some/the majority of libs are enjoying shitting on small, powerless groups that didn't support their preferred candidate
  
  Because your fucking choice was to support Trump instead. How fucking hard is it to understand, fuck.
  
  I'm not a lib, and by all accounts the libs are also a powerless group. Who are you referring to exactly?
  
  Their preferred candidate was literally "anyone but Trump." Reap what you sow.
- Oh ye Biden was really making a difference. Stop pretending the dems are materially different on this even if the re less blunt.
  
  Stop pretending the dems are materially different
  You are lucky. For you there is no material difference. For many, there very much is. Contrary to popular opinion, you do not have to always and exclusively vote for your own selfish interests.
  
  So it hasn't sunk in yet. Got it. TTM in the spring and we'll see if you still think like this.
  
  Behold! "Less blunt":
  "Marco Rubio says he is against Gaza ceasefire"
  That's the new Secretary of State abstainers helped get into office.
- Are you living under a fucking rock?
  Palestinians are already fucked. They are literally going through a genocide. There is no worse outcome.
  It doesn’t get worse under Trump, it’s the same under Trump. Just as Biden continued Trumps other Israel bullshit. Birds of a feather massacre together.
  
  Palestinians are already fucked. They are literally going through a genocide. There is no worse outcome.
  Ah yes, the two states of existence, genocide, and not-genocide. That's why the genocide, which has been going on for near two-decades now, is no more urgent today than it was in September of last year.
  
  There is no worse outcome.
  This reminds me of a joke about Russian history.
  Russian history in 5 words:
  And then things got worse.
  
  There is no worse outcome
  Let’s save that comment so we can revisit in 2025 shall we?
  
  Biden was pushing for a peace treaty. Trump is going to glass the whole place and build seaside resorts.
  
  There is no worse outcome.
  Trump Administration: challenge accepted
  
  If there is one truth about humanity it is this - there is always a worse option.
  
  The death toll up to this point is about 45k. Israel has not settled any land in Gaza or started expelling Palestinians into neighboring countries. There is a lot of room for it to get worse.
Placing people in positions of power based on personal loyalty over competence. This is how dictators secure their power. It also usually completely cripples the country's ability to function at every level but the dictators don't care about that.
- Do you want cheap eggs or not
  
  Not
Oh no, it's the consequences of our actions! What a fucking joke of a country we are in.
- They're better positioned than most to actually do something about it, but they won't.
So he'll cripple our military by installing loyalists and removing competent leaders by Totally bypassing existing procedures in the Pentagon... Wonder if any foreign adversaries will decide to test our strength once this is done... Love this timeline. Give me more.
- I'm not seeing much benefit for them. If their goal is to destabilize the US, we're doing the job ourselves far better than they ever could. And if their goal is to conquer territory? The US is pretty isolated and it would be difficult to maintain control unless it was Mexico or Canada invading. Oh, other than Alaska, Russia could attempt to annex it. Trump might even just hand it over if they ask!
  
  As an individual territory, the U.S. is isolated. As an empire, we have bases on every continent. The risk isn't being killed. It's being declawed.
  Not advocating for American imperialism, just clarifying the point.
  
  100% agree, also, I think we've come across each other before. Love the tag and pic. Metroid is my favorite series.
  
  I would gladly welcome Canadian troops down here
- When they do it'll be Biden's fault somehow.
but not a surprise to the people who actively voted against him and his party in order to not have them in control.
Anyone surprised by something Trump does is either an idiot or been living under a rock.
OH OH OH OH IVE SEEN THIS ONE!!!!
NEXT THEY'RE GONNA REVEAL VAULT PROGRAMS!!!!
I wonder how many thousands of pentagon people voted for trump.
- You better worry about how many will obey when he orders them to be used on American soil.
  
  Anyone who's been on a military base should be very worried about that answer. It's Fox News 24/7, in both recreational and professional areas.
  
  Read Project 2025, they are all going to be fired and replaced by Trump loyalists.
- Virginia, where most of them live, was blue.
- More than half
I guess on the plus side when China invades Taiwan we won't have to honor our long-standing commitments and get our hands dirty defending our allies I mean economic partners
- With TSMC in Taiwan still the only chipmaker worth its salt in the world, that's not going to happen. They'll have every carrier group there the second China sticks it's pickles across the line.
  
  Trump believes Taiwan "stole" chip making technology from the states. And judging from most Republican's general stupidity on this matter... They think majority of the semiconductors are produced in China. Because to them Taiwan == China.
I think this is pretty funny in a the capitalist propagandizers are running the nuclear state insane asylum kind of way.
If they're stunned by this then they're gonna be catatonic for the next 4 years. I wonder what effect that'll have on national security...
- Both probably on Putin payroll to cripple the military by removing competent leadership and replacing them with incompetent people.
Militaries that promote for political loyalty tend to perform really poorly when fielded.
SecDef may not be a military-proper position, but if this goes regime goes on long enough, that's where we'll end up.
- I don't think Trump intends to field the military against another military anyway. The performance required to massacre civilians isn't a high bar.
Russia’s investment really paying off!
- They said russia lost the cold war. Well when america is sold for scraps to putin, who is the winner then?
  
  Russia lost the cold war, but Russia won the orange war
Put in a clown, you get a fucking circus.
Why the fuck would a good candidate for Secretary of Defense have any serious opinion on foreign policy.
Don't miss that red flag among all the others.
- He’s clearly an accelerationist. Rebuilding the temple on the Mount is a requirement for Jesus to come back and kick off biblical Armageddon.
  Trump has surrounded himself with insane people who are hell-bent on destroying the world so they can be raptured. Choosing people for these roles who openly say shit like this further proves that is their actual plan.
  They want to destroy the world and jumpstart their revelations prophecy. They don’t give a shit what happens to the rest of us.
- Trumpets don't value knowledge. They value commitment and loyalty and the ability to blame others.
This is a pretty outstanding Dipshit Move, even by the standards of Trump. And a good 90% of his actions seem stupid to the point of being actively malicious anyways.
The stunning has only begun.
- The Stunnening!
If that stuns you...just wait. The next 4 maybe more years should be VERY stunning.
Y'all better have some contingency plans in place to prevent him for doing well...anything
- Eh, the military will probably coup before submitting to Stalin-esque purges.
  That isn't a particularly good thing. Coups are like Lay's and Pringles... You can't just have one and once you pop you just can't stop.
  
  Yeah, I'm trying to think of a recent (<100y) example that didn't result in a junta or other coups, and I'm drawing a blank.
  
  No because he has already said when he becomes President he is going to create a task force that will basically clean house in the military of any ranking people that are not ‘yes men’
  He is wanting to create a North Korea/Russia style military that is only there to agree with him.
  
  This is an insane take. No, the military isn't going to coup over this. If the generals were getting executed, perhaps, but they're just being retired or shuffled off to other duties.
- We don't! That's the best part about having a country full of idgafologists and sociopaths.
  The answer is Guns, and more guns.
  But people seem to not understand how fucking outgunned the population is versus the military.
- We definitely have plans, big plans. Big massive contingency plans. Well, I can't really describe them right now, because they're so big. It's really more like concepts, but check back in 2 weeks.
Was hegseth chosen for his skin colour or his soul. I guess we'll never know
- His professed loyalty to Trump. There is nothing else now.
He is only a Major in the national guard. WAY under qualified. This is a job for a general officer. Seasoned O6 at the bare minimum
- A lot weren't even in the military.
  The vast majority were, at least recent ones.
Oh man, you guys are fucked!
Hegseth’s nomination is seen as a boost for the far right in Israel, as he has shown support for territorial expansion and suggested the construction of a new temple on the Temple Mount.
BUT AT LEAST THE DEMOCRATS LEARNED A LESSON RIGHT LEFTISTS???
So let me get this straight. Trump appointed some guy with minimal military and managerial experience as the defense secretary? Is that the same as Secretary of Defense? I am not surprised, I am just trying to fathom the stupidity of this current decision.
Harriet Miers is smiling.
Nice job dumbfuckmericans
- Hey, a lot of us tried! It’s literally stacked against the sane people over here!
- I agree, those who voted for that fucking idiot are indeed dumbfuck Americans.
Perhaps he'll have an accident. Who's running the CIA, Jerry Lewis?
edit: forgot "/s"
The US would do better under a military coup.
DNC helping Trump/GOP achieve Israel first rule over America is a failure of democracy.
Military rulership can implement UBI, which is also impossible under power corruption democracy. Same for global warming.
Military rulership can end the unrealistic/collapsing delusion of warmongering supremacy in a world that the US is losing, but politics maintains an illusion of "we just need to be bigger assholes" to successfully change.
Biden could help if he wasn't DNC/Trump/Israel loyal first. He can't be relied upon to save America by encouraging military rule.
- Not funding a genocide perpetrated by a rogue nuclear state that routinely spies on US citizens and influences our politics is kinda antisemitic don't you think?
  🤓
  
  Careful... someone with my religion used to own your house. Would be anti-semitic of you to suggest I can't take it.

159 comments