General Discussion

On the one hand, Pete Hegseth talks a lot about "lethality" and a "warrior ethos."

On the other hand, he and his DOD invest a ridiculous amount of energy into scrubbing websites, banning books, and creating a new makeup studio for his TV appearances.

For all of Hegseth’s reported interest in “lethality” and championing a hypermasculine “warrior ethos,” in recent months, he and the Pentagon have invested a ridiculous amount of time in pursuing petty culture war goals that don’t advance the nation’s national security goals in any way.

It was against this backdrop that CBS News reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently ordered modifications to a room next to the Pentagon press briefing room to retrofit it with a makeup studio that can be used to prepare for television appearances, multiple sources told CBS News. The price tag for the project was several thousand dollars, according to two of the sources, at a time when the administration is searching for cost-cutting measures.

While Hegseth described the report as a “totally fake story,” a Defense Department spokesperson made no effort to deny the accuracy of the report, instead describing the modification as a “routine” upgrade. A Pentagon spokesperson also said the new space will be available to others, not just the secretary. (The CBS report has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News.)

The story stood out for me, not just because of the degree to which it defies Hegseth’s rhetoric about a “warrior ethos,” but also because of what we’re learning about his role on Donald Trump’s team. Indeed, the president chose a television personality to lead the Pentagon, so it stands to reason that he’d want a new makeup studio.

By all appearances, his job isn’t to serve an administrative role, overseeing one of the planet’s largest and most complex bureaucracies; his job is to effectively play the role of defense secretary on TV, saying words like “tough” and “strength” on Fox News as Trump nods along while watching.

Hegseth is less of a cabinet secretary and more of a camera-ready performer. He’s able to keep his job — at least for now — not through competent governance, but rather by responding to the CBS News report by publishing a tweet that read in part, “We should have installed tampon machines in every men’s bathroom at DoD instead — the leftist ‘news’ media would have loved that.”

.....As the week began, the political world was warned that damaging new allegations about Hegseth were on the way. Those warnings were correct.