Bulwark Takes - Is Hegseth the Dumbest Man in the Trump Admin?

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

Will Saletan takes on Pete Hegseth’s conduct during a wartime briefing campaign that keeps veering off course. Instead of focusing on strategy or coalition-building, he’s taking shots at past presidents, the press, and even U.S. allies.

The Bell Air Direct app includes crash assist, which detects an accident the moment it happens, and even offers you emergency assistance at the tap of a button. Okay, but what if I don't have an accident? Well, just keep on, keeping on. Bell Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply. Hey, it's Will Salatin from the Bullwork. So who do you think is the dumbest person in the Trump administration?

Now, I know it's a tough contest, but I think the answer might be Pete Hegset, the secretary, of war. Today I want to show you just how petty and incompetent and stupid this guy is. So here's the situation. We're in a war with Iran. Now setting aside however you feel about that war, one of the main jobs of the secretary of war is to unite our country and to build the broadest possible coalition on our side. Instead, this idiot is doing everything he's. can to alienate Americans and piss off other countries who should be our allies. So let me show you the first briefing he gave on the war. This is March 2nd a month ago. Iran had a conventional gun to our head as they tried to lie their way to a nuclear bomb. It almost worked under Obama

and his terrible deal, but not under this president. This is three minutes into his first briefing. on the war. He hasn't even named the head or the former head of Iran, the country we're supposed to be fighting. Instead, he is already going after a former president of our country, Barack Obama. American troops are out there fighting the enemy, but Pete Hegeseth is back here fighting a domestic political war. And then later in the same briefing, he decides to go after. after another American president. Here he is talking about what a genius Donald Trump is. And what he has shown ability to do

that other presidents can't quite seem to have the aperture to do. Well, I mean, Joe Biden didn't even know what he was doing. This is half an hour later. Hengseth still has not named the current or the former head of Iran. But now he's going after two, two American former presidents. Most Americans who voted for president,

in the last 20 years voted at some point for Obama or Biden. And here is the Secretary of War taking a gratuitous shot at all of those people. Okay, but that still leaves another half of the country that didn't vote for Obama or Biden. So just in case, Hexith didn't piss off enough people in that first briefing, he came back two days later and on March 4th, he gave another briefing. And this time, this time he started off with a shot at Republicans. Thus far, Operation Epic Fury has delivered twice the air power of shock and awe of Iraq in 2003, minus Paul Bremer and the nation building.

So shock and awe was the bombing campaign in Iraq under George W. Bush, the last Republican president before Trump. So Heggseth is bragging. that Trump's bombing campaign is way, way bigger than Bush's. Okay, we are in a war. We're literally in a war. And this guy is trying to have a size contest with the last Republican administration. And that crack about Paul Bremer.

So Paul Bremer was the guy that Bush put in charge of Iraq. Okay, nobody, nobody even remembers that. But Hegsef does, and he cannot let go. He is trying to use. this new war to settle his personal scores with all the Democrats and Republicans he doesn't like. And he has kept this up in every briefing he's given during the war. Here he is on March 10th. This is not endless nation building under those types of quagmire's we saw under Bush or Obama.

Bush and Obama again. And then here's Hegzeth on March 13th. This country's conditioned to previous leaders, whether it's George W. Bush or Barack Obama or Joe Biden, who had these expansive nebulous mission sets that kept changing all the time. So the timeline kept moving and we kept pouring more troops in. Bush, Obama, and Biden. He just can't stop. And here he is again on March 19th. Hear it from me. One of hundreds of thousands who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan who watched previous foolish politicians like Bush. Obama and Biden squander American credibility.

Every time this guy talks, every time he goes after American presidents. He's dividing our own country. And he explicitly insults Democrats. Let me show you what happened on March 4th when a reporter asked Hegeseth about the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, who had criticized the war. Well, I've been through that movie before with the Democrats rooting against the country? Rooting against the country. Look, you can disagree with the Democratic leader, but if you are the secretary of war, your job is not to win a political fight with the other party.

Your job is to win an actual war. So you should be trying to avoid or at least play down any domestic political differences. Instead, Hegset is. escalating. He's using the war to attack all Democrats, the Democrats. He's helping Iran by dividing America. And it's not just America. Hexeth is also attacking our allies in Europe. Check this out from his first briefing on March 2nd. Israel has clear missions as well for which we are grateful. capable partners, as we've said since the beginning, capable partners are good partners. Unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force.

Huh. Our traditional allies who clutched their pearls, whoever could he be talking about. Well, in case it wasn't clear enough, he came back. He came back on March 19th and made it. a little more obvious. The world, the Middle East, our ungrateful allies in Europe, even segments of our own press should be saying one thing to President Trump. Thank you.

Our ungrateful allies in Europe. Trump started this war. He started this war without consulting any of our allies in Europe. And then our secretary of war goes out in front of the press and makes it worse. He insults our allies. Okay, watch what happened this week on Tuesday when a reporter asked Hegzeth a two-part question. First about reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which is right next to Iran, and also second, about Russia and China helping Iran in the war. So the first thing Hegsaith did in response to that question was he mocked one of our closest allies.

the United Kingdom. There are countries around the world who ought be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well. It's not just the United States Navy. Last time I checked, there was supposed to be a big bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like that as well. Oh, the big bad Royal Navy, Hardy Harty Har. And then 20 seconds later, still answering the same question, Hexeth refused to criticize Russia or China. Watch. As far as Russia and China, we know exactly what they're doing, what they are or are not doing. We don't have to air publicly what all of that is. We don't have to air that publicly. See, we don't want to upset Russia or China by talking about what they're doing to help Iran. But our own allies,

like the United Kingdom, oh, we're happy to talk about them. We're happy to call them ungrateful pearl clutches. It's almost like Pete Higgsett, is more responsible. It's more respectful of Iran and Iran's allies than America's allies. And it's not just Europe. We also have allies in the Persian Gulf. Now, they're not Christian countries. They're Muslim countries, except for one Jewish country, which is Israel. So if all of your allies in the region, if all of them are Muslim or Jewish, what is the dumbest thing you could say as the American Secretary of War? mighty God continue to bless our troops in this fight. And again, to the American people, please pray for them every day on bended knee with your family, in your schools, in your churches,

in the name of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, great, great. Just in case our Muslim allies needed to be reminded that they share a religion with Iran and not with us, why don't we gratuitously tell them that we're praying for our troops specifically in the name of Jesus Christ? In fact, in case anybody missed that when Hegson said it on March 19th, let's do it again. Here he is on Tuesday this week delivering another prayer for our troops. May His Almighty and eternal arms of providence stretch over them and protect them and bring them peace. in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ.

Literally, Jesus Christ. Look, there's a time and there's a place to talk about your personal faith. But this war in this place is definitely not it. So let's see. Democrats, Republicans, our European allies, our Muslim allies, is there anybody else we still need to pick a fight with? Oh, yeah, the media. Let's see what Hexeth has to say about them.

This is what the fake news misses. I get it. The press only wants to make the president look bad. Yet some in this crew in the press just can't stop. Or more fake news from CNN. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better. David Ellison, in case you weren't aware, is a billionaire that Republicans want to take over TV news networks and make them more Trump-friendly. So our troops are fighting Iran, but Heges-eth is focusing on a different fight. He's talking about taking over CNN.

So that was March 13th. And then a week later, he kicked off his briefing with this. A dishonest and anti-Trump press will stop at nothing. We know this at this point, to downplay progress, amplify every cost, and call into question every step. Sadly, TDS is in their DNA. Oh, that's clever. TDS is in their DNA. I bet Hegeseth is really, really proud of that line.

Do you know, he actually brags about scripting all these lines? Okay, here he is talking about it at one of his briefings. My 13-year-old son popped into my office last night while I was editing these remarks. Oh, I bet he did. See, Pete Hexeth wants you to know how much. much work he puts into his job. He stays up late, editing his remarks, because that's what he cares about. He wants to come up with zingers that he can aim at Obama and Biden and Bush and the Democrats and all our ungrateful allies. This guy, Hegset, does nothing to help us win the war. He doesn't

fight it. He doesn't lead it. He doesn't rally Americans together. He just stands there. in a suit and brags about it and insults everybody. All he has to do is not make things worse. All he has to do is not piss off our allies and divide our country. And he can't even do that. See you next time. The Bell Air Direct app includes crash assist, which detects an accident the moment it happens,

and even offers you emergency assistance at the tap of a button. Okay, but what if I don't have an accident? Well, just keep on, keeping on. Correct. Insurance, simplified. Conditions apply.