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The criticisms against Sec. of War Pete Hegseth are “entirely political,” and anyone could have said the same things about “the Obama and Biden administration—and much more egregiously.” Hegseth has turned the U.S. military around in ways no one thought was possible, like getting the military back to meeting all of its recruiting quotas, explains Hanson during today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” Recruitment under the Biden administration fell “some 40 to 50,000 recruits,” and former Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin’s Pentagon used excuses like “people are out of shape, in gangs, using drugs, etc.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has pledged to toss “New Age notions” in America’s Chaplain Corps and make the military body “great again.” “In recent decades, its role has been degraded in an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism,” Hegseth said of the Chaplain Corps in video message released Tuesday night. “Chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers,” Hegseth said, adding “faith and virtue were traded for self-help and self-care.” Across all branches of the U.S. military, there are estimated to be 3,000 to 4,000 military chaplains. The Chaplain Corps was established in 1775...

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is driving a major overhaul to pivot the US military away from Europe and the Middle East and refocus operations on the Western Hemisphere, sources indicate to the Washington Post. Top Pentagon leadership are finalizing a plan that would dramatically downgrade America's military presence in traditional theaters while consolidating power closer to home – marking a fundamental shift in US strategic priorities. The proposal would reduce US Central Command, US Africa Command and US European Command to subordinate status under a new umbrella organization called US International Command – stripping these Middle Eastern and European-focused...

California Governor Gavin Newsom has once again resorted to using artificial intelligence to try to mock President Donald Trump and his administration. On Wednesday, Newsom shared an AI-generated video on X depicting President Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller in handcuffs, crying in the back of a police car, and being led into a courthouse amid flashing cameras. The video, set to R&B singer SZA’s song “Big Boys,” overlays text reading “It’s cuffing season,” a clear parody of a recent White House post celebrating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests of criminal...

Pete Hegseth “runs around on a stage talking about lethality and warrior ethos and killing people. … That’s not the message that needs to come from the Secretary of Defense,” complained Sen. Mark Kelly last week. The message, especially coming from a former Navy captain, is so bizarre it borders on satire. Nations have had organized armies since recorded history started around 3000 B.C. And, in the words of the late, great Rush Limbaugh, the whole point of having a military is to kill people and break things, even if that military is exclusively employed for defensive purposes. Surely even...

“And I think some of the things being done by the Secretary—through some permission with the White House, but most of it’s coming out of the Under Secretary for Policy—a lot of decisions are coming from there. But it’s going to cause damage to our country for years to come, way after they leave. It’s undermining our trust with our allies and a very important alliance. And that troubles me more than anything.”

Pete Hegseth is facing a calculated smear campaign because he threatens the entrenched establishment reshaping America’s military into something weaker and more political. I have had enough. I can no longer sit still while the Deep State does its very best to smear Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and have him removed from his post via lies, rumors, propaganda, and innuendo. It feels exactly like version 2.0 of the “Trump/Russia Collusion” disinformation campaign, and it needs to be called out for what it is. Enough. I am here to defend the best Secretary of War/Defense since Caspar Weinberger. What we...

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Pentagon, attempting to overturn new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that have led to most mainstream media outlets being banished from the building. The newspaper said the rules violate the Constitution’s freedom of speech and due process provisions, since they give Hegseth the power to determine on his own whether a reporter should be banned. Outlets such as the Times walked out of the Pentagon rather than agree to the rules as a condition for getting a press credential. During her briefing Tuesday, Pentagon...

When the publishers of this children’s book are aghast that it’s being used to push hilarious reactions to liberal insanity, you know you’ve hit a home run. Enter ‘Franklin the Turtle,’ a Canadian children’s book series that has become a social media sensation, as good patriots have turned it into many memes mocking liberal policies. The use of Photoshop and AI is elite. I’m sorry—they’re all hilarious. I can’t post all of them because, well, I would get in trouble, but you could imagine. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s post showing the turtle blowing up narco-terrorists was total cinema. It...

EXCLUSIVE: 🚨SECRETARY OF THE ARMY’S OFFICE PLOTTING COUP AT THE PENTAGON TO REMOVE @SecWar PETE HEGSETH AND REPLACE HIM WITH @SecArmy DAN DRISCOLL 🚨 Individuals in the office of US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll have been orchestrating a Coup against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth @PeteHegseth in an effort to have him removed by President Trump and replaced by Dan Driscoll. Over the last 2 weeks, the legacy media, which is incredibly hostile to Hegseth, has been posting puff pieces about Dan Driscoll and how he is a “rising star” at the Pentagon. Sources have told me that Jake Sullivan...

