3mo ago

‘Full-blown meltdown’ at Pentagon after Hegseth’s second Signal chat revealed

www.theguardian.com

Existence of group chat including Hegseth, his wife and others prompt calls for defense secretary to step down

A former top Pentagon spokesperson has slammed Pete Hegseth’s leadership of the department of defense, as pressure mounts on the US’s top military official following reports of a second Signal chatroom used to discuss sensitive military operations.

John Ullyot, who resigned last week after initially serving as Pentagon spokesperson, said in a opinion essay published by Politico on Sunday that the Pentagon has been overwhelmed by staff drama and turnover in the initial months of the second Trump administration.

Ullyot called the situation a “full-blown meltdown” that could cost Hegseth, a 44-year-old former Fox News host and National Guard officer, his job as defense secretary.

63 comments

step down
How about we call for his arrest and trial?
- yes - as a war criminal for ordering the murder of Yemeni citizens
  
  Yep its rather disgusting how lots of people frame these things to just criticize his unprofessionalism and gloss over and ignore the war crimes.
- The one who gave him that job needs to be held accountable as well.
- No need, these days you just get a bunch of people in black and secret him away in a van.
Pretending like Putin didn’t order an insecure alcoholic wife beating racist to be secdef and the plan is going perfectly for him in America is weird
who could have guessed that a Fox News pundit would make a shit secretary of defense.
- Pretty much everyone that doesnt have Trumps balls in his mouth called that one.
  The same goes for the antivax weirdo with a brain worm and pretty much all the MAGA picks.
Former major makes major blunder by signaling major incompetence on Signal, forcing former major to seek force majeure immunity.
- Former major makes major blunder by signaling major incompetence on Signal, forcing former major to seek force majeure immunity.
  The general consensus is that the private information shared on Signal is a major problem that should probably lead to corporal punishment.
  
  🎖️🏅🥇
Susan Collins told me he learned from his first mistake though. I'm starting to think he didn't.
- Thirty or forty more mistakes like this, and I might start to think this Susan Collins might not be a good judge of character
- He learned how to do it better, not how to not do it.
- What he learned is that there are no real consequences for such "mistakes"
- Was she counting money when she said that?
What a weird fucking opinion piece (the linked Politico story, not the OP)
Last week, a month after leaving my public affairs role, I respectfully declined the secretary’s generous offer for a new position and informed him of my decision to leave the department, wishing him all the best. I value his friendship and am grateful for his giving me the opportunity to serve. I salute his leadership in helping the president make America strong again.
Yet even strong backers of the secretary like me must admit: The last month has been a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon — and it’s becoming a real problem for the administration.
“I love the guy like a brother, but what a complete fuck-up” sandwiched in with so much trump butt-licking it’s beyond gross.
- This is how politics works under an authoritarian: senior officials throwing other officials under the bus by appeal to the authoritarian's ego.
  
  Yeah. I remember.
Whiskey Leaks is at it again.
Others do and HAVE been court martialed for less. Like no hyperbole, you are fucked if you are anyone else.
- That's what I can't get over. I mean sure, we know double standards are rife in this administration but OMG how is the entire security community and leadership (looking at you, Congress) not absolutely losing their minds at this? Didn't they send a SWAT team or something after one of the War Thunder forum leakers for posting a simple manual?! This is just insane.
This just in, the dumbest mother fucker you know might actually be dumber.
Not gunna lie, I’m feeling a bit better about any potential invasions of sovereign nations
- Me too, until i realize there might still be an attempt, and it will be extremely stupid in planning.
  
  Blitzkrieg but instead the plans are so stupid you can’t prepare for them…
  
  "What do you mean this isn't Greenland, Captain?! If it isn't Greenland, then where are we? I mean, look at how green everything here is, it must be Greenland, right? Falkland Islands? What's that??"
  
  The excuse will be that there was one trans person in the invasion force.
- "Signal group chat leaked that a bombing run of Vancouver is planned. Chat was leaked by Hesgeths mom, who didn't know why she was added and just wanted to ask questions about when would be a good time to buy eggs.
  In response, Hesgeth blamed the media for reporting on things and stuff."
- I’m not. These guys clearly made terrible choices.
- As Canadians, absolutely.
  Plus their behavior in regards to snubbing states during environmental disasters and gutting emergency response/aid relief would do wonders for any displaced angry guerilla Canadians in this hypothetical.*
Donald Trump Jr pushed back on the opinion piece, saying the author is “officially exiled” from Trump’s political movement. “This guy is not America First,” Trump Jr wrote on X. “I’ve been hearing for years that he works his ass off to subvert my father’s agenda. That ends today.”
The fuck?
- The MAGA movement is a cult. Don Jr, the eldest son of the cult leader, is telling the other cultists this author is excommunicated from the cult. Thus the cultists know to ignore anything relating to this topic and can continue their blind devotion in peace.
I’m actually a little surprised that the fact he was an atrocious appointment took to as long to be proven!
It’s also crazy to me that we’re still in the “could cost him his job” era
Trump really hasn't fired anyone yet, has he? Strap in, Pete. It's gonna be a rough week at the office.
- No, he's fired an IRS director because one of the other members of the legion of doom pointed out that Elon's pick investigated J6ers or something
  
  Oh that's right, just this week, right? 72 hours?
- There where a couple women in charge of military divisions, head of the coast guard was one I think. I'm sure there have been plenty that he sees as DEI that got tossed without a lot of reporting.
  
  Oh, I meant people he installed but yeah, he's been running rampant through "Biden's people"
- He's fired a bunch of lower level officials.
  His pick for acting US Attorney for SDNY (basically Manhattan) was fired a few weeks later for refusing to drop charges against Eric Adams.
  The acting IRS commissioner has changed over 5 times in the 90 days of this current presidency, including the most recent firing of a guy that was too close to Elon (in some kind of Bessent-Musk feud), just a few days after his appointment. The previous acting commissioner was fired for refusing to illegally share IRS data with DHS to help with immigration enforcement.
  And the current turmoil in the Pentagon is the firings of people he appointed to these positions. It's a mess.
What I don't get about this is the reason. You'd think maybe more insider trading, but why would you need such specific information for that? A simple "attack on Yemen at...“ would be enough. In the first chat at least the people were tangentially concerned with the content, but his wife and lawyer? And ten more associates? For what, bragging rights? He must have known on some level that this is quite sensitive information and should not be shared with just about anyone. The sheer stupidity of all this is incomprehensible to me, it truly boggles the mind.
And one more thing: all of this has had no real consequences for the troops yet, but these kinds of failures will lead to catastrophic outcomes eventually. The Pentagon is now a clown-show and it is dealing with live-and-death decisions constantly. What a crazy time.
- What I don’t get about this is the reason.
  The man is, as predicted, staggeringly incompetent. He's just that bad at his job.
  
  That's legitimately his only qualification for the job. That and being a brown nosing Yes Man.
Sad, sad Drinky Pete. He's cursed with too many friends who share names in his phone.
- There's a joke here about his wife and his brother getting sucked in, but I haven't figured it out yet.
Mr President, there's been a second Signal chat.
This is just another badge on his lack of a resume for the 3rd Trump term unfortunately.
Should have given the job to that Teixiera dipshit, at least he has the excuse of being young and inexperienced to explain his stupidity.
Let's tack Donnie into that call for losing their job for not doing a damn thing to prevent this after the first time around. Incompetent management, why do we not have a no-confidence vote mechanism?
slam
He is doing a fantastic job, he is great. I have met his wife, really good Americans.
- A true patriot.

63 comments