Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a very telling statement during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday, and what he had to say suggests that the Trump administration thinks it’s fighting a war against the American people instead of the Iranian military.
“The biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” Hegseth declared in his opening statement to the committee.
“Defeatists from the cheap seats, who two months in, seek to undermine the incredible efforts that have been undertaken and the historic nature of taking on a 40-year threat with the courage no other president has had,” he added.
Additionally, when Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) remarked that the administration had yet to achieve its military goals in Iran, Hegseth angrily replied, “The negative nature in which you characterize the incredible and historic effort in Iran is part of the reason, senator, the American people view it the way they do. It’s why I looked out at the press corps at our Pentagon and called them ‘the Pharisees in the press.’ It’s because they look for every problem.”
Yes, we are now the bad guys because we dare to ask questions and demand accountability from the very military that uses our taxes to foment and conduct wars all over the world: Iran, Venezuela, and soon perhaps in Cuba or whatever other countries the Trump administration decides to colonize as part of their “America First” agenda.
Dissent is a vital component of any representative democracy. The Founding Fathers knew that, and they enshrined the right to disagree with the government as part of the Constitution. If we lose that right, this country is doomed and might as well change its name to Western Russia.
Hey, Pete: To hell with you and your bullshit. We the People run this country. And we intend to make that loud and clear when we go to the voting booth in November.
