Pete Hegseth isn't fooling anyone

Pete Hegseth stood at the Pentagon podium at 8 AM, hair slicked back, reading prepared remarks that tried to sell what Heather calls a war failure as a victory. He called Operation Epic Fury a historic success, claimed Trump showed mercy by not destroying Iran's economy, and read a list of dead Iranian leaders like a scorecard. He did not say a single American name.

The Breakdown:

13 American service members came home in caskets since the war began and more than 365 returned wounded

Hegseth snapped at a female reporter asking about Iran's missile launches, calling her rude and muttering "so nasty"

Iran's state media ran headlines claiming Trump retreated and that the "strength of Iranian resistance" forced the ceasefire

Both sides claimed the other surrendered, but only one side still controls the Strait of Hormuz

The live stream comment section was relentless with sarcasm, disbelief, and one comment that cut through it all: "I'm an American and I'm so embarrassed"

Hegseth listed dead Iranian leaders for minutes but had no time to name a single fallen American soldier

Families who lost loved ones in those 38 days turned on that press conference hoping to hear their child's name, their spouse's name

Trump posted attacking Bruce Springsteen, calling him a "total loser," telling MAGA to boycott his concerts

The resistance continues to grow despite days that test everyone's resolve

These next few months could determine the next few decades or beyond for the country

More on my daily Substack at: https://heatherdelaneyreese.substack.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