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) gave the very strong impression that she had personally viewed a classified video of a suspected narco-terrorist drug boat involved in an alleged “double tap” strike during an interview with CNN.Actually, she did more than give the impression. She flat-out claimed she watched the video. With her own eyes.Duckworth described it as “deeply disturbing” during an appearance on CNN's “State of the Union” Sunday, accusing War Secretary Pete Hegseth of committing “essentially murder” and a potential war crime.When host Dana Bash asked her if she had viewed the video, she did not waver.“I have seen the...

We are shocked! The normally august Audie Cornish didn't go full Scarborough—someone known to drop f-bombs. Still, it was surprising to hear Cornish, the mannerly host of CNN This Morning, utter something out of character today. Mike Dubke, who served as White House Communications Director for three months during the first Trump term, suggested that one thing protecting Pete Hegseth from being fired is the difficulty that would be involved in the confirmation process for a replacement. Responded Cornish: "So, this is not a military term, but you're saying they're SOL. Basically, there's no other options out there." Get the...

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Monday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the second, follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean in September following a bombshell Washington Post report that claimed he ordered the military to “kill everybody.” Leavitt told reporters at the White House press briefing that Hegseth authorized Adm. Frank Bradley to carry out the second strike, which reportedly killed two people who were hanging onto the burning vessel after an initial strike. “President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting...

[snip] On today's CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish approvingly cited Andrew C. McCarthy of National Review, apropos the reported second strike on a narco boat that was allegedly intended to kill two survivors of the first strike. Wrote McCarthy, a former Assistant United States Attorney: "If this happened as described in the Post report, it was, at best, a war crime under federal law."Here's a suggestion: what if Audie were to occasionally cite National Review when, as it normally does, it makes the case in opposition to the liberal talking point o' the day? Get the rest of the...

"They will make great citizens over time"...Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina regarding Afghans... The US Immigration and Naturalization Service deciding to suspend all asylum decisions... US President Donald Trump with a message aimed at Honduras where voters select a new president... leaked news is that US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike...kill two crew members who survived... President Trump on social media this afternoon saying... An oil tanker heading towards southern Russia in the Black Sea exploded... Three Israel soliders detained for questioning...deaths of two Palestinian terror suspects... A recall of 6,000 European Airbus A320 airliners......

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military carried out three strikes Monday in the waters of the Eastern Pacific against boats suspected of carrying drugs, killing 14 and leaving one survivor. The announcement made on social media Tuesday, marks a continued escalation in the pace of the strikes, which began in early September spaced weeks apart. This was the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military carried out three strikes Monday in the waters of the Eastern Pacific against boats suspected of carrying drugs, killing 14 and leaving one survivor. The announcement made on social media Tuesday, marks a continued escalation in the pace of the strikes, which began in early September spaced weeks apart. This was the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day

Perhaps US intelligence has an idea about who is increasingly the real power behind the throne in BeijingXi Jinping effectively vanished in July and the first half of August. Some China watchers speculated that his unexplained absence was a sign he was losing his grip on power. But he has since reappeared and been very visible again. At the end of the month, he visited Tibet, then indulged in a high-profile, backslapping meeting with Vladimir Putin and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tianjin. He capped off his busy two weeks with the September 3 military parade in Beijing...

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) dared Democrats on Tuesday to challenge President Trump’s administration move to repurpose previously appropriated funds to pay service members during the government shutdown. “If the Democrats want to go to court and challenge troops being paid, bring it. OK,” Johnson said during a press conference at the Capitol.The Speaker said his understanding was that the administration had “every right” to move funds that had been appropriated by Congress to the Department of Defense, including research and development accounts that had not been spent and that could be used for military pay.Trump over the weekend directed...

President Trump said Saturday he would use his authority as commander in chief to pay military troops despite the government shutdown that has furloughed federal employees. Trump blasted Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and noted that if the government isn’t reopened by Oct. 15th, the nation’s warriors and Pentagon employees would miss paychecks. “That is why I am using my authority, as Commander in Chief, to direct our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th,” Trump posted on his Truth Social site. “We have identified funds to do...