Lindsey Graham Blasts Pete Hegseth For Comment About Putin: ‘This is the 1930s All Over!’

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) delivered a sharp rebuke of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over what he saw as a dangerously soft assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions for Ukraine and beyond.

During a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Graham followed Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in questioning Hegseth and the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. John D. Caine, on the Trump administration’s stance on Russia.

The exchange, though brief, underscored the growing apprehension from traditional GOP defense hawks on the administration’s cautious rhetoric on Ukraine and Russia – whose aggression they view as an existential threat.

“Is Putin gonna stop in Ukraine?” Graham asked Caine.

Caine replied: “I don’t believe he is, sir. I think he’ll go until…”

Interrupting to ask Hegseth the same question, Graham said: “What do you think, Secretary? Is he going to stop?”

“Remains to be seen, Senator,” the defense secretary replied.

“Well, he says he’s not,” Graham cut in, laughing. “You know, this is the 1930s all over. It doesn’t ‘remain to be seen.’ He tells everybody around what he wants to do.”

He continued: “Are you familiar with his military build-up in terms of armaments? It’s well beyond what it would need to take Ukraine. Listen, I think I like what you’re doing. I just think we got to get this stuff right.”

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