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Three Days after Learning He Had Lost the Empire, Whiskey Pete Hegseth Campaigned To Be President
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WaPo had a blockbuster story yesterday, revealing that — back on August 14 — the heads of USEUCOMM, SOUTHCOM, USPACOM, and the Navy’s top Admiral warned the Secretary of Defense (who insists on being called the Secretary of War) that it would be a bad idea to follow his orders to leave some troops (probably the Lincoln carrier group) in the Middle East into September and leave more (possibly the 82nd Airborne) into next year because — among other things — it would mean they were unprepared to protect the US.The story is important by itself. But it’s even crazier when you see what Whiskey Pete did in the wake of that dire warning. He did do two things — a trip to Oshkosh and award a new contract to Raytheon, to claim DOD was dealing with its missile shortages.
But he also went to campaign in Iowa as his associates floated a presidential run.
And he took time away from dealing with this resource crisis to help negotiate a deal to steal Venezuela’s oil, a deal that comes with its own resource requirements.
The Generals and Admirals warned Hegseth we’re dangerously overstretched. And his response primarily consisted of trolling and culture wars.
As you read what happened, note how much of his primary Tweeting happens on his personal account, which makes me wonder whether he’s not in the same location as his designated Tweeter.
August 11
Some of this no doubt pertains to the plight of the USS Abraham Lincoln. Three days before the memo reported by WaPo, at a public meeting in San Diego, multiple family members raised concerns about the mental health support aboard the aircraft carrier, which at that point, had not touched land for 266 days.
Stars and Stripes reported it that same day.
Family members and sailors say months at sea with no end in sight to a grueling Middle East deployment have intensified worries about mental health and the risk of self-harm aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Those concerns were brought directly to Navy leadership Thursday, when family members spoke to Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao and other senior officials during intense town hall meetings, according to two spouses who attended.
In one case, a spouse tearfully told officials that she received a message that same day from her husband saying “he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow,” according to one of the estimated 200 attendees at the San Diego town hall meeting.
Officials presiding over the meeting didn’t directly respond to that or similar statements but stressed that sailors aboard the ship had access to mental health workers, as well as chaplains and doctors, the spouse said.
Deep in the story it described one suicide attempt and a more general fear of the same.
“My son is currently on that ship and listening to him say that he and his shipmates constantly think about jumping off the ship just for relief is so hard to listen to,” one worried parent wrote to Stars and Stripes in July. “We are all tucked in at night in our beds at night meanwhile our loved ones are out there fighting with no understanding as to what they’re defending.”
Sailors aboard Lincoln separately described an incident in which a crew member was prevented from jumping from the ship.
“We already had an instance where watch standers had to stop someone from jumping,” one sailor said. The ship’s crew was informed about the incident, which occurred a few months ago, during a ship-wide announcement, sailors said.
August 12
The next day, the Military Times added details from the San Diego meeting, describing two more suicide attempts on the USS Lincoln.
Annabelle Loma has spoken with her husband only a few times since he attempted to jump overboard from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during his current deployment.
Communication has been difficult to come by, and he is now on medical hold.
Loma, who lives in San Diego, said her husband had been repeatedly overextended before he tried to jump from the carrier.
“He’s scared,” Loma said. “He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that. That’s not fair, that’s not right. That’s not what he should be worrying about right now.”
Loma said she initially received a call from the ship’s ombudsman after the incident but has not heard from anyone with the Navy in recent weeks.
All three of these attempts are different from the one, which happened on August 3, that would get a 19-year old referred for discipline later in the month, meaning at least four incidences had occurred by August 13.
August 13
Whiskey Pete posted a video to his personal account in response. Filmed on a ship, probably in Panama (but not the Lincoln), and looking like a slob, Hegseth insisted he knew what it was like not to touch land for over eight months.
He posted a bunch from his official account that day from an exercise in Panama, which included one of his favorite kinds of videos, showing himself doing pushups with the troops.
August 14
Per the WaPo story, the military brass told Hegseth that sustaining the commitment to Iran will make the US less safe elsewhere. Hegseth had ordered troops to stay in the Middle East, but four top leaders told him that — while they will follow his orders — they did not agree with them, a non-concur.
Several U.S. military leaders have advised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that prolonging large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere, including the U.S. homeland, according to people familiar with a recent assessment prepared for the Pentagon chief.
[snip]
The Aug. 14 orders book directs some troops deployed in the Middle East to remain there through September and some others into 2027, said those familiar with the document. The prospect of extending those forces further compelled military leaders to voice their concern, these people said.
Leaders of the U.S. European Command, the U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Southern Command, along with the Navy’s top admiral, responded with what is characterized in the SDOB as a “non-concur,” those familiar with the assessment said — meaning they disagree with the secretary’s order to extend their forces but will execute it nevertheless.
