Pete Hegseth’s Sickening, Macho Man War Talk

Pete Hegseth’s Sickening, Macho Man War Talk

His giddiness about violence and casual attitude toward death breaks norms. And that’s the point.

I’ve studied MAGA rhetoric for a decade, and this is what I see in Hegseth’s boasts, action‑movie one‑liners and gloating over dominance

by Casey Ryan Kelly, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [This article first appeared in The Conversation, republished with permission] When Secretary of Defense James Mattis addressed the intensification of U.S. combat operations against the Islamic State group in 2017, he assured the American public of his commitment to “get the strategy right” while maintaining “the rules of engagement” to “protect the innocent.” Mattis’ professional tone was a s…