PETE HEGSETH'S MOMENT OF TRUTH (OR NOT)
Ah, politics. That delightful realm where words are weapons, truth is optional, and consistency is a quaint relic of a bygone era. Enter Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Defense Secretary nominee, who recently delivered a statement so perfectly crafted for the moment that you could almost hear the applause from political strategists everywhere. “Women are great in the military and in combat,” he declared, with the confidence of someone who had never, ever said anything remotely contradictory before. Spoiler alert: there’s a video.
Yes, there exists a clip of Hegseth saying, with all the subtlety of a bullhorn at a silent retreat, that women “suck” in the military and don’t contribute to the overall lethality of our forces. But hey, why let a little thing like recorded evidence stand in the way of a good soundbite? After all, in politics, what you say today matters far more than what you said yesterday—or even five minutes ago.
This is the age of political gymnastics, where flipping, twisting, and contorting one’s stance is not only accepted but celebrated as a form of performance art. And let’s be honest: nobody does it better than the MAGA crowd. They’ve turned lying into a full-blown art form, complete with sequins and jazz hands.
Take Republican Supreme Court nominees, for instance. Remember when they all solemnly swore during their confirmation hearings that Roe v. Wade was “settled law”? They said it with such conviction that you could almost believe they meant it—until they got their robes and promptly yeeted Roe into the legal abyss. It’s like promising to babysit your neighbor’s goldfish and then frying it up for dinner.
And then there’s the maestro himself: Donald J. Trump. The man lies so frequently and with such gusto that fact-checkers have developed carpal tunnel syndrome trying to keep up. You practically need a timestamp to figure out where he stands on any given issue. One moment he’s calling for the prosecution of the January 6th Committee; the next, he’s shrugging it off with an “Oh, well, maybe not.” He says he wants a border deal but then torpedoes it in Congress faster than you can say “Build the Wall.”
Heather Cox Richardson—a historian who has become something of a decoder ring for modern America—recently dissected Trump’s *Meet the Press* interview on her Substack *Letters from an American*. It’s worth a read if you enjoy peeling back layers of obfuscation to find… more obfuscation. Trump managed to give answers that were simultaneously on both sides of the truth, like some kind of Schrödinger's politician. If you’re not a news junkie, you might miss the lies entirely. And if you’re a MAGA supporter? Well, chances are you’ll just ignore them or chalk them up to “Trump being Trump.”
This brings us to the million-dollar question: what happens to democracy when its foundation is built on lies? Can a government survive when its leaders treat truth like an optional upgrade? It’s a sobering thought, but let’s not get too serious—we’re here for wit, after all.
So let’s circle back to Pete Hegseth and his magical transformation from “women suck in combat” to “women are great in combat.” Maybe he had an epiphany. Maybe he watched 'Mulan' and was inspired. Or maybe—just maybe—he said what he needed to say to get confirmed. Call me cynical, but I’m betting on door number three.
In the end, politics is like improv comedy: you say whatever you need to keep the audience engaged, even if it doesn’t make sense in retrospect. And if you’re really good at it, people will laugh—or cheer—even as they forget what you said five minutes ago.
So here’s to Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump, and all the other political performers out there. May your words be as flexible as your principles and your careers as long as your list of contradictions. And may we, the audience, never stop watching the show—even if we occasionally cringe at the plot twists.
Letters from an American Heather Cox Richardson December 9, 2024 https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/december-9-2024?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Key Republican senator reports ‘good discussions’ with Pete Hegseth https://wapo.st/4g4mFG9
