The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, stated repeatedly in 2016 on Fox News that US service members should refuse “unlawful” orders from a potential president Trump – exactly the position he called “despicable” when Democratic lawmakers said it last month.

The debate about whether US soldiers should refuse illegal orders is now at the center of a fiery political dispute over the US killings of alleged drug traffickers in boats off the coast of Venezuela and Colombia.

In video unearthed by CNN from March of 2016, when Donald Trump was a Republican presidential candidate, Hegseth responded to Trump’s comments in a debate by clarifying that service members did, in fact, have a duty to refuse any illegal orders.

“You’re not just gonna follow that order if it’s unlawful,” Hegseth, then a Fox News contributor, said in an appearance on the show Fox & Friends, where he would eventually become a host.

all 13 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 61 points 11 months ago

He says whatever he's PAID to say. Are you looking for morals???

  • source
  • [–] 30 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    I guess that’s treason and he should be hanged, according to BLOATUS.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 25 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    The problem with most authoritarian regimes is that most of the people involved are selfish. Pretty much everyone in Trump's entourage is only on his side for personal gain. When he dies it's gonna be a bloodbath as they fight over anything and everything. It'd be funny if they weren't taking us all down with them.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    I would imagine that he's got a will that defines where his assets are going.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 13 points 11 months ago

    It's the power vacuume that will be the issue, not his money. Will kushner listen to President guyliner? Will hegseth follow commands from racist Nosferatu?

    It remains to be seen, but I'm hoping we see it sooner rather than later.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 8 points 11 months ago

    All he has to say is that trump hasn't given any illegal orders yet....

  • source
  • [–] 7 points 11 months ago

    But then 47 paid him and he kissed the cumquat...now do what he says or be removed.

  • source
  • [–] 6 points 11 months ago

    Leg shackles for him! Also check his thoughts so Bondi can declare him a terrorist.

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Raise some money, buy ads using it. Except fascists don’t care about the inconsistency, that’s a feature.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago

    That might be the thing that could push trump to fire Hegseth /s

  • source