The geographic combatant commands overseeing U.S. operations in Europe, Asia and Latin America have had their ships, aircraft and other equipment pulled away to support the Iran conflict. This has limited their ability to conduct missions and ensure proper training, those familiar with the assessment said. The Navy, in particular, has had to stretch its capacity to keep up with wartime demands.
Army and Air Force leadership concurred with Hegseth’s desire to extend their deployed forces, but each emphasized that doing so would come with significant risk, these people said.
That day, Whiskey Pete first posted — to his official account — a post about hearing directly from service members. He then reposted it to his personal account with added bitching about the “reckless & shameless ‘American’ media,” claiming it debunked the claims about the USS Lincoln.
Publicly, NYT explained part of the problem with the USS Lincoln: Iran had destroyed much of the Fifth Fleet Command in Bahrain.
The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln’s supply problems began soon after the first day of the war, as Iranian missiles and attack drones fell on a Navy base in Bahrain.
The Iranian attack, retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli assault on Tehran, destroyed much of the base. And as it went up in smoke, so did a major logistics hub that the Navy has relied on for decades.
The Navy needed a Plan B to continue feeding the sailors working around the clock to keep warplanes flying strike missions, and later to maintain a blockade of Iran’s ports.
With the threat of Iranian attacks at other ports in the region, the Pentagon looked to a base under British command on the island of Diego Garcia as its supply hub, which is south of the Maldives and roughly 2,200 miles from where two aircraft carrier strike groups have been operating in the Gulf of Oman.
The loss of the hub in Bahrain has contributed to a host of reported problems on carriers supporting operations against Iran, as Democratic senators raise concerns about the Lincoln’s 5,000 sailors and their nearly nine-month deployment.
The same day, Hegseth reposted a spot from Hung Cao announcing what Cao claimed was a planned rotation with the USS Lincoln. The sailors were, after nine months, coming home (but don’t think that’s because people are jumping overboard, that was always the plan! Cao claimed).
In reposting Cao, Hegseth again attacked the “American-hating news.”
August 15
The next day, Whiskey Pete proudly posted an AP story about how DOD is rolling out a course on Christianity at base schools.
August 16
On April 16, Hegseth posted a WSJ column by CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper about a visit he made to the USS Abraham Lincoln the previous day.
Cooper claimed that stories of mental health challenges — stories that had come less than a week earlier from sailors’ families!! — were old news.
Recent media reporting has portrayed varying perspectives on operational tempo, crew morale and the realities facing our deployed forces. What I found aboard the Lincoln is that many elements of those stories are old news.
I chatted with junior enlisted personnel and junior officers in small groups. Issues related to food, hot water and other concerns raised months ago were addressed by leadership and resolved.
The crew is tired, but they continue to fire on all cylinders. History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era.
August 17
On August 17, as sailors were jumping off aircraft carriers and days after his top brass told him the military was overstretched, Whiskey Pete tested a Presidential run in Iowa.
The visit, reported earlier by CBS News, comes five months after Hegseth was scheduled to appear at a political rally and fundraising event with Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), who is running for reelection this year. That trip was postponed after several U.S. troops from Iowa were killed early in the war with Iran.
In response to questions, the Pentagon said in a statement that it does “not proactively announce events” that Hegseth attends “in his personal capacity.”
Hegseth will take a U.S.-funded military aircraft to Iowa, the Pentagon said. He is doing so because he is “designated as a ‘required use’ traveler” by the U.S. government “and is mandated to use military aircraft for all travel, both official and unofficial, due to the continuous need for secure communications and responsive transportation for national security.”
While in Iowa campaigning for President, Whiskey Pete lied about Obama and Biden and engaged in casual transphobia.
In DC, Trump snapped at Kristen Holmes when she asked about the Lincoln.
Meanwhile, the publisher of Stars and Stripes resigned rather than fire the editor-in-chief and a reporter who had spoken in favor of independence, who he was ordered to fire on August 12.
9. Mr. [Max] Lederer did not immediately comply. On August 17, 2026, Mr. Lederer contacted Defendant Brey by email to request clarification of a few points in the notices. That same day, Defendant Brey replied, ignoring Mr. Lederer’s request and stating instead: “Thank you Max. I appreciate your response. However, please deliver the notices as instructed.”
10. Mr. Lederer did not deliver the notices. Instead, he decided then and there to retire, and informed the Stripes’ staff via email. Mr. Lederer took this step because he did not want to be part of Defendants’ scheme to illegally punish Mr. Slavin and Ms. Korte for exercising their First Amendment rights.