I'm Heather Claney Reese, and you're listening to Hope for America, where every day I bring you the truth about our politics, our country, and the forces trying to destroy them. Together, we cut through the noise, expose the lies, and stay focused on what really matters, fighting for the survival of our country. At 8 04 in the morning, he stood at the podium at the Pentagon, with his hair greased back, shifting back and forth on his feet, reading from his prepared remarks, desperately trying to convince the American people that a war failure was actually a war victory. And when a female reporter tried to ask about Iran launching missiles, he snapped back, calling her rude before muttering under his breath, so nasty, as if she were the problem and not the truth, her question exposed. He proclaimed that Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield, and that President Trump had the power to cripple Iran's entire economy in minutes, but he chose mercy. And try as he might, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, or what he likes to call the Secretary of War for the United States of America, failed just as terribly as the war did. He didn't sound like a man who believed what he was saying. He sounded like a man reading lines someone else told him to say, delivering them with a kind of forced certainty that only made the gaps more obvious. And people could feel it. During the live broadcast of his press conference, the comment section was relentless. Taco emojis, a reference to Trump always chickens out, laughing faces, American and Israeli flags paired together with hearts, others calling him a loser, asking if he'd been drinking. It wasn't one type of reaction. It was all of them at once. There was the sarcasm, the disbelief, the frustration, and something deeper running underneath it all. And then there was the comment that cut through all the noise. I'm an American and I'm so embarrassed. That was the through line of the entire 37 minutes of Pete Hegsteath speaking. A former Fox News host stamped with the Department of Defense seal trying to sell a catastrophe as a victory, while so many watched and felt the distance between what was being said and what was actually true. And over the next 37 minutes, that distance only grew. He said Iran begged for the ceasefire. And that exact same moment, Iran state media was running headlines that read Trump once again retreating. And the strength of resistance of Iran forced Trump to accept a ceasefire. Both sides are claiming the other one surrendered. But only one side still controls the Strait of Hermoose. He read a list of dead Iranian leaders out loud like a scorecard. Supreme leader dead, National Security Council Secretary dead, defense minister dead, IRGC commander dead. He kept going, then said he had skipped over a bunch and could go on and on. Yet he did not have time to say a single American name, not one. Thirteen American service members have come home in caskets since the war began. More than 365 have come home wounded. Somewhere in this country, families who have lost someone in those 38 days sat down that morning and turned on that press conference, hoping to hear their childs, their spouses, their friends' name, hoping that the man responsible for sending them into harm's way would at least pause long enough to honor what it cost. This is the same man who has stated in the past that media coverage of American service members killed in action exists primarily to make the president look bad. That's who is running the Pentagon. A man who treats enemy casualties as trophies and American casualties as bad press. He claimed complete regime change because the United States killed senior leaders, but the regime is still standing. A new supreme leader has already been installed. The government structure is intact. Calling that regime change is like saying you demolished a building because you broke the windows. And Heggseth himself proved it at his own press conference. When a reporter asked whether the U.S. was still encouraging Iranian civilians to rise up against their government, Hegseth said he hoped the Iranian people would, and I quote, take advantage of this opportunity. And then he went on with this regime, effectively admitting that the regime he had just called defeated was still in power. He contradicted the administration's central claim of victory from the same podium where he was trying to sell it. He said the United States used, and I quote, less than 10% of America's total combat power to dismantle one of the world's largest militaries. That line wasn't a victory lap. It was a message, a warning to every other nation watching, imagine what we could do to you. When asked about Iran's enriched uranium, he said, they'll give it to us voluntarily. And if they don't, we'll get it, we'll take it, we'll take it out. Thus admitting the whole war objective wasn't even met if it actually was about uranium. And then came the moment that exposed the entire performance. ABC's Luis Martinez reminded Hegesit that just three weeks ago, from that same podium, he had promised the United States would give, and I quote, no quarter to Iranian troops. No quarter, that's the legal term. It means take no prisoners, kill everyone. It is by definition a war crime. So Martinez asked a really important question. How do you go from no quarter three weeks ago to choose mercy today? Hagseth didn't answer it. He unraveled. He called the question an indictment framed as a question. General Dan Cain, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, tried to dodge it entirely, saying he would love to take that offline. A reporter shouted from the back of the room that Iran was still firing ballistic missiles. Heggseth ignored it. The UAE confirmed that very morning that it had intercepted 17 ballistic missiles and 35 drones launched from Iran, while Heggseth stood there calling it a big day for world peace. And Trump had declared the same thing just after midnight at 12.01 a.m. that same morning, a big day for world peace. Iran wants it to happen. They've had enough. Likewise, so has everyone else. The United States of America will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hermoose. There will be lots of positive action. Big money will be made. Iran can start the reconstruction process. We'll be loading up with supplies of all kinds and just hanging around in order to make sure that everything goes well. I feel confident that it will. Just like we are experiencing in the US, this could be the golden age of the Middle East. President Donald J. Trump. The whole Trump administration was following the same playbook. And by this point, they weren't even trying to hide it. Manufacture a crisis, elevate it to the brink, escalate a destructive solution, and then immediately declare success, regardless of what actually changed. And then before anyone had time to process the damage, shift the focus to what comes next: reconstruction, opportunity, profit, because that's the part they keep coming back to. Big money will be made. Not stability, not security, not the lives lost or the consequences that will ripple out from this long after the headlines move on. It was money. So we're left with a question that shouldn't even have to be asked. If you threaten to wipe out an entire civilization, destabilize an entire region, and then position yourself to profit from rebuilding it, what exactly are we looking at? Because it doesn't sound like leadership. It sounds like a racketeering operation. And other people are seeing it too, even people inside his own Pentagon. The Washington Post reported that internal Pentagon documents directly contradict claims that Hegzith has made about the war. He bragged about complete control of Iranian skies and uncontested airspace shortly before Iran shot down an American F-15E fighter jet. The chaotic rescue mission that followed became the clearest evidence yet that his claims of air dominance were a lie. With an administration official telling the post, Pete is not speaking truth to the president. As a result, the president is out there repeating misleading information. Pete Hegseth's own building doesn't trust him. His own colleagues are going to the press to say so. And yet he still stood at that podium trying to convince all of us that his war succeeded when the facts show it was a failure. And the ceasefire he was celebrating was already falling apart before he left the podium. Within hours of the announcement, Iran, the EAU, and Kuwait all reported ongoing attacks. Iran claimed that it closed the Strait of Humus