Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is quickly learning what his boss President Donald Trump has known for years — dominating the news cycle with one scandal at a time is difficult enough. But juggling two at once is proving even harder.
This week the former Fox News host has found himself at the center of a growing internet firestorm after a report revealed eye-popping Pentagon spend on questionable purchases. But just as the backlash began spreading online, another controversy exploded — one that has critics asking whether the defense chief’s priorities are wildly out of step with the moment.
The spending controversy first erupted after a new jaw-dropping report from the government watchdog group Open Books revealed Hegseth blew through $93 billion in one month alone last September, and most of the money had nothing to do with defense programs.
Among the expenses flagged were millions spent on luxury food purchases. According to the watchdog, the Pentagon spent roughly $2 million on Alaskan king crab, $6.9 million on lobster tails and $15.1 million on ribeye steak. Between March and October of last year alone, more than $7 million was spent on crab purchases.
The spending spree extended well beyond seafood. Open Book also reported that Hegseth signed off on a Steinway & Sons grand piano for the home of the Air Force chief of staff at a cost of more than $98,000, and on Apple products totaling more than $5 million.
The department splurges were the most in one month since 2008, according to news reports, and it didn’t end there. Open Books also documented $124,000 spent on ice cream machines, more than $139,000 on doughnut orders, and more on fruit baskets and furniture.
The Pentagon spending in September occurred at the end of the department’s fiscal year, where the government operates on a use-it-or-lose-it policy. Any part of the budget not spent by the deadline would have to be returned.
But even as criticism over the spending report spread, another controversy involving Hegseth quietly began gaining attention.
According to an exclusive report by The Washington Post, Pentagon officials moved to block press photographers from covering subsequent briefings after images circulated that aides believed portrayed the defense secretary in an unflattering way.
The decision came shortly after a Pentagon briefing on the escalating U.S.–Israeli military conflict with Iran, where photographers from major news agencies captured images of Hegseth at the podium.
After those photos appeared in global news coverage, staff members reportedly objected to how the defense secretary looked and later prevented photographers from attending subsequent briefings.
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Online, however, many observers were less interested in the Pentagon’s explanation than in the strange timing of the two controversies.
With the spending report already fueling criticism of the defense secretary, the photographer ban only added to the perception that the administration’s priorities were badly misplaced.
“My gawd. This administration is not only corrupt but seriously vain,” one Threads user wrote.
Another commenter captured the broader mood spreading across social media: “Tell me the empire is collapsing without saying the empire is collapsing.”
Others questioned why Hegseth appeared so preoccupied with his image while overseeing an active military conflict.
“Comforting to know the guy in charge of the freshly minted ‘Department of War’ can be thrown by an unflattering photo,” another user joked.
“It says a lot about his vanity that he’s obsessing about his image instead of trying to be a respectable defense secretary,” another commenter wrote.
The spending revelations had already triggered criticism from political leaders before the photographer controversy surfaced, especially in light of the Trump administration aggressively cutting funding for programs that benefit low-income Americans.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom mocked the report with a viral meme posted to X and Threads showing Hegseth reclining in a leather chair surrounded by steak dinners, fruit baskets and a grand piano while holding a lobster tail.
The caption read, “HEGSETH BLOWING $93 BILLION OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS IN 1 MONTH !!”
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Pennsylvania Congressman Malcom Kenyatta also pointed out, “They say we don’t have money to fund SNAP.”
Trump slashed as much as $187 billion from the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, under his One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Republicans passed last summer. It includes stricter work requirements, reduced benefits, and increased financial burdens on states.
“Remember when they defunded food for hungry children a few months ago?” podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen questioned on X.
Others chimed in, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, “Hegseth spent $93 billion in one month – roughly the cost of extending the ACA tax credits for THREE YEARS … A true grifter in every sense of the word.”
Schumer is referring to the expiration of COVID-era subsidies for health insurance premiums at the end of 2025, which Republicans refused to extend, causing millions of Americans to lose medical care.
X user Jerry Rig Everything declared, “People on food stamps aren’t the problem. Its the insatiably greedy rich dudes.