August 18
The next day, Hegseth posted a Raytheon announcement about a contract to make Tomahawks to his personal account.
He also reposted Trump claiming the Strait was open
August 19
On August 19, he posted a link to what purports to be the Strategic Direction for the Army, from General Christopher LaNeve, the guy Hegseth wants to install as Secretary of the Army, but whom Joni Ernst refuses to support. The document is empty platitudes.
The NYT posted a story reminding that Hegseth’s top advisor is his wife, who has to babysit him so he doesn’t get drunk or fuck another lady.
Mrs. Hegseth has also encouraged Mr. Hegseth’s adversarial relationship with the news media, the administration official said, and although she was a journalist for two decades, she has worked with her husband to bar reporters from the building. (The New York Times is suing the Defense Department over its restrictions on reporters who cover the Pentagon.)
Her involvement in the Defense Department is so unusual that it has led to questions about Mr. Hegseth’s leadership. He is already under pressure for the high cost of the Iran war, shrinking munitions stockpiles, poor conditions aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln during an eight-and-a-half-month deployment in the Middle East, firings of senior military leaders, and blocking the promotions of women and minorities.
“It’s bonkers that a defense secretary would involve his wife in his sensitive official duties, including sharing details of an impending military operation, and face zero consequences,” said John Ullyot, who left the Pentagon as chief spokesman after three months working under Mr. Hegseth and has been critical of his leadership. “Any president deserves better judgment from his national security leaders.”
That evening (just after midnight my time), Hegseth posted Trump’s latest attempt to scold Iran into submission, announcing what purport to be new sanctions.
August 20
On August 20, amid all the posts about official business posted to his personal account, Whiskey Pete posted from his monthly prayer meeting on his official account.
August 21
In the middle of this, Hegseth’s trolling headache started. It started when Data Republican (AKA Jennica Pounds) narced herself out and in the process ruined a propaganda effort far right State Official Sarah Rogers tried to place.
PRO-TRUMP INTERNET SLEUTH Jennica Pounds—better known as “Data Republican” to her nearly one million followers on X—made a grim announcement on Friday. Deep-state operatives embedded within the Trump administration had tried to entrap her into committing treason.
“It’s not okay when the Deep State sets you up to commit a crime,” she wrote in a now-deleted thread. “I have never been more angry in my life.”
[snip]
Rogers chimed in on X to—more or less—politely explain that Pounds was a dunce.
“lol, these are my text messages and documents,” Rogers wrote on X to Pounds, seemingly amused. “The ‘markings’ are FOIA redactions required even for voluntary disclosure. To prove this isn’t a ‘trap,’ I will happily disclose the documents myself.” She did so, defusing the situation by basically sacrificing her attempt at an orchestrated leak.
[snip]
Part of the problem is also that Pounds is herself a Trump administration employee. On Monday, a Defense Department spokesperson confirmed to me that Pounds is employed there as a “special government employee”—the same temporary status that Solomon has been hired under at the White House, and that Musk once used to work for DOGE.
Pounds’s exact job duties at the Defense Department are unclear. Curiously, she left her Defense job out of a list of her official affiliations in a Sunday post on X. When her position was confirmed by the Pentagon on Monday, Pounds said on X that she had joined “to serve the country in a more hands-on way,” without explaining what that means in practice.
August 24
On Monday, August 24, Scott Bessent announced what he claimed were economic D-Day sanctions on Iran, an announcement that was clear dick-wagging, since the US was not going to sanction China and Trump won’t sanction Russia.
August 25
Overnight that day, John Ratcliffe went on an unannounced visit to Moscow to meet with his counterpart.
On August 25, Whiskey Pete went to Oshkosh, WI to celebrate efforts to accelerate missile production, which is one of the few things he posted on his official account.
That day, NYT described how “rudderless” DOD is under his leadership, focusing closely on the battle over the Army Secretary position and what we now know are the overstretched resources reported on August 14.
A series of firings and feuds initiated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has left the Army essentially rudderless as it struggles to deal with the threat posed by cheap, deadly drones and missiles that have pounded U.S. bases in the Middle East.
The Army has not had a chief of staff, the service’s top officer, since Mr. Hegseth fired Gen. Randy George without explanation in April, and there are no signs that he is close to filling the position, said current and former officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.
Mr. Hegseth has forced out at least three senior officers who had been viewed as potential successors to General George.
Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, the service’s top civilian leader, is also expected to leave the administration in the next few months and has already moved out of the large family house that he was renting in Fort Myer, outside Washington, officials said.
The turmoil comes as the Army, the military’s largest service, faces its busiest period since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Army air defense soldiers are playing the leading role in defending U.S. troops in the Middle East from increasingly sophisticated Iranian missile attacks. The Army’s command in Europe is providing critical intelligence and other support to Ukraine as it fights to hold off a larger Russian force.
