The president has hired lots of people who couldn’t win their own elections.
He’s not alone. Hegseth is only one member of the second Trump administration to have been plucked from the pantheon of electoral duds and given a second lease on political life. From the Cabinet all the way to high-profile White House aides, there are failed candidates for major office who might have otherwise toiled for years in obscurity or, even worse, local politics if not for Trump’s magnanimity. Contrary to the president’s boasted affection for winners, it’s loyalty to Trump, sometimes even in the face of defeat, that remains the most valuable characteristic for a Republican looking to get ahead these days. Even the losers.
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So the pathway for aspiring MAGA politicians is clear: in order to get the Trump administration imprimatur to win a future race for office, try losing one first.
Trump’s Team of Losers
The president has hired lots of people who couldn’t win their own elections.
“The first time, I had two things to do ‒ run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys,” Trump said in the interview, published April 28. “And the second time, I run the country and the world.”
Sorry, Trumpsy dearest. God runs the world. You’re here only to scrub the toilets.
‘I run the country and the world,’ Donald Trump says in Atlantic interview
President Trump said he’s having more fun the second time around and again teased an unconstitutional third term in an interview with The Atlantic.
Colin Carroll, a former top Pentagon official, said in an interview over the weekend that he’s “not sure” if Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is OK.
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Carroll described Hegseth’s leadership as “a tale of two Petes.” He praised the defense secretary’s ability to convince the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus to increase defense spending but criticized Hegseth’s fixation with “weird details” and tendency to get “very agitated” during meetings.
“He was very focused on the leaks and I think it kind of consumed the team a little bit,” Carroll told Kelly. “If you look at a pie chart of the secretary’s day, at this point, 50 percent of it is probably a leak investigation.”
Carroll was also asked about Hegseth’s contention in a recent interview when he said “disgruntled former employees are peddling things to try to save their a**.” Carroll told Kelly he thought Hegseth was unprepared for the questions but added that it doesn’t matter because the defense secretary has “an audience of one,” likely referring to President Donald Trump.
Fired Pentagon Official Says He’s ‘Not Sure’ if Pete Hegseth Is OK
Former Pentagon official Colin Carroll described Hegseth as fixated on “weird details and very agitated.”
The U.S. military said on Sunday it will not reveal specific details about its military strikes in Yemen, citing what it called the need “to preserve operational security” while also saying the strikes had “lethal effects” on Houthi rebels.
Republican President Donald Trump ordered the intensification of U.S. strikes on Yemen last month, with his administration saying it will continue assaulting Iran-backed Houthi rebels until they stop attacking Red Sea shipping.
Recent U.S. strikes have killed dozens, including 74 at an oil terminal in mid-April in what was the deadliest strike in Yemen under Trump so far, according to the Houthi-run health ministry.
Rights advocates have raised concerns about civilian killings and three Democratic senators, including Senator Chris Van Hollen, wrote to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth on Thursday demanding accounting for loss of civilian lives. Hegseth has also come under fire for using the unclassified messaging system Signal to discuss Yemen attack plans.
So now we’ll have a secret war blissfully unaware of the civilian casualties we are causing?
I can’t wait to see King Donald and Hegseth in the dock at the International Criminal Court alongside Benjamin Netanyahu.
US military says it will limit disclosing details on strikes in Yemen
By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. military said on Sunday it will not reveal specific details about its military strikes in Yemen, citing what it called the need “to preserve operational security” while also saying the strikes had “lethal effects” on Houthi rebels. Republican President Donald Trump ordered the intensification of U.S. strikes on Yemen last month, with his
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly had the messaging app Signal set up on several Pentagon office computers in an effort to get around a ban on personal phones.
According to the Washington Post, which cited three unnamed sources “familiar with the matter,” Hegseth directed the installation of Signal on his computer following “a discussion among Hegseth and his aides about how they could circumvent the lack of cellphone service in much of the Pentagon,” as well as a personal phone ban in certain areas, to “more quickly coordinate with the White House and other top Trump officials using the encrypted app.”
A spokesman for Hegseth denied the claims, telling the Washington Post that the secretary of defense had “never used and does not currently use Signal on his government computer.”
Two unnamed sources also told the Washington Post that Hegseth also had Signal installed on a second office computer.
The New York Times also spoke to several unnamed sources who made the same claims about Hegseth’s use of Signal in the Pentagon.
“Hegseth had the consumer messaging app Signal set up on a computer in his office at the Pentagon so that he could send and receive instant messages in a space where personal cellphones are not permitted,” reported the Times, which added that the secretary of defense “has two computers in his office, one for personal use and one that is government-issued.”
