this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2025
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The White House has begun the process of looking for a new secretary of defense, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

This comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to find himself mired in controversy. NPR has also confirmed with the same official that Hegseth shared details ahead of last month's Yemen strikes with his wife and brother in a Signal chat on his personal phone, minutes after being updated by a senior U.S. military official. The news of the second Signal group chat about the mission was first reported by The New York Times.

In March, Hegseth shared details about action against Houthi targets in Yemen in a Signal chat with top White House officials that accidentally included a journalist.

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[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 hour ago

Ok... But do I actually want someone competent organizing a global genocide?

[–] Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

I'll do it.

Mind you, I don't have a severe drinking problem or white supremacist tattoos. I think that I could still do an okayish job.

[–] RoidingOldMan@lemmy.world 172 points 1 day ago (2 children)

If only there had been signs that he was dangerously under qualified.

[–] demizerone@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

And he got confirmed. Fucking twats.

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

On the upside .... any of us are qualified for the job and have a higher chance now of achieving that position than at any time in the past .... and I'm not even American!

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The fact that you aren't American is probably a plus. Are you Russian by chance? That would probably put you at the top of the list.

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[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 79 points 1 day ago (2 children)

NPR exclusive. Chef's kiss

[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 hour ago

But somehow they can't find a single dead palestinian.

[–] d00phy@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

There is a wonderful schadenfreude to NPR breaking this! We should all go donate money in Pete’s name!

[–] Branch_Ranch@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

Only person that could be worse, Ted Nugent?

[–] boolean_sledgehammer@lemmy.world 36 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Let's see how much worse they can do.

What do you think? Defense Secretary Kevin Sorbo?

[–] Nastybutler@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Defense Secretary Ritchie. As in SecDef Kid Rock

Kanye's phone is probably ringing right now

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[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 51 points 1 day ago (1 children)

3 months in. That's like 9 mooches.

[–] makyo@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

We're really starting to develop a system to measure time here. 9 Mooches to a Hegseth

[–] Jhex@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] scintilla@lemm.ee 2 points 22 minutes ago

Blame France for not pushing harder for metric time. It's absolutely rational and perfect in every way.

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[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oh god, you've inspired me to do some unit conversions.

1 Light-Mooch is 1904.591 AU. Not as much fun as I was hoping.

Maybe there are some fun coincidences with other things

[–] frunch@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I still got a chuckle out of it. Thanks, mate 🍻

[–] bizarroland@lemmy.world 57 points 1 day ago (4 children)

My only concern is will they find somebody worse?

[–] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 36 points 1 day ago (2 children)

How much lower can you go than an unqualified drunken Fox News host? What baffles me is this man was approved by Congress. Anyone who OK'ed this turd is also unqualified!

[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 24 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 9 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] tal@lemmy.today 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

If you're not aware:

https://ew.com/hulk-hogan-rips-hulk-hogan-shirt-to-reveal-trump-shirt-at-rnc-8680586

Hulk Hogan rips Hulk Hogan shirt to reveal Trump shirt, calls for Trumpamania at RNC

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/26/politics/video/hulk-hogan-trump-administration-nn-digvid

Hulk Hogan says Trump floated idea for how he could serve in administration

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[–] d00phy@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Never assume Trump can’t go lower.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 30 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Gerudo@lemm.ee 10 points 1 day ago

It's all been drank by Hegseth and Kavanaugh though

[–] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

I hear Zapp Brannagin is available

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[–] tal@lemmy.today 39 points 1 day ago (1 children)

During his first term, Trump dismissed both of his Secretaries of Defense:


who was generally regarded as a strong pick for the office


was dismissed after he announced that he would resign over a decision Trump was making.

> On December 19, 2018, Trump announced immediate US withdrawal from Syria, over his national security advisers' objections.[133] Mattis had recently said that the US would remain in Syria after ISIL's defeat to ensure it did not regroup. The next day, he submitted his resignation after failing to persuade Trump to reconsider.[134][135] His resignation letter contained language that appeared to criticize Trump's worldview—praising NATO, which Trump has often derided, and the 79-nation anti-ISIS coalition that Trump had decided to leave. Mattis also affirmed the need for "treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors" and remaining "resolute and unambiguous" against authoritarian states such as China and Russia. He wrote that Trump has "the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with [his] on these and other subjects."[136][137] His resignation triggered alarm among historical allies.[138] In his 2018 resignation letter, Mattis called both Russia and China "authoritarian models" rivaling US interests.[139] Mattis's letter said his resignation would be effective February 28, 2019.[140] Three days later Trump moved Mattis's departure date up to January 1, after becoming angered by the implicit criticism of Trump's worldview in Mattis's letter.[141] On January 2, 2019, Trump criticized Mattis's performance as secretary of defense and said he had "essentially fired him."[142]
  • Trump's replacement, Mark Esper, was fired via Trump tweeting:

