Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on July 21. AP
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to ask Congress for another $67 billion for President Donald Trump’s war in Iran. And to say it went poorly for Hegseth would be an understatement.
The unqualified former Fox News host, who never should have been confirmed to his job in the first place, angrily sneered and had toddler-like tantrums as Democrats asked him questions he struggled to answer.
The war has obviously been a disaster, leading at least 18 American troops to be killed and at least 427 other service members to be injured. The Trump administration has inflicted economic pain and hardship on Americans for a conflict that has so far cost the nation at least $37.5 billion.
During the hearing, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia embarrassed Hegseth by using the defense secretary’s own comments to show that the war has been a failure.
Ossoff repeated Hegseth’s assertions in April on in the war that Iran’s military had been taken out, that the war was a “historic and overwhelming victory” for the United States, and that the “every single objective” had been “achieved.” Yet, over three months later, the war is ongoing, with Iran launching deadly attacks against American troops and holding the global economy hostage with its blockade of the Hormuz Strait.
“You will not answer whether your statement made on the 14th day of the war that Iran’s military was ‘destroyed and made combat ineffective’ was a truthful statement to the American people as you sit here and ask for tens of billions more for the conflict,” Ossoff said.
Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan continued Ossoff’s line of questioning, showing how Iran still has missile capability and is killing American troops.
You’re asking the American people for a blank check, because once again, the Trump administration’s efforts have been an utter and complete failure to win this war to this point,” Peters said.
Clearly rattled by Democrats’ questioning, Hegseth crashed out, yelling at Peters, “You have Trump derangement syndrome!” and blaming Peters for the death of troops for not giving Hegseth another $67 billion in taxpayer dollars to continue this boondoggle of a war.
“It’s not a question of money; it’s a question of leadership and understanding what it takes to actually win,” Peters said, after calling Hegseth a “failure.”
People stand on a bridge destroyed after a strike in Hormozgan province, southern Iran, on July 18. APUltimately, Hegseth’s request for more money to continue Trump’s disastrous war is a political headache for Republicans, who are in the position of having to either deny Trump more funds or anger Americans who broadly oppose the war.
Gas prices are once again surging after hostilities between the U.S. and Iran resumed. As of Wednesday, the average price per gallon in the United States stands at $4.06, according to AAA. That’s a 17-cent increase in a week.
The war is now unpopular even with Trump’s MAGA base, only around a third of whom think fighting has been worth the economic cost, according to a poll Politico released Tuesday.
Republicans are admitting that the war is likely to cost them mightily in the November midterms.
“We’re preparing for the bottom to fall out,” an unnamed “GOP operative working on midterm races” told Politico.
In fact, the war is so bad that even the Trump sycophants at Fox News are begging him to get it under control.
“The clock is ticking for President Trump to get out of this war before voters head to the polls,” said Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “It’s making a lot of Republicans nervous—it’s already, as we know, unpopular.”
Showing some awareness of this quagmire of his own making, Trump on Wednesday once again threatened to commit war crimes in order to scare Iran into surrender, saying that the U.S. will destroy a bridge or a power plant in the country every time Iran attacks a ship in the Hormuz Strait.
It’s a strategy Trump had early on in the war, and he is reverting to it as he flails.
The situation is so bad that Republicans are now warning that this might be another forever war like the ones former President George W. Bush started in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“They don’t have a plan here,” an unnamed “person close to the White House” told Politico. “This is a classic escalation trap.”
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