One word has been coming up to describe Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s performance running the Pentagon. The word is incompetent.
Hegseth did little to inspire confidence during a House hearing when he sounded more like a cult member than a government official by repeating hopes and talking points as he failed to provide answers to basic questions about the war in Iran.
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Consider this exchange from Hegseth and Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) early on in the hearing.
Hegseth talking about Iran being “hell-bent on getting a nuclear weapon and getting them to a point where they’re at the table giving it up, in a way that they haven’t, should never have it.”
Smith asked, “So they haven’t broken yet?”
Hegseth continued, “We haven’t gotten there yet, well, their nuclear facilities have been obliterated. Underground, they’re buried and we’re watching. 24 7. So we know where any nuclear material.
Smith cut him off, “Quick second here. We had to start this war you just said 60 days ago. Because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat. Now you’re saying that it was completely obliterated.”
Hegseth went into talking points, “They had not given up their nuclear ambitions and they had a conventional shield of thousands of.”
Smith replied, “So Operation Midnight Hammer accomplished nothing of substance. It left us in exactly the same place we were before.”
Hegseth claimed that Iran is using the North Korea strategy, and “President Trump saw Iran at its weakest moment. Took an action to ensure in a way that only the United States of America could do with our Israeli partners.”
Smith reminded Hegseth that Iran still has the nuclear material.
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Things didn’t get any better for Hegseth as he was later called incompetent.