    After Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, Trump launched a months-long effort to challenge the election outcome and remain in power, claiming that the election had been "stolen" from him.[284] In his subsequent memoir, published in 2022, Esper wrote that Trump's effort "was a national embarrassment that undermined our democracy, our credibility, and our leadership on the world stage."[284]

    On November 9, 2020, days after his election loss, Trump tweeted that Esper was "terminated," and that he had been replaced by Christopher C. Miller, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center who would serve as Acting Secretary of Defense.[285] Esper had written his resignation letter four days earlier, when a winner had not yet been determined.[286]

    On January 2, 2021, days before the end of Trump's term and the inauguration of Biden, Esper, along with all other living former secretaries of defense, published a Washington Post op-ed piece in January 2021 that rebuked Trump's effort to alter the election results, and said there was no role for the military to change them. The group's piece appeared days after Trump ally Michael Flynn, an ex-Army general, and reportedly Trump himself, discussed the possibility of declaring martial law and attempting to stay in power. The group wrote: "Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived."[287] Esper later wrote that Trump's behavior on January 6, when a mob of his supporters, incited by the president, attacked the Capitol and disrupted the counting of the electoral votes, "threatens our democracy."[288]

That being said, in both cases, it sounds like it was due to them disagreeing with him. As far as I know, Hegseth has not gotten into a major disagreement with Trump.

[–] jumperalex@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

you nailed the difference.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (2 children)

So will this guy just end up back on Fox News?

[–] cj2127@lemm.ee 26 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Yep. He'll also constantly bring up the fact that he was sec def

[–] TheLowestStone@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

For almost 5 whole months!

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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 10 points 1 day ago

That and the lucrative after dinner speeches for rooms full of wealthy white men.

[–] ShellMonkey@lemmy.socdojo.com 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sorry Pete, you've become a political liability. Take your $10B severance and hit the ~~bricks~~ beach.

[–] Initiateofthevoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I don't know about that. It's possible, but Trump's scapegoats generally don't get golden parachutes. They get crushed underfoot while he moves onto the next one. Every contractor stiffed on the bill, every lawyer thrown under the bus, every single high-level advisor who he either completely "forgot" or just straight up attacked on live TV.

If they're still useful - like literal violent traitors - they might recieve a get-out-of-jail-free card every now and then. But if they're not useful anymore? A publically intoxicated news anchor turned disgraced Defense Secretary, who is stupid enough to add his wife, brother, and a newspaper editor to illegal self-deleting group chats involving the Joint Chiefs of Staff?

He's getting burned, if only as a distraction from the fact that there were a whole bunch of other high-level executive and defense staff in those chats that A) never should have agreed to use self-deleting Signal messages, and B) should have noticed an unauthorized recipient in the chat and shut the whole thing down immediately.

The fuckup in chief doesn't have allies, he has handlers, stooges, and scapegoats, and they're all too fucking stupid to realize that the only thing separating the stooge and handler from the scapegoat is a matter of time. There's nothing fascists love more than ruling from a position of fear.

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[–] DemBoSain@midwest.social 13 points 1 day ago

A couple weeks before the inauguration, I listened to the President/CEO of the company I work at go on an absolute rant about how Trump was going to get rid of all Biden's DEI hires, about how the Navy Chief was a woman and she would be fired, about how the fastest running time for a woman was slower than the slowest running time for a man(???), and some other, racist stuff.

I lost my train of thought...what happened?

[–] BarrierWithAshes@fedia.io 15 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I'm kinda surprised we haven't had more people ejected from this administration yet. 2016 had lots. Never knew who was 'getting voted out of the Whitehouse this week'.

[–] Lucky_777@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

He started with ultra loyalists this time. More yes men, less to kick out.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

Even though it feels like its been an eternity already, trump has only been in office 87 days.

[–] jumperalex@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Because before he was kicking out people who, while he might have 'picked them', weren't really 'his people' and they stood up to him. Now he has sycophants who suck his orange hole and his only reason to get of them would be when there's too much pressure and he's forced to admit he was wrong for picking them.

Two VERY different sets of circumstances.

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[–] Stamau123@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

"Powerful start"

[–] Litebit@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

There is no need for a defence secretary, trim the fat. - DOGE

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Hahaha fuck outta here you drunk fuck you

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