again in response to Israeli strikes on Lebanon. The White House denied it. Netanyahu said Lebanon was not included in the ceasefire. Pakistani's Prime Minister Sharif, who brokered the deal, said it was. The parties to this agreement could not even agree on what they had agreed to. And Hagseth was calling it a big day for world peace. Because if this were a victory, then the results should reflect that. Before the war started, the Strait of Hermuz was open. Now Iran controls it, and reports show they are planning on charging roughly two to two and a half million per ship to pass through. Gas wasn't$4 a gallon. Now it is. Actually, I just saw it and it's almost it was six and a half, almost seven dollars a gallon. Iran had not demonstrated to the entire world that it could choke the global oil supply and bring a superpower to the negotiating table. And now it has. Before this war, international inspectors still had a limited but real presence monitoring Iran's nuclear program. Now they have been completely shut out, and the deal reportedly includes language in the Persian version, accepting Iran's right to enrich uranium, language that was mysteriously removed from the English version that was shared with journalists. And we can't forget that 13 American service members who were alive before this war are not anymore. And the thousands of innocent civilians throughout the region that are not here either. And now Trump is floating a joint venture with Iran to collect tolls on the Strait of Humus. A joint venture. The president of the United States wants to go into business with the country he just bombed for 38 days, splitting shipping fees on a waterway that was free and open before he started this war. Thus creating a money grab on many of our allied nations if Iran would even agree to this. That's what we're being asked to accept as a win, that this is what success looks like these days. And then came the phone call earlier today to Trump at the White House. PBS News hours Liz Landers called Trump for what appears to be an impromptu interview. She asked about Lebanon still being hit and whether it should have been included in the ceasefire. Trump said no, because of Hezbollah, and added, that'll get taken care of too. And then Landers tried to ask if he regretted that true social post, the one about wiping out a civilization. She referenced the huge pushback from Democrats, and he hung up on her. The President of the United States hung up on a reporter for asking the question that so many of us want to know. He couldn't face the question or defend it, so he ran away from it. And just as I had finished writing this article, Trump posted this on True Social at 11.46 p.m. All U.S. ships, aircraft, and military personnel with additional ammunition, weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded enemy will remain in place in and around Iran until such time as the real agreement reached is fully complied with. If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the shooting starts bigger and better and stronger than anyone has ever seen before. It was agreed a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary, capital letters, no nuclear weapons, and the Strait of Hermuz, capital letters again, will be open and safe. In the meantime, our great military is loading up and resting, looking forward actually to its next conquest. America is back. I just shudder to think what the next conquest will be. Okay, so this morning the Secretary of Defense stood at a podium and told the American people this war was over, and it was a historic and overwhelming victory, that Iran begged for the ceasefire. And then that night, the President of the United States told the world the military is staying, the agreement hasn't been met, and if it falls apart, the shooting starts again. Bigger and better and stronger than anyone has ever seen before. He even said the military is looking forward to its next conquest. That is not the language of a man who just won a war. That is the language of a man who knows this isn't over and is already preparing the country for the next escalation. And this begs the question: is there anyone in this administration who has any idea what they are doing or how a war works? This is all starting to catch up to Trump and his enablers. There's only so much cover-up and gaslighting until people are pushed to their limits. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that Democrats will force another vote on a war powers resolution next week to halt the war and reassert congressional authority. He called Trump a military moron, and then he did what no one in this administration has been willing to do. He walked through every single metric and showed that on every one we are worse off than before the war started. The strait is worse, the Iranian regime is still standing and embolted. Gas prices have spiked, Iran's nuclear stockpile is unchanged, American credibility is shattered, American lives lost. And Connecticut Congressman John Larson, along with Ralph Nader and Bruce Fiend, filed 13 articles of impeachment against Trump on Monday, citing his circumvention of Congress's war powers, the militarization of domestic law enforcement, and immigration policy actions. Over 80 Democrats are calling for his removal. The chance that impeachment passes right now is slim to none. And the war powers vote will likely fail again, too. We know Republicans will block it just like they did in March. But here's what matters. It gets documented, recorded, and it builds the case against Trump for later. And when the midterms come, every single vote will be on the record. Every senator who voted to give Trump a blank check for this war will have to answer for it. And every representative who stayed silent while a president threatened to erase a civilization will have to face their voters. The record matters now and for the history books that come in the future. And resistance, even when it feels futile, still matters because there will be a future. And we will need to show that not all of us went along with any of this. The past few days have been hard, but every day is a new day. And I jumped back into my resistance in the ways I know how, writing these posts, recording these videos, and supporting more independent voices with paid memberships and others who are using all they have to speak out against this authoritarian takeover. I also sat down and I purchased tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in Los Angeles. I'll have already seen him by the time you see this video, but I'm I'm really looking forward to it. Artists have always had a place in building momentum in political movements. And I am excited to hear his words and see his fiery political show, as the Daily Breeze called his last show. I've been feeling heavy the past week, and I'm hoping that this night of music will lift my spirits. Ever since Trump called for a boycott of Springsteen's concert and shared this on True Social, I knew I had to go. Bad and very boring singer Bruce Springsteen, who looks like a dried-up prune who has suffered greatly from the work of a really bad plastic surgeon, has long had a horrible and incurable case of Trump derangement syndrome, sometimes referred to as TDS. The guy is a total loser who spews hate against a president who won a landslide election, including the popular vote. All seven swing states and 86% of the counties across America. Under Sleepy Joe and the Dems, our country was dead. And now we have the hottest country by far anywhere in the world. And then in capitals. Maggus should boycott his overpriced concerts, which suck. Save your hard-earned money. America is back. President DJT. If these past couple of days have been hard, especially for you as well, please take a moment and do whatever helps you recharge. We have a long battle ahead of us. These next few months could determine the next few decades or beyond for our country. And we have to be at the top of our game. Since Trump took office, we have gone through a series of peaks and valleys. We have had days where the growth of the resistance cannot be denied by anyone, and other days where the president threatened the unthinkable. And we took encouragement from the good and we survived the bad. We can take anything that comes at us. We are in this for the long haul, and we are never giving up. And that is why I still have hope for America, and you should too. And remember, no matter how dark the days get, I'll be here every single night, and together we will always have hope for America. I'll see you tomorrow.