Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared to acknowledge that the Pentagon has developed plans to take over Greenland and Panama by force if necessary but refused to answer repeated questions during a hotly combative congressional hearing Thursday about his use of Signal chats to discuss military operations.

Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee repeatedly got into heated exchanges with Hegseth, with some of the toughest lines of questioning coming from military veterans as many demanded yes or no answers and he tried to avoid direct responses about his actions as Pentagon chief.

In one back-and-forth, Hegseth did provide an eyebrow-raising answer. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., asked whether the Pentagon has plans to take Greenland or Panama by force if necessary.

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[–] 1 point 1 year ago

Maybe he'll be gored by a walrus.

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  • [–] 90 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    To be clear, the Pentagon has dusty filing cabinets full of playbooks and wargaming scenarios ranging from plausible to outrageous that various think tanks have cooked up over the years. There is almost certainly a plan to fight an extraterrestrial invasion. I recall one being made about a zombie outbreak during that pop culture craze. We've had plans to invade Canada and Mexico wholesale for decades at least. Their existence doesn't inherently mean that anyone at the Pentagon takes the possibility of the scenario seriously. They're thought exercises as much as they are preparation for the unlikely.

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  • [+] 33 points 1 year ago (7 children)
  • [–] 36 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Machiavelli had some useful points.

    like the whole, "if you rule through fear to keep people in line, they'll take your head off the moment you're weak" observation.

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  • [+] 10 points 1 year ago (4 children)
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    oh. he was a total asshole. But even he respected the need for representation and to constrain the elites from doing shit. At least, he was later on. (See Discourse on Livy)

    I'm just saying, assholes like trump being all Machiavellian seem to forget the whole "we know how behead" aspect of being an assholish monarch.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Was he an asshole? Or was he writing a commission with malicious compliance? For a historically verified asshole?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Not to be too pedantic, but "The Prince" was intended as a sincere operating manual for governing (not a satire in any way).

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince

    The shocking lack of morality in the book is what made it rather infamous. It was not a joke at all.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    This part's interesting

    Mary Dietz, in her essay "Trapping The Prince", writes that Machiavelli's agenda was not to be satirical, as Rousseau had argued, but instead was "offering carefully crafted advice (such as arming the people) designed to undo the ruler if taken seriously and followed."[83] By this account, the aim was to reestablish the republic in Florence. She focuses on three categories in which Machiavelli gives paradoxical advice:

    He discourages liberality and favors deceit to guarantee support from the people. Yet Machiavelli is keenly aware of the fact that an earlier pro-republican coup had been thwarted by the people's inaction that itself stemmed from the prince's liberality.

    He supports arming the people despite the fact that he knows the Florentines are decidedly pro-democratic and would oppose the prince.

    He encourages the prince to live in the city he conquers. This opposes the Medici's habitual policy of living outside the city. It also makes it easier for rebels or a civilian militia to attack and overthrow the prince.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Agreed. I think we only need to really worry when they make their way up the pile and the dust is brushed off. Are we there yet? I dunno. Maybe? The existence of the plan isn't the issue, though.

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    [–] 38 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Greenland isn't a particularly hard place to conquer. It's a tiny population and we literally already have military there. The challenge isn't tactical, it's diplomatic. It'd be a lot more meaningful to ask whether we have contingencies for war with Europe or losing all our bases there.

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  • [–] 27 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    The Pentagon has contingency plans for every situation they can imagine. This is not news so much as it's just another example of Hesgeth being a fucking moron. They have plans to invade everywhere, they have contingency plans to counterattack against a Canadian invasion for fuck sake. They have these plans because if a situation arises, you don't have the time to be cooking up new plans. Hesgeth acting like this is actually a plan that's being considered it just another example of why he's not fit to manage a godamn Mcdonalds, much less anything important.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I guarantee you food service is more difficult than any job he's ever had.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I hate to defend the turd at all, but he was in the military.

    That only means he can follow orders, though, which he is doing phenomenal job of doing.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago

    Hint: it's not necessary and never will be.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago

    "Contingent" on what, Kegsbreath?

    Greenland making fun of Trump?

    Denmark still refusing to "sell" it?

    Trumpy needing yet another distraction from some stupid shit he's doing he wants to hide?

    You getting cranky from the DTs?

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago

    Has he forwarded the plans to the signal group chat yet?

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    What the fuck?!? Why do these nazi’s have such a hard on for Greenland?

    I mean I understand that with the melting ice, there are strategic shipping lanes and some rare elements that you’d get with Greenland but for fucks sake we can’t just take it because it’s the new hotness.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago*

    It all ALWAYS just boils down to MONEY and resources.

    Capitalism requires constant, unnecessary growth. Maybe Greenland has resources that could support US’s unregulated, unrestrained capitalism.

    And control of Panama controls trade routes and hidden offshore money laundering.

    That’s it. That’s why. Money. The ultra elite wealthy NEED THIS.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago

    It's noise, junk to get attention away from other things.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago

    If necessary.

    We expecting Greenland to launch nukes or something?

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    If we invade Greenland, I vow to do what I can to not die an American citizen.

    I'd be ashamed to be buried here at this point already.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago

    And I'm sure the EU has plans to defend it, next question.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    This is decades old policy. Contingency plans for every crazy unlikely scenario you can dream up

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    They literally hire people just to make up these scenarios to hire more people to make up contingency plans for them. I feel like once a year an article comes out that's like "the US has a contingency plan in case Sweden falls to communism and arms itself with nuclear weapons" and it's like: yeah, ok.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    KFC has become self aware and has taken over several archipelagos including the Florida keys and Aleutian islands.

    The 261st joint task force: "alright boys, this is the moment we've trained for our entire lives"

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago

    I'm waiting for more ingo on that on Signal. We should get more info from these idiots any moment now...

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  • "If necessary"

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  • The US military should never mobilize against itself....oh, there's oill...

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    A contingency in case of...what?

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    They have plans for all sorts of shit and 99% of them are never used.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    While that's true, we have to remember that nothing about this admin is usual. I'm sure we've had plans to invade Panama and Greenland and Canada for generations, surely since after WWII, but now we have an admin run by someone stupid enough to actually try it.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    ...Honestly, it would be best if Fascist America attacked Greenland, Canada, Mexico, and California simultaneously. That kind of malicious action would almost certain get the Trump Regime's dick stuck into a hornet's nest.

    Not saying it should happen. But if the regime is dead set on attacking Greenland, it should be in the stupidest way possible.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Let’s be honest here, the US likely has comprehensive plans for invading every country, including multiple backups to account for different contingencies.

    The concerning part here is that someone in a top position is just casually talking about it.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    The OPSEC will be uncanny, one reckons

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Seriously? Invade Greenland? Who's going to even allow that. The Whitehouse can't just declare war without provocation.

    It would literally take an act of congress to ratify such an act.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago

    They have contingency plans to invade every country. Hegseth is an idiot.

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