August 26
On August 26, Whiskey Pete posted a tribute to those who passed in the Abbeygate attack on his official account.
The same day Hegseth paid that tribute to a war ended five years ago, MS-Now reported that DOD was disciplining one of the people — the 19-year old — who jumped off the USS Lincoln.
August 27
In the wake of John Ratcliffe’s sudden, secretive trip to Moscow, WaPo provided an explanation beyond the one being publicly given: The US had intelligence that Russia believed the US to be weak and the US wanted to warn Putin not to do anything stupid.
The classified intelligence suggesting that Putin sees the U.S. as weakened by the six-month-old war in Iran follows reports of diminished troop readiness and munitions shortfalls as a result of the extended campaign against Tehran.
U.S. military stockpiles of key weapons have been severely depleted, including Patriot and other air-defense platforms, as well as sophisticated offensive weapons like Tomahawk cruise missiles and the short-range Army Tactical Missile System, which is also in demand in Ukraine.
The Post previously reported that the U.S. has lost roughly a quarter of its Reaper drones, which cost between $30 million and $50 million apiece and are used for surveillance and targeting.
The weapons shortages have alarmed allies in Asia, raising questions about Washington’s ability to deter a potential confrontation with China.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other administration officials have publicly denied that there are serious munitions shortages, even as they have pressed arms producers to rapidly build more weapons.
August 28
Whiskey Pete posted a CentCom video announcing they had — 6 months after the start of the war — succeeded in demining the shipping lanes in Hormuz.
He later posted Trump’s announcement of a deal with Venezuela money launderer, complete with lies about it being “free” and doing anything to lower gas prices anytime soon.
Nineteen paragraphs into a story about the DOD role in this published the next day, WSJ described that the announcement was prematurely rolled out to try to distract from the Iran debacle.
Faced with an unpopular and grinding war with Iran, which has squeezed global energy supplies, the Trump administration felt a sense of urgency to announce it had secured a long-term source of crude in the Western Hemisphere, people involved in the talks said. Trump also sought a political win in portraying the Venezuela deal as a way to insulate Americans from the costs of the turmoil in the Middle East ahead of November’s midterm elections, they added.
August 29
Having let the Iowa story sit there for more than a week, Whiskey Pete aggressively denied it on a Saturday news hole.
August 30
WaPo reports about the Orders Book. In response to a Dan Lamothe post about it, Hegseth’s chief propagandist attempted to rebut it.
It didn’t go well.
Parnell confirmed the information was highly classified — and so therefore authentic. A community note explained Parnell’s claims about the law were wrong (Trump has attempted to charge some people, including Jim Baker and James Comey, for confirming classified information, meaning Parnell technically committed a crime but WaPo did not.)
And by saying that non-concurs from the Generals are “routine,” Parnell asserted that the uniformed military “constantly” tells Whiskey Pete his orders are dangerous but they’ll follow orders.
That same day, General Brandon Tegtmeier sent families of those in the 82nd Airborne a letter informing them the unit would remain in the Middle East through next March.
The extended deployment was announced by division commander Maj. Gen. Brandon R. Tegtmeier in a letter to military families, thanking them for their support of the deployed troops. Task & Purpose reviewed the letter, dated Aug. 30 and shared to social media including the Army’s unofficial subreddit. The Army confirmed the authenticity of the letter. The division’s headquarters as well as members of artillery units, the sustainment brigade and air defense troops will be in the region for a full year, while paratroopers and the division’s combat aviation brigade have had their tours extended for up to a year.
“We now know that operational requirements will keep the Division Headquarters and elements of DIVARTY, ADSB, 3-4 ADA, and 307th Division Engineer Battalion forward for twelve total months,” Tegtmeier wrote. “Paratroopers of 1st BCT and the CAB will serve forward for up to twelve months in total as well. We do not share that lightly, and we understand that a longer tour weighs heavily on every household, including our own.”
Roughly 2,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division deployed to U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility in March.
And to cap it off, as Sean Parnell was attacking Lamothe for WaPo’s story about the warning from August 14, Lamothe (and Tara Copp, also bylined on the earlier story) revealed that Whiskey Pete’s secret troll program was wider than known.
The Pentagon has secretly installed several conservative military veterans with large online followings in government roles, declining to disclose their assignments as they amplify Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s viewpoints and attack those who scrutinize the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the matter and corroborating material.
At least some of the influencers have been assigned to civilian roles that could lead to changes in policy, the people familiar with the matter said. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Neither the Pentagon nor those involved have disclosed the government roles despite the Trump administration’s claims that they are running the most transparent Defense Department ever.
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