Here's the entire press conference, 25 minutes long:
"Well, uh, good morning. I'll get right to it. What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight and it's not accountability. It's a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment. Time for one man's final days in Congress to try to do damage to this president, this country, and most irresponsibly the warriors who defend it. It's a farce, and it's a stunt, and everybody knows it.
"In the 250 years of our American republic, no Secretary of War or Secretary of Defense has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations. And in our case, successful ones at that. Not once. War Powers Resolution or not. Not under Reagan in Lebanon. Not under Clinton in Kosovo, not under Obama in Iraq and Syria, not under Biden in Iraq and Syria. That's the standard. The history is clear and it's very straightforward. And one disgruntled congressman wants to shred it over policy disagreements. That's what it is. Policy disagreements. Not high crimes, not misdemeanors, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offenses the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause. The proper remedy for a policy disagreement. It's legislation. It's debate. It's the next presidential election. It's not handing the House and Senate floor to the Democrats so that they can run a show trial against the president and the Secretary of War....
"Let's be clear about what this resolution actually does. It tells our enemies, Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations. It tells them that a single rogue legislator loaded with personal animus for the president can attempt to veto national security decisions made by the duly elected commander-in-chief. It puts a target on the backs of American warriors by signaling that Congress will undermine their missions in real time. This is not patriotism. This is sabotage...."
"Crazy Islamists in Tehran will never ever have a nuclear weapon. A historic effort only made possible by a courageous commander-in-chief. History will judge the Iran war quite differently than conventional wisdom right now. We didn't start this war. Iran did. 47 years ago. But President Trump is willing to do what no other president would. He did the tough right thing — not for politics, but for the safety and the security of the American people. That's leadership. He did not kick the can. He kicked their teeth in.
"My generation fought other Middle Eastern wars that dragged on for years, for decades. We lost thousands, thousands of Americans. I wear the bracelet of one of them on my left wrist every single day. It reminds me, and may I remind you for perspective, we lost 60,000 Americans in Vietnam over 20 years. We lost 37,000 in Korea in just three years. That many humans are lost on the front lines of Ukraine and Russia every month. This — Epic Fury — has never been that and it never will be. The media can just never admit the military success because they — you — hate the president more than you love our country or our troops....
"Indicted and wanted, Nicholas Maduro thought he was untouchable. He was not kidnapped. He was brought to justice by America's best. Victory in one night. Victory in 48 minutes to be precise. And today he sits in front of an American judge in New York City. Flawless success. Panama kicked China's Belt and Road initiative to the curb and we along with them control the canal. The message is simple. This is our hemisphere. Act accordingly. Our NATO allies, after decades of riding on the American taxpayer in Europe, committed to 5% of GDP for their own defense, our allies are finally stepping up. Out with being a burden, in with burden sharing. Why? Because President Trump demanded it....
"As it happens, tomorrow is Veterans Day. This year, the operators of Absolute Resolve and the Warriors of Epic Fury will mark it for the first time. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the pilots of Midnight Hammer and the sailors of Ruff Rider who went before them. They answered the call. They executed. They won. And on the eve of Veterans Day, these resolutions tell every one of them that their service was a crime. Their service was not a crime. These are heroes and no politician in Washington will tell them otherwise.
"As it happens, tomorrow is Veterans Day. This year, the operators of Absolute Resolve and the Warriors of Epic Fury will mark it for the first time. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the pilots of Midnight Hammer and the sailors of Ruff Rider who went before them. They answered the call. They executed. They won. And on the eve of Veterans Day, these resolutions tell every one of them that their service was a crime. Their service was not a crime. These are heroes and no politician in Washington will tell them otherwise.
"While I hold this office, President Trump gave this department what it has not had in a generation. A commander-in-chief with the courage to lead and the resolve to win. I stand behind every one of these operations. I was proud to execute them, and I would do it again tomorrow. And while this defeated politician, defeated ironically by a Navy Seal, I might add, while this defeated politician drafts articles of impeachment, we've delivered the first increase, and a big one, in hostile fire and eminent danger pay in more than 20 years. We've reinstated over 600 service members who were forced out under the previous administration's COVID mandate. All five of our services broke historic recruiting records. the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Space Force, the Marines for two years in a row. In fact, the Marines in FY27 met half of their goal on day one. Americans are lining up to serve in President Trump's Department of War. And by the way, to those Marines and all those Marines out there, Semper Fi, and happy 251st birthday today...."
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210 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 210 of 210john mosby...
"These two things go together."
Yep. You wouldn't think people would need to be told that they were expected to behave like adults, but it's the left, so...
Hegseth is hard-ass; his detractors want candy-ass.
Achilles: “They put a small hated minority in charge of a large violent majority and made them dependent on the West for support to survive.” Disappointing. You can’t believe Israel still depends on the “West” to survive. They have kicked the asses of the “violent majority” whenever put to the test. Effete Western Europe no longer supports them and the US gives them money and requires them to buy US arms. And does anyone other than Islamist fanatics really believe that Israel does not have weapons capable of obliterating Iran, and probably most of the Middle East, if their country’s survival is really in jeopardy? Opposition to Israel is based in antisemitism, not reason.
Chuck is that house guest who keeps promising to leave …
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...
“Hegseth’s net approval rating is -29, lower than Trump’s -24.”
I’m pretty sure Eisenhower’s approval rating with the Nazis was underwater, too.
Hey Skipper: "The smugglers, who are by definition conducting hostile acts against the US, are beyond law enforcement. Insisting on treating them criminally is a thoroughgoing denial of reality."
Freder: "Do you have any idea how many arrests the Coast Guard, FBI, DEA, etc. interdicting drug traffickers on the high seas?
Obviously not."
For those with even a glancing familiarity with statistics, far more often than not, it is rate, not quantity that matters.
The arrest rate of smugglers in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific is very low.
Convictions even lower, because it is so easy for smugglers to dump the cargo into the deep blue sea before getting boarded.
I'm wondering: why didn't you show the data?
Oh, and noting you fail to address the issues of jurisdictional and logistical limitations, fatuous invocation of the Geneva Conventions, or explaining any alternative course of action.
I'm going to say one thig for anyone stating that Trump started the war with Iran
𝑳𝒊𝒂𝒓! 𝑳𝒊𝒂𝒓! 𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆!
The war unequivocally started in November 1979 when Iran invaded sovereign US territory and took over our embassy in Tehran. There have been continued attacks on US forces and interests since then. The current phase of the war is remarkable on the US side for the lopsided amount of death and destruction.
OMG, though! There's been no DECLARATION OF WAR! There's been a whopping five of those in our nation's history. All have involved some pretty major mobilization for our military at the time. Right now only one of our services is majorly affected- The Navy. We don't have enough ships, of all kinds, including carriers. Why not? Thanks, Democrats.
I see a brief mention of Grenada up above. We were invited (almost literally invited) by other Caribbean nations to invade and overthrow the Marxists there. IIRC- there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth by Democrats then over that "illegal" action. In international affairs- legal is determined by the winner. That was us. Ad it was in Panama, Venezuela, et cetera.
The Geneva Conventions don't cover criminals. So quoting it in sinking drug vessels displays ignorance. If persons are engaged in criminal activities in international waters, they are literally outlaws, in the Olde meaning of the word. They are outside the protection of the law. If they're evading capture, well, deadly force is authorized to stop them- just as it is in every state of the Union. Like slave ships during ours's and Britain's anti-slave patrols.
InfantryDort's X post, shared by Big Mike above, is being copied to other platforms like this, and being shared on X, by a whole bunch of people, mostly military or former military. Like me. In addition to reposting on X, it's on my Facebook page.
FYI, like Gospace, I am former military, with extensive first hand experience with the Geneva Conventions and Law of Armed Conflict.
Doesn't make my arguments de facto correct, but it does mean I don't have first hand experience on which to draw.
DD45
If Hegseth is prosecuting an unconstitutional war (and he obviously is) what should the country do about it? If the rule of law is to mean anything at all, it must mean our government follows the constitution.
He serves at the pleasure of the president, you dope.
Lazarus said...
Hegseth has done some good work, but as a person, he's embarrassing,
The troops and veterans love the guy. And that's all that's important.
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