Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth duked it out again with congressional Democrats, where he was once again asked painfully stupid questions from Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI). I know—who else could so dominate this category, but the special lady from Hawaii is unrivaled.
She’s a talking point machine, so she did her part, asking Hegseth if the deployment of federal troops to Los Angeles will be given shoot-to-kill orders for protesters. I’m not kidding—she asked if Hegseth would allow the National Guard and Marines to open fire on rioters. Hegseth slapped her question down, but she interjected with the ‘reclaiming my time’ nonsense. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) also chimed in on the ‘will you kill the protesters’ stuff. Truly amazing.
Democrat Senator Mazie Hirono: asks dumb question
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 18, 2025
Pete Hegseth: exposes the stupidity of the question
Senator Hirono: "Reclaiming my time!!!"
🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/PIUSOEIbad
Slotkin questions Hegseth over debunked claims of Trump wanting to “shoot unarmed protesters” in Mark Esper’s book:
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) June 18, 2025
“Have you given the order that they can use lethal force?”
“I’d be careful what you read in books and believing it—except for the Bible.” pic.twitter.com/74qleKbUpG
They hate Pete Hegseth so much because they didn’t think Trump would actually appoint someone that would stop letting them use the military as their little communist social laboratory. https://t.co/RRnvYWeyCs
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) June 18, 2025
The good news is that Hegseth, like during his confirmation hearings, knows the enemy in the room and acts accordingly. Mr. Hegseth also said that district courts shouldn’t control national security policy, and he’s right. California Gov. Gavin Newsom thought that was insane, but he can sit down: an appeals court indefinitely stayed a lower court ruling on this California National Guard dispute. Control remains with President Trump; a governor isn’t the commander-in-chief, Gavin.
. @SecDef "I don’t believe district courts should be determining national security policy." pic.twitter.com/DEBwjVaB5d
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) June 18, 2025
This is not normal. https://t.co/gmIaBj9J2V
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 18, 2025
BREAKING: A federal appeals court has indefinitely blocked Judge Breyer’s order to put Gavin Newsom back in control of the National Guard.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 20, 2025
The three-judge panel, which included two Trump and one Biden appointee, was unanimous. pic.twitter.com/8DsTdrLB6Y