Morning Joe Hosts Blast ‘Bro-Centric Tough Guy’ Pete Hegseth for Treating ‘Fallen Heroes’ as ‘Slur’ Against Trump

MS NOW’s Morning Joe hosts accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of treating “fallen heroes” as a “slur” against President Donald Trump after the cabinet member used his Iran briefing presser to complain the media was focusing on “tragic things” and not battlefield wins.

Hegseth began Wednesday’s presser with a sweeping and hyperbolic run through of what had been accomplished in the opening days of the joint U.S.-Israel operations against Iran before expressing his frustration at coverage.

“This is what the fake news misses. We’ve taken control of Iran’s airspace and waterways without boots on the ground. We control their fate. But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front-page news,” he said, adding: “I get it, the press only wants to make the president look bad, but try for once to report the reality.”

The comments came after the military confirmed the deaths of six service members killed on Sunday when an Iranian unmanned drone hit a command centre in Kuwait.

On Thursday’s Morning Joe, hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski skewered Hegseth’s complaint.

Speaking to co-host Willie Geist, Scarborough began: “It’s serious, I know. Willie, like me, you were really concerned by what happened yesterday in the briefing. Pete Hegseth, when our fallen warriors were brought up and the secretary of defense, and the spokesperson for the White House yesterday acted like even mentioning these fallen heroes’ names was like a slur against the president. They actually tried to make the death of American troops about Donald Trump.”

He continued: “It was one of the most childish – it was just so childish – proved once again, Pete Hegseth, nowhere near prepared to be secretary of defense. He’s emotionally not there, he’s not there in every other way, but these are our fallen heroes and the suggestion that we should be like Vladimir Putin and just ignore when American heroes die in uniform while serving this country?”

The host urged producers to keep images of the six killed service members on-screen as he added: “This is not about Donald Trump. This is about these heroes and the families and the friends and the loved ones who mourn them.”

Joining in, Brzezinski compared Hegseth’s speech to that of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, who opened his portion of the briefing by honoring those killed.

She said: “I remember thinking, watching Pete Hegseth, going, ‘How childish is this?’ This language he’s using and this sort of bro-centric tough guy – ‘we sunk their battleship’ – it was pathetic, but also embarrassing.”

Scarborough followed to argue Caine “understands” contrasting it with alleged comments by President Donald Trump reported in 2020, calling fallen soldiers “suckers” and “losers.”

“They’re not suckers, we don’t believe they’re suckers. Only somebody who would believe that they’re suckers, like The Atlantic reported, would treat fallen warriors, the mere mention of their names or the fact that they died in service of this country, as something dirty or something aimed at Donald Trump,” he said.

“Not about Donald Trump. It’s about their sacrifice,” the host concluded.

Watch above via MS NOW.

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