Donald Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, are blaming a Navy admiral for a deadly attack on a boat in the Caribbean back in September. They want people to think the military is the problem. In reality, they are the ones damaging trust in the U.S. chain of command.
Strong leaders own their choices. They tell the truth, and they take responsibility. Weak leaders lie, blame others, and run away when things go wrong. That’s what is happening here.
Reports say that Pete Hegseth was the one who gave the order to “kill everybody” on that boat. Now that there’s serious legal trouble coming, he is trying to shift the blame to Admiral Frank Bradley.
Hegseth knows what he did was wrong. Killing people who are not given a chance to surrender or face trial is illegal it is murder. The follow-up strike that hit the survivors was also illegal. Now Donald Trump is stepping in to help Hegseth escape punishment.
The White House is trying to convince the public that six Democratic lawmakers who recorded a message reminding military members not to follow illegal orders are somehow harming the military.
But reminding troops to follow the law has never put them in danger. What truly harms the military is when leaders order people to commit crimes and then abandon them when consequences arise. Hegseth is creating a situation where troops may not trust any orders at all.
There is no real war happening. Yet Hegseth acted like there was because it made him and Trump look tough on television. When it became clear he could be held accountable, the warrior show ended. He suddenly claimed “the fog of war” made him unaware survivors were still there and said Admiral Bradley made that call. It is obvious he is trying to save himself.
Members of Congress will investigate what happened, and facts will eventually come out. But regardless of those details, Hegseth’s behavior afterward the lying, the blame-shifting, the fear of responsibility is what truly damages the military. Real soldiers carry the moral and legal weight of their actions. They don’t pretend to be warriors one minute and then throw others under the bus the next.
A military expert who writes under the name “Secretary of Defense Rock” says Trump’s team is pushing a story that puts the military in the role of the scapegoat. Top officers cannot publicly argue with the president because they are supposed to stay out of politics. But in private, they are already working to distance themselves from this mess.
The expert believes the real crisis is that Hegseth is destroying trust within the chain of command. If troops start wondering whether their leaders are lying or covering up crimes, they will worry more about protecting themselves than following orders. That fear can break down discipline the very thing that keeps a military functioning.
The expert also says that Hegseth’s tough-guy talk was nothing but a performance. He liked pretending to be a warrior while visiting special operations units and riding in helicopters. But the moment accountability arrived, he turned on the very people he once used as props. To those who actually serve and take real risks, this kind of cowardice is unforgivable.
The media is mostly focusing on whether the second strike was legal. But the deeper problem is that none of the strikes had a legal basis because the United States is not at war. It’s easier for politicians to argue about the drama of the second strike than to admit the first strike may have been an unauthorized act of war ordered by the president.
Hegseth has already survived one national security scandal. He is a danger, and that danger could grow. Could he be impeached one day? Maybe especially if military members testify that he gave the illegal orders.
Some people believe the White House may try to remove him quietly, if they can give him a soft landing. But whether impeachment happens will depend on elections, public pressure, and what the military reveals about what really happened.