A source also told the Times that Hegseth “had cables installed in early March so that he could connect a private computer to Signal.”
Pete Hegseth Reportedly Set Up Signal on Several Pentagon Computers to Circumvent Restrictions
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly had Signal set up on several Pentagon office computers in an effort to get around a ban on personal phones.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth went off on the acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff amid a search for a leaker at the Pentagon, according to a report published Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.
The paper said Hegseth was “rattled” after word got out last month that the Pentagon was set to briefElon Musk on China, where the Tesla CEO has three factories. President Donald Trumpdenied the report the next day. However, Axios later reported that Trump had canceled the briefing while asking, “What the fuck is Elon doing here?”
During his search for the leaker, Hegseth erupted at Admiral Christopher Grady, who was then the acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
“I’ll hook you up to a f——-g polygraph!” Hegseth shouted at the admiral, the Journal reported, according to two people familiar with the interaction. The secretary demanded proof that Grady was not the source of the Musk leak. Grady was never polygraphed. Hegseth reportedly threatened others with a polygraph test, including Lt. Gen. Doug Sims, the Joint Chiefs director.
The lowlife former O-3 is trying to terrorize the generals!
Would somebody please put Hegseth back in his sandbox and paddle his impudent ass? Thank you!
Joe Kasper will continue to support and advise the Pentagon, he said, but as a special government employee.
A former longtime chief of staff to indicted Rep. Duncan Hunter, Kasper was a leading figure in the firings of senior adviser Dan Caldwell, Hegseth deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg. The trio were ousted last week in a leak investigation.
Some officials saw the wave of firings as a bid by Kasper to consolidate power.
“Kasper did not like that those guys had the secretary’s ear,” a person familiar with the dynamic said. “He did not like that they had walk-in and hanging-out privileges in the office. He wanted them out. It was a knife fight.”
It’s a dog-eat-dog world!
Controversial Hegseth chief of staff to leave Pentagon
Joe Kasper will continue to support and advise the Pentagon, he said, but as a special government employee.
While Hegseth threatens to have his underlings prosecuted, he can’t keep his own house in order:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line told The Associated Press.
The existence of the unsecured internet connection is the latest revelation about Hegseth’s use of the unclassified app and raises the possibility that sensitive defense information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance.
Known as a “dirty” internet line by the IT industry, it connects directly to the public internet where the user’s information and the websites accessed do not have the same security filters or protocols that the Pentagon’s secured connections maintain.
Other Pentagon offices have used them, particularly if there’s a need to monitor information or websites that would otherwise be blocked.
Hegseth had an unsecured internet line set up in his office to connect to Signal, AP sources say
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer.
The many contradictions of the vice-president should not distract from his ambition
It was inevitable that memes about JD Vance would surface the moment Pope Francis passed away. “It’s good to see you in better health,” the US vice-president told the pope on Sunday. The pontiff died on Monday.
As Donald Trump’s chief attack dog — though not yet his heir apparent — Vance is a prime target of ridicule on liberal social media. But he is also a master troller himself. Vance knows that the surest path to Maga hearts and Trump’s approval is to enrage liberals. The question is whether he means anything by it.
And this:
The answer is unclear. Vance has gone from being a never-Trumper who saw Trump as “America’s Hitler” to an arch-Trumper who sees his boss as part of God’s plan. That is as dramatic a political conversion as can happen. Rather than search for an intellectual key, Vance’s shift can be put down to ambition. The better question is whether there are any limits to his ambition. Judging by his performance so far, the answer is not really.
What this last paragraph indicates is that we can’t trust J.D. Dunce to be the person that he pretends to be. He’s an opportunist, a weasel, pure and simple!
Experts say Pentagon chief has endangered secrets of US defense department and given assistance to foreign spies
As more develops about the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and his repeated disclosures of sensitive military intelligence in unsecured Signal group chats, there are growing concerns his behavior has weakened the Pentagon in the eyes of its foreign adversaries and made him and his entourage a top espionage target.
Allies, already concerned by Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs, have also begun to see the US as an intelligence-sharing liability. There are fears that the mounting firings and leak inquiries in Hegseth’s orbit, along with his inability to manage these internal crises, exposes the entire global US war footing – especially, if a geopolitical and external crisis comes across his desk.
Fears grow that Signal leaks make Pete Hegseth top espionage target
Experts say Pentagon chief has endangered secrets of US defense department and given assistance to foreign spies
