The American government is hailing itself as the most transparent government of all time. She uses the regular press briefings in the White House and Donald Trump’s meandering conversations with journalists at every opportunity as evidence. But the recent controversy surrounding Defense Minister Pete Hegseth shows once again: You can talk a lot without communicating much.
In Washington, truth is a flexible material. The report of a second strike on survivors of an attack on a suspected drug smuggling boat was four days old when Trump said in a Cabinet meeting that he had still received little information – but fully trusted Hegseth. A remarkable sentence, especially since Republican members of Congress are also demanding clarification. There is an accusation of a war crime.
In Washington there are many techniques to distract from the unpleasant. Hegseth masters it like no other. His communication style follows a fixed choreography: defense, distraction and counterattack. This was also the case in the spring, when he shared plans to attack the Houthis in Yemen in a group chat on the commercial messaging app Signal – two hours before the attack, and in the presence of a journalist who had been added accidentally.
This text comes from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
Hegseth later claimed that no war plans had been shared and called the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic deceitful. He didn’t have anything else to say. The White House spoke of a democratic plot to distract from Trump’s great successes. A recurring manslaughter argument. And Hegseth got away with it.
Was the Admiral a pawn sacrifice?
In the case of the attack on the smugglers’ boat, it took a little longer to agree on an account. First Hegseth called out “fake news,” and later the White House confirmed a second attack itself. It was readjusted. Now it is said that the attack was ordered under the command of Admiral Frank Bradley, the head of the American special forces. A pawn sacrifice? Even Fox News host Brit Hume commented on Hegseth’s effusive praise for the “hero” Bradley, saying, “How I point the finger at someone while pretending to support them.”
Hegseth uploaded a video of the first attack on X and raved about the live images in an interview. Now he claims to have left the room after this first strike and only found out about the second rocket hours later. He didn’t see any survivors either; “The thing” ended up in flames.
The American government is running a crisis theater with bright spotlights. Much behind this remains obscure. When the Pentagon’s independent controller tried to speak to Hegseth about the Signal chat, he received only a brief written statement. And in the briefing about the operation against the smuggler boat in the Caribbean, Admiral Bradley answered questions in Congress on Thursday. Not the defense minister.
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