Appearing before the House Armed Services Committee for a hearing, Secretary of War Pete Hegeseth went absolutely ballistic, slamming Democrat Rep. Garamendi for what the congressman had said about American troops and the Operation Epic Fury strikes in Iran, with the Secretary of War claiming that the Democrat had handed propaganda to our enemies with his remarks.
As background, during the hearing, which took place on Wednesday, April 29, California Democratic Rep. John Garamendi accused the Secretary of War and President Trump of lying to the American people, calling the Iran war a “war of choice” and a quagmire. He had also made such claims on CNN.
That set off Pete Hegseth. Slamming the California Democrat with a vengeance, he said, “Shame on you!” He continued, “You sit there and go on TV for your clickbait about ‘quagmires’!” Continuing from there, the Secretary of War insisted that Garamendi’s claim is dangerous because “It undermines the mission!”
Yet further, Secretary Hegseth argued that such rhetoric is defeatist and reckless, saying, “I hope you appreciate how reckless it is. When I said reckless, feckless, and defeatist of congressional Democrats at the beginning, that came after watching you say the same thing on CNN this morning, a quagmire!”
Adding to that, he noted that he and many others like him served in the Middle East in what was a real quagmire because it was pointless, saying, “My generation served in a quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan, years and years of nebulous missions and utopian nation building that led us to nothing.”
Then, turning from that history to the present, the secretary berated the Democrat yet further for his claims, saying, “What we have right now, the way you stain the troops when you tell them 2 months in, 2 months in, congressman, you should know better, shame on you!”
Returning to the quagmire point, he said, “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!”
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He added, “And statements like that are reckless to our troops.” He further said, “Don’t say I support the troops on one hand, and then a two-month mission is a quagmire. That’s a false equivalation. Who are you cheering for here?!” He added, “Who are you pulling for? Our troops are doing incredible work.”
The Secretary further said, praising America’s troops and why Democrats like him push such claims about what is going on, “Our troops are doing incredible work. They’ve done incredible things for the entirety of this mission and achieved incredible battlefield successes.” He added, “Your hatred for President Trump blinds you.”
Watch him here: