403

Whether it was due to the early hour of the day or just to the blood-thirsty nature of the moment, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared particularly unhinged during the first official news ...

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz 1 points 23 minutes ago

~~defense secretary~~ war secretary IFTFY

[-] Formfiller@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

Netanyahu and trump are Mussolini and Hitler 2.0

[-] m3t00@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

fox news host drama. ad lib

[-] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 70 points 17 hours ago

Rules of engagement are literally how you define the difference between a civilian and an enemy combatant.

"No rules of engagement" is military lingo for "yes to all the war crimes."

[-] TomMasz@piefed.social 40 points 16 hours ago

I dunno, maybe putting an alcoholic psychopath in charge of the armed forces wasn't a great idea.

[-] mcv@lemmy.zip 71 points 18 hours ago

No stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy-building exercise, no politically correct wars.

No democracy, no nation building. So what is the actual goal here? Just to shoot stuff for its own sake?

[-] masta_chief@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 hour ago

I have a feeling it's as simple as wanting to use all the toys they've spent trillions on over the years and just want to see big explosions and play war.

Imagine if our society provided taxpayer funded paintball/airsoft/bomb ranges so all these warmongers can get their rocks off without hurting people.

[-] aquovie@lemmy.cafe 6 points 7 hours ago

"Democracy" and "nation building" is just "occupation" by another name. So I guess we can take some comfort in that not being their goal?

[-] duncan_bayne@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Sometimes. It can be done honorably and with good outcomes; Japan and Germany post-WW2 are good examples.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago

Also, bold move to more or less openly defy the American ideals. The moral justification for a lot of what we've done is to further the cause of democracy. I don't think starting a war to bring democracy is necessarily the right decision, but starting a war and not even trying to spread democracy with it is un-American (derogatory)

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] UpperBroccoli 3 points 18 hours ago

"real man" cosplay.

[-] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 2 points 17 hours ago

Balkanization I think, but I don’t think that will happen because Iran has been a pretty cohesive country for thousands of years. So I suspect Trump will back down, or there will be a multi decade regional war, or there will be a world war.

[-] GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

I dunno, the author of this article is Iranian-American. I think he has plenty of information and insight on the situation, I'm inclined to trust his assessment.

[-] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

What assessment it’s nine sentences making fun of Pete Hegseth

[-] GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

I just realized I commented on the wrong article, I'm sorry.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] Bieren@lemmy.today 15 points 14 hours ago

He’s not high. He’s drunk.

[-] f314@lemmy.world 141 points 22 hours ago

No stupid rules of engagement

This sounds like a great way to get your planes shot down by allies!

[-] CADmonkey@lemmy.world 13 points 19 hours ago

Let's see if it happens three times, just to be sure.

[-] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 21 points 22 hours ago

friendly fire ain’t gonna fire itself

[-] horn_e4_beaver@discuss.tchncs.de 31 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

no nation-building quagmire

Surely this is how you build the next generation of aggrieved suicide bombers?

Oh, and create an absolutely massive migrant problem.

[-] GardenGeek@europe.pub 9 points 17 hours ago

For whom?

Europe most probably. This will strenghten right wing parties and weaken thr union... win-win. While the majority of EU is licking US boots after they started a war of agression against a sovereign nation with little to no justification of any kind... I'm tired Boss.

[-] horn_e4_beaver@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

with little to no justification of any kind

I mean ~~Hegseth~~ Rubio said that it was pre-emptive retaliatory action for what the Iranians were surely going to do after the Israelis attacked them. Is that not good enough for you?

[-] ExtremeDullard@piefed.social 160 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Fun fact: the last head of state who launched a war without rules of engagement was Adolf Hitler.

[-] eddanja@lemmy.world 53 points 22 hours ago
[-] e8CArkcAuLE@piefed.social 84 points 22 hours ago

Whether it was due to the early hour of the day or just to the blood-thirsty nature of the moment, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared particularly unhinged during the first official news briefing about President Donald Trump’s attacks on Iran.

are they implying he was still drunk from the night before? 🤫

[-] PoopSpiderman@lemmy.world 56 points 22 hours ago

People dunk on Pete about alcohol because he’s been drunk at inappropriate times in the past, but I think they basically ignore the fact that he probably does a ton of blow too.

[-] ZiggyTheZygote@lemmy.ca 18 points 20 hours ago

Definitely. He has to be sharp and focused while making terrible decisions.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 points 16 hours ago

Why do these assholes get to do all the good drugs?

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

At what point do you suspect he's going to switch to meth like his idols?

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] U7826391786239@piefed.zip 64 points 23 hours ago

people who should be spending decades in prison are instead starting wars with the rest of the world

[-] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 12 points 18 hours ago

My favorite was "no more politically correct wars"...... So I guess the only option moving forward is politically incorrect wars? I don't think I can keep up with the Machiavellian minds of this 4d chess administration.

[-] UpperBroccoli 11 points 18 hours ago

Macciavellian? Are you serious? Macchiavelli said you can be a cruel asshole, but the one thing you cannot be is unpredictable. Old Mac would have given this US government a 2/10 score.

[-] unnamed1@feddit.org 18 points 22 hours ago

This is how Call of Duty receives new content. Too bad the Americans are the villains now :/

[-] PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago

Americans have been villains in COD games before. You never played MW2?

[-] unnamed1@feddit.org 1 points 11 hours ago

No, I haven’t placed any of the CoD games. I’m a grumpy old picky dude when it comes to shooters

[-] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 5 points 17 hours ago
[-] GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

The child that pulled wings off of flies.

[-] Lodespawn@aussie.zone 13 points 21 hours ago

Ergh these plebs trying tell hegseth how to fight wars, he was totally great at wars which is why his whole career was totally in the military, except for that time he left for a while because all those stupid generals wouldn't listen to his great ideas, well now look who has to listen to who huh?!

[-] SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago

The media will soon turn public opinion in favor of the war.

[-] Stormy@thelemmy.club 9 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

They already have. I met a new neighbor last week, he asked what I did for a living and I mentioned my military background, and the guy said explicitly "I hope we go over there and destroy the whole place, nuke it even."

Of course it was a 60+ year old white guy with a high-school education that worked blue-collar his entire life.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 10 points 17 hours ago

Those people have been around decades though. I had a classmate in high school in the early 10s demanding we nuke Iran despite us not being at war with them and us actively being involved in the wildly unpopular Afghanistan war.

[-] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

The difference between the two types of dumbass is that at least one of them has some semblance of real-world experience, so you'd expect better from them.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago

"No stupid rules of engagement"?

Too late.

[-] Meshuggah333@piefed.world 4 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

I'm surprised this idiot isn't calling himself "war secretary".

[-] NotAnonymousAtAll@feddit.org 6 points 17 hours ago

I have therefore determined that this Department should once again be known as the Department of War and the Secretary should be known as the Secretary of War.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/restoring-the-united-states-department-of-war/

[-] Meshuggah333@piefed.world 4 points 16 hours ago

There we go. 

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
403 points (100.0% liked)

politics

28707 readers
2137 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS