For a man who has spent months projecting “alpha” authority, Pete Hegseth’s latest viral moment landed like a gut punch. A carefully staged workout meant to showcase strength and discipline instead turned into an internet-wide spectacle — one that left the Defense Secretary looking less like a commander-in-chief and more like the punchline.
Last fall President Donald Trump and Hegseth summoned hundreds of admirals and generals from around the world to an unusually tense meeting at Quantico, Virginia. The gathering was framed as a crackdown on “woke” ideology in the military and a return to what Trump officials called “the highest male standard only” for combat roles.
During that meeting, Hegseth made comments that quickly raised alarms.
“Yes, they can shark attack, they can toss bunks, they can swear, and yes, they can put their hands on recruits,” Hegseth said. “This does not mean they can be reckless or violate the law, but they can use tried and true methods to motivate new recruits, to make them the warriors they need to be.”
For a Defense Secretary pushing an “alpha” vision of the military, he ran into an unexpected optics problem.
And one the Pentagon can’t swing its way out of.
Hegseth joined ROTC cadets at UCLA on Jan. 9 for a stage-managed workout on the Los Angeles campus that included a kettlebell exercise that went south because all anyone is talking about is how he clearly doesn’t know how to swing a kettlebell.
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One viewer took a direct dig at Hegseth, “Interesting. So, Pete Hegseth can’t do pull ups, kettlebell swings or his job.”
“TBF, its difficult to swing a kettleball when you’re drunk,” another mocked. Another added, “This performative sh*t is so embarrassing.”
“I train multiple 70 year old women who swing a kettlebell better than Pete Hegseth,” Threads user Danny Matranga stated above a video clip of a woman swinging a 105 pound kettlebell, much heavier than the one Hegseth was trying to swing.
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Another user responded with a joke above a clip of actor Dan Levy saying, “EW.”
“Why is he doing it like that,” she asked. Lucky for Hegseth, nearly everyone was criticized for their form. “This is embarrassing for all of them. I do not see one good swing. WHO is training these guys?”
Pentagon undersecretary for personnel and readiness Anthony Tata responded to a letter from 28 Democratic lawmakers who recently asked for clarification of what Hegseth meant by that comment, saying “hazing and bullying have no place in the U.S. military, according to Military Times.
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Tata of course put a weird spin on Hegseth’s remarks, characterizing his comments as really about ensuring the safety of military personnel.
“Drill instructors have the difficult task of shaping civilians into soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardians, and Marines,” the Trump official said in the letter. “Basic training involves real world scenarios and weapons. When the safety of the recruit or others is jeopardized, drill instructors may take appropriate actions to ensure the safety of the recruits.”
But lawmakers like California Rrp. Judy Chu are serious about wanting clarification about Hegseth’s intentions especially when it comes to what he said at that September meeting about how the military has weaponized words like “bullying and hazing and toxic.”
“They’ve been weaponized and bastardized inside our formations, undercutting commanders and NCOs,” Hegseth said at that September meeting. “No more. Setting, achieving and maintaining high standards is what you all do. And if that makes me toxic, then so be it.”
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Chu lost her nephew, a marine who died by suicide in 2011 after intense hazing and abuse by other Marines after he fell asleep at his post, Military Times reported.
Tata said in his letter to the lawmakers that a “clearer definition” of hazing and bullying would actually help verify complaints about the behaviors and that the military is in the process of creating a new system to better track those kinds of complaints.
For her part, Chu said she was glad the Pentagon answered the Democrats’ letter but she’s still “concerned about its decision to change the definition of hazing and processes to handle hazing, bullying and harassment complaints.”
