Trump admin's 'dumbest' aide keeps declaring war on US presidents

President Donald Trump holds a Cabinet meeting, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in the Cabinet Room. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)

Bulwark writer Will Saletan ticked down the many examples of failing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s war on the Middle East. It begins, he said, with pointing guns at US presidents rather than Iran.

“Who do you think is the dumbest person in the Trump administration? Now, I know it's a tough contest, but I think the answer might be Pete Hegseth,” said Saletan. “I want to show you just how petty and incompetent and stupid this guy is.”

He then pointed out that Hegseth was half an hour into his first briefing on the war and had failed to name “the head or the former head of Iran, the country we're supposed to be fighting.”

“American troops are out there fighting the enemy, but Pete Hegseth is back here fighting a domestic political war,” said Saletan, adding that Hegseth appeared determined to compete against the war prowess of other Republican presidents by claiming Trump’s surprise Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran “delivered twice the air power of shock and awe of Iraq in 2003, minus Paul Bremer. and the nation building.”

“Okay, we are in a war, we're literally in a war, and this guy is trying to have a size contest with the last Republican administration,” said Saletan.

But then Hegseth, a former Fox News talking head, never stopped, keeping up the fight in every briefing he's given since the war’s onset.

“This is not endless nation building under those types of quagmires we saw under Bush or Obama,” Hegseth said on March 10^th. “This country's conditioned to previous leaders, whether it's George W. Bush or Barack Obama or Joe Biden, who had these expansive nebulous mission sets that kept changing all the time. So the timeline kept moving and we kept pouring more troops in,” he said on March 13th.

“Hear it from me, one of hundreds of thousands who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, who watched previous foolish politicians, like Bush, Obama, and Biden squander American credibility,” he boasted on March 19th.

“Every time this guy talks — every time — he goes after American presidents. He's dividing our own country,” said Saletan. “… your job is not to win a political fight with the other party. Your job is to win an actual war.”

But then Hegseth carried the divisiveness to the world stage, laboring to alienate international allies who should be united in the Iran effort.

“The world, the Middle East, our ungrateful allies in Europe, even segments of our own press, should be saying one thing to President Trump: Thank you,” Hegseth declared on March 19.

“Trump started this war. He started this war without consulting any of our allies in Europe. And then our secretary of war … insults our allies.” said Saletan, while adding that Hegseth appears to be tiptoeing around U.S. enemies Russia and China, fearful of angering them.

“As far as Russia and China, we know exactly what they're doing, what they are or are not doing. We don't have to air publicly what all of that is,” said Hegseth under questioning by reporters.

But what, by far, could be “the dumbest thing” you could say as an American secretary of war trying to ally with non-Christian nations in a fight with Iran?

“May Almighty God continue to bless our troops in this fight. And again, to the American people, please pray for them every day on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ,” said Hegseth.

“Just in case our Muslim allies needed to be reminded that they share a religion with Iran and not with us,” quipped Saletan, adding that the secretary only “wants to come up with zingers that he can aim at Obama and Biden and Bush and the Democrats and all our ungrateful allies.”

“This guy … does nothing to help us win the war. He doesn't fight it. He doesn't lead it. He doesn't rally Americans together. He just stands there in a suit and brags about it and insults everybody.”

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