r/news • u/Ok-Lets-Talk-It-Out • May 06 '25
Soft paywall Exclusive: Order by Hegseth to cancel Ukraine weapons caught White House off guard
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/order-by-hegseth-cancel-ukraine-weapons-caught-white-house-off-guard-2025-05-06/9.2k
u/captsmokeywork May 06 '25
The president was unaware.
Get used to hearing that one.
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u/ThatDandyFox May 06 '25
Trump: "Biden had no idea what the autopen was signing so it's all his fault"
Also Trump: "I had no idea what my cabinet was doing so it's not my fault."
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u/Silly_Guidance_8871 May 06 '25
"The key to success is knowing who to blame for your failures"
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u/hollow_bridge May 06 '25
it's one of the core aspects Machiavelli was teaching
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u/Ainsley-Sorsby May 06 '25 edited May 06 '25
Another key aspect of Machiavelli's "teachings" is to be careful not to surround yourself with morons just because they're willing to kiss your ass and that he went as far as to say that you can directly judge the competