The Adam Mockler Show - Furious Pete Hegseth Lets it Slip... it BACKFIRES

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

🖥️ ProtonMail: Get FREE end-to-end encrypted email at https://proton.me/bp/adammocklerAdam Mockler breaks down a tense Pentagon hearing where officials faced tough questions about war strategy yet spent more time attacking Democrats than addressing adversaries like Russia or China. As frustration grows over costs, timelines, and accountability, critics say the focus is dangerously misplaced. Click below for premium Adam Mockler content 👉 https://www.youtube.com/@adammockler/join 👉 https://adammockler.com/subscribe JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AdamMockler/ Discord: https://discord.gg/y9yzMU3Gff Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adammockler/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/adammockler.com/ Twitter: https://x.com/adammocklerr/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adammockler Contact: [e-mail] Business inquiries: [e-mail] Adam Mockler - Mockler Media LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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remarks. In your opening remarks, Mr. Secretary, you reserved more words and more time and more vitriol to condemn Democrats than you did for she and for Putin combined. It's pretty telling to me that you decided to use your words and your time for that. It turns out that Democrats, even Democrats in Congress, are patriots as well. We serve in our uniform services. We admire and love our uniform services and we love our country just as much as Republicans do. In fact, in this body, I am Representative Bacon, who you just spoke to, led the junior enlisted pay raises that you now sit there and laud as your and take credit for. We led the closing of the BAH, which then you ended up poaching and using for other things. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That was Maga Pete

Hegeseth getting absolutely grilled at a current Pentagon budget hearing because number one, this war is way over schedule. They said four to six weeks and now we're entering week eight or nine. It's way over budgets. We're asking for another $200 billion. Scrash that. They actually want $1.5 trillion in the overall budget. But in the immediate, they're asking for $200 billion for this war.

And Pete Heggseth, rather than coming in a gracious manner and asking for more budget, begins to attack the Democrats while kind of just skipping over the fact that there are real enemies out there. I would consider Russia an enemy as they continue to bomb and invade Ukraine, yet Pete Hegsef has nothing to say about Russia. I think that we trade a lot with China. They're not directly an enemy, but they are a competitor, and Pete Hexeth definitely should have ire for them over the Democrats. Even Israel. Israel drug us into this war, and they've been committing war crimes in both Gaza and the West Bank for years. So what about that?

But no, Pete Heggseth only has ire for the Democrats. I've been pointing this out a lot on this channel that people like Donald Trump save all of their vitriol for allies and for democratic actors. And then when Putin comes, he rolls out the red carpet. When Donald Trump decided to put tariffs on every single country across the globe, he actually didn't put tariffs on two countries. Russia and North Korea, which is very, very peculiar. So Hegset comes in and he follows that playbook.

He only attacks Democrats and Democratic actors and pro-democracy actors rather than actually attacking any of the authoritarian actors or operators that are out there. Heg Seth then begins to attack Jaramandi. And this is just a performative meltdown. I have never seen anything like this in my life other than when Pete Hegg-Seth steps in front of the camera every single week and begins to do his military slam poetry. This is a fake, of strength, and this is somebody who is quite literally acting for the camera. He thinks that

he's showing strength, the strength of a military general, but no, he's showing weakness right here. It's that Sun Tzu quote. He's trying to show strength when he's actually in a position of weakness. Make sure you drop a like if you appreciate these videos and want to help boost our message. It's the best way to break through the algorithm. And then make sure you subscribe and watch until the end to really help our videos break through. I love you all and check this up. Yeah. I didn't get a chance. I didn't see a question in the state. from the congressman. I hope you appreciate how reckless it is. When I said reckless, feckless, and defeatist of congressional Democrats at the beginning. Why is he always doing poetry,

like military slam poetry, reckless, feckless, and defeatist? But watch how he just snaps right here. What is this guy on? That came after watching you say the same thing on CNN this morning, a quagmire. My generation served in a quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan. Years and years and years of nebulous missions and utopian nation building that led us to nothing. What we have right now, the way you stain the troops when you tell them two months in, two months in, Congressman, you should know better. Shame on you. Calling this a quagmire, two months in. The effort, what they've undertaken, what they've succeeded, the success on the battlefield

that could create strategic opportunities, the courage of a president to confront a nuclear Iran and you call it a quagmire handing propaganda to our enemies, shame on you for that statement. And statements like that are reckless to our troops. Don't say I support the troops on one hand, and then a two-month mission is a quagmire. That's a false equivocation. Who are you cheering for here? False equivocation. Is he actually doing the 2005 line of attack where if you call a war out as what it is, you're somehow against the country or against the troops? Listen, I want the troops to be safe and protected. That's why I'm against the type of bad decision-making that we're seeing at the highest echelons of our government. That's why I'm against the type of strategic planning or lack thereof

that have come from Pete Hagseth, Donald Trump, and the likes regarding the Strait of Formuz. Yeah, we are in a quagmire. It's not anti-American to call out the fact that Iran has basically created a new weapon in the form of the Strait of Formuz and the United States is still not figured out how to really open it. The Strait of Formuz has almost zero traffic going through it today. It has slowed to a halt since the beginning of this war, and the United States is failing to do anything about it. If we really did have the leverage or the cars that they claim we have, why couldn't we get Iran to the negotiating table in Pakistan just a few days ago? Who are pulling for? Our troops are doing incredible work.

They've done incredible things for the entirety of this mission and achieved incredible battlefield successes. And you sit there and go on TV for your clickbait about quagmires. It undermines the mission. Your hatred for President Trump blinds you to the truth of the success of this mission and the historic... He's basically saying, please don't let facts get in the way of the narrative that we're telling. Please don't let your reality get in the way of propaganda that this administration is trying to sell you. And he's so pissed that he's just going off this morning. Chill out on the caffeine, buddy.

Stakes that the president is addressing which the American people support. Iran's been at war with us for 47 years. You want to talk about a forever war? For two months, this president has stared them down. He's going to get a better deal than anyone ever has and ensure that Iran never had a nuclear weapon. Dude, they've been saying this for months and months and months now. They've been saying that we're so close to a deal

that Iran is basically begging for a deal. Just because you say the term 47 years and compare this to World War II or Vietnam doesn't make it any less worrisome that we are now eight weeks into your four-week war. I want to show you Seth Moulton, Representative Seth Moulton, then kind of just slicing through this BS idea that we're winning this war. I want to be nuanced with it.

That doesn't mean that Iran is winning. In war, both sides lose. But the United States is absolutely not winning in this situation at all. I'm not winning. It's expensive for me. When I go visit my family back in Indiana, it's like 60% more costly than it was two months ago. It's not cool. And really quickly, I urge all of you to be using the internet in a safe manner.

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you can find the link below. One more time, try Proton mail for free. Use Proton.combe or click the link in the description. Thank you all. Thank you to Proton. Probably a good idea to ask tough questions. So let me just ask you a few questions. Did you advise the president that we should attack Iran? We were, first of all, in this position, in the cabinet, we never talk about what we would advise the president to do or not. You think the president or you deserve more. I've been in every meeting. I understand that. The chairman and everybody else says those secretary, I'm asking the questions. And he got every, every perspective possible when it came to. I'm just asking what your perspective is. Are you afraid to take ownership of this? Do you think it was a good idea or not?

My, when I, as I have consulted the president, do I think it's a good idea to confront a nuclear bomb? To start this war. Imagine what the world would look like right now if Iran had a nuclear weapon. Okay, so let's just imagine. Which by the way, if they had one, which the Obama administration, including the first Trump administration, they had one. They had one.

...prevented them from having a nuclear weapon. So, listen, how is this war going? Do you think we're winning? Militarily on the battlefield, it's been an astounding military success. But are we winning the war? Absolutely. Okay, so do you call Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz winning? Well, I would say the blockade that we hold that doesn't allow anything to come in or out of Iranian ports,

Okay, so always... What an awful answer. They have no answer for this question. I've asked the same one on CNN over and over. We've blockaded their blockaded. They blockaded us, and then we blockaded their blockade. That's like saying tag, you're it. Or, you know, if President Madison had said, well, the British just burned down Washington,

but don't worry, we're going to burn it down as well. Exactly. Thank you. To continue, Moulton then asks, did you guys even consider this risk? Mr. Secretary, did you consider this risk? Of course. this department has looked at all aspects of this risk. And because this department looks-

The only mine sweepers we had in the Gulf to Singapore weeks before the war started. We have lots of capabilities that you may or may not be aware of at the classified level. Okay. And so- By the way, would the Trump-class battleships have helped with this? You're talking about a prospective future battleship, which we welcomed in the fleet.

Okay, so you're supportive of the battleships? Yes, sir. Okay. Mr. Secretary, did you consider that? Did you consider this risk? Just so vacuous, these people. I want to show you when Keating asks Heggseth, the administration's rationale for its deadly boat strikes.

He gets grilled on this. Not a good look for Pete Heggssev. We'll continue to investigate this. We will. It'll come forward in the future. Some days, that second video will be released. But we've got to stop also using our precious resources that are being taxed so heavily.

all of the world on actions that hurt our military. They hurt our military and they hurt our standing internationally and they're hurting our standard here at home. I hope that we can move forward. I hope we can review whether these are justified because I found no justification. We were given classified information on the second strike. I can't discuss it, but I must tell you it's the most convoluted

bullshit I ever heard in my life this should be public this is our honor this is what it makes American a difference maker this is what we're an incredible array of false accusations and I yield back

incredible gentleman yields back Pete Hex said acting like a sassy high schooler with little jabs is really not going to help here this isn't a debate you're asking you're being asked questions so they haven't

so they haven't broken yet okay we haven't gotten though yet for all of the... Well, their nuclear facilities have been obliterated. Oh, my. Underground, they're buried and we're watching them 24-7. So we know where any nuclear material might be... We're claiming my time.

We're watching it. A 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. They had not given up their nuclear ambitions. And they had a conventional shield of thousands... So Operation Midnight...

at the weakest moment, nothing of substance. It left us exactly in the same place we were before. So much so that we had to start a war. Their facilities were bombed and obliterated. Their ambitions continued. And they're building a conventional shield. Let me try again. It's the North Korea strategy.

You know this very well. The North Korea strategy was used conventional missiles to prevent anybody from challenging them so they could slow walk their way to a weapon. 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

to ensure they're inventional shield. As Representative Smith says, and Iran is still working towards their nukes, we haven't actually stopped anything. Now, Pete Hegseth is partially right when he's talking about the North Korea case. North Korea did do this, but they are lying when they say

we've completely obliterated Iran's ability to do this as well. This is where Pete Hegseth and his officials next to him have to estimate the cost of this war thus far. Under questioning from Representative Smith, a Department of Defense official, not the Department of War, it's called the Department of Defense official estimates the cost of the Iran war to be $25 billion. I personally don't buy it. I think it has to be much more.

We have a live Iran tracker, and it's supposed to be more like $60 billion thus far. No way it's $25 billion. I'll drag you into the conversation here. We have not yet received from the Pentagon the cost of the war. So just for the record, we'd like to get that as soon as possible. Certainly the munitions expended, but also underreported is we've had a fair amount of equipment destroyed, including two C-130s with the rescue of our down to airmen. So do you have either A, a cost estimate coming to us anytime soon, or B, a specific supplemental request?

Thank you for that question. So approximately at this day, we're spending about $25 billion on Operation Epic. Fury. Most of that is immunitions. There's part of that it's obviously O&M and equipment. We will formulate a supplemental through the White House that will come to Congress once we have a full assessment of the cost of the conflict.

So you're saying the full cost of this point is $25 billion? Yeah, that's our estimate for the cost. Nobody believes that. That's a lie. It has to be over $100 billion to be honest. Even the trackers that are the most conservative are saying $70 billion. Interesting because we I'm glad you answered that question because

we've been asking for a hell of a long time and no one's given us the number. And now 25 is the lie that they tell. Representative Becca Belint says, to be clear, this is the same administration that kicked nearly 3,000 Vermonters off snap and cut Medicaid because we couldn't afford it. They've said there's a lot we can't afford, but all of a sudden, we can afford to kill kids with missiles, as Rokana points out. How much did it cost American taxpayers in terms of the strike to the Iranian school where kids were killed? Do you have that number? In terms of the missiles we used? as I've said that unfortunate situation remains under investigation.

You don't know how much it costs the tax... But I wouldn't tie a cost to that, to anything. It's a reasonable question, no, sir? I mean, our taxpayer money was going there. It is indeed a very reasonable question, but Pete Higseth is incapable of answering any of these reasonable questions. I'm going to leave it there. If you appreciate these videos, drop a like.

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