Sunday, March 1, 2026

Sunday Smiles – HotAir

March 1, 2026
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There are many things to say about the left’s reaction to Trump’s use of the military, and no doubt I and others will have more to say over the coming days as Operation Epic Fury unfolds. 





But, abstracting from all the other issues for a moment, the one thing that my mind keeps coming back to is this: for all the claims that Pete Hegseth is an unserious, alcoholic, womanizing Christian Nationalist who would destroy the United States military, it sure seems like he is a damn fine Secretary of War when it comes to winning wars (or conducting military operations, really). 

As Maduro, or Iranian military leaders and Khameini, or Venezuelan narcoterrorists, or the Houthis, or…

It’s not just that these operations have been conducted almost flawlessly and with incredible operational security; it’s that they have, so far, achieved their strategic objectives rapidly and with minimal loss of US lives. 

Now I know Pete a bit, and I know he is not the irresponsible playboy his detractors claimed, but even if he were, I would respond as Lincoln did to the criticisms of Ulysses S. Grant’s drinking: “I wish some of you would tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals.”

Hegseth obviously doesn’t deserve all the credit, just as Lloyd Austin doesn’t deserve all the blame for Biden’s appalling record during his term in office. But both men deserve a lot of the credit and the blame. Austin may have met the definition of a “serious” Secretary of Defense by Establishment measures, and Hegseth that of a TV commentator, as they often call him unfairly, but the results speak for themselves.

Austin produced failure. Hegseth delivers success. 

The hatred for Hegseth derives from the same source as the hatred of Trump: they are seen as crass, of the wrong class, and incapable of understanding nuance.





Blech. Nuance is, most of the time, appropriate for authors dissecting military actions, but most of the time, military action is about killing people and breaking things. Let the diplomats discuss nuance when negotiating before or after a military operation, where it is appropriate. If you are at the kinetic action phase, kill people and break things, with rules of engagement that are as loose as possible consistent with our objectives and our laws. 

Austin focused on making the military woke; Hegseth has focused on making it lethal. And boy, is it lethal, and capable of being lethal to our enemies, and as precise as possible at taking out only the things we need to. 

No doubt our military operations would be better conducted when designed and implemented by transgender soldiers with pronouns in their bios, but despite the current lack of testicle-free men in uniform, Hegseth seems to be getting the job done. 

Much of the hatred of Trump and Hegseth derives from the Establishment’s belief that both men are traitors to their class. Despite Trump’s reputation as a know-nothing Queens bully, he is a Fordham and Wharton man, just as Hegseth is a Princeton graduate. But unlike their critics, their real education was in the school of hard knocks, where they learned how the world actually works. 





BREAKING: Secretary Pete Hegseth just announced the Department of War is CUTTING TIES with woke leftist Ivy League universities

DoW will NO LONGER be subsidizing Yale, Columbia, Brown, MIT, Princeton, and others.

“We’re DONE paying for the privilege of our enemies’ wicked ideologies to be taught to our future leaders. WE’VE HAD ENOUGH!”

If you ask the troops who they would rather have leading them into battle, I feel confident that they would choose Hegseth over Austin and offer to buy a barrel of whiskey for any of the jerks who want Hegseth out of there. 

BEST OF THE BABYLON BEE:









BEST OF THE REST…

 I am including some Iran-related posts that struck me as interesting, too. 









AND FINALLY…


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