The Buck Stops Elsewhere

“Perhaps Hegseth thinks that sinking boats on the high seas is funny. Maybe he just wanted to own the libs and all that. Or maybe he thought he could disrupt the gathering war-crimes narrative, like the school delinquent pulling a fire alarm during an exam. Or maybe he just has poor judgment and even worse impulse control (which would explain a lot of things about Pete Hegseth). No matter the reason, his choice to trivialize the use of American military force reveals both the shallowness of the man’s character and the depth of his contempt for the military as an institution.” Tom Nichols in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Pete Hegseth Needs to Go—Now.

+ Fighting in the military requires you to be able to shoot straight. Leading it requires you to be a straight shooter. But in this case, it’s more likely that someone else will be left to take the fall for Hegseth’s leadership failures. WaPo (Gift Article): Hegseth, with White House help, tries to distance himself from boat strike fallout. (That’s some lethal buck passing right there…)

+ Pete Hegseth has removed much of the judge advocate general infrastructure from the Pentagon, bragged about ignoring orders about legal rules of engagement in Iraq, and can’t stop letting everyone know about his tough, warrior mentality. But when it comes to taking responsibility for giving orders that yielded results he has called for, he can’t bring himself to say, You’re goddamn right I did. Maybe, like his boss and the entire administration, Hegseth can’t handle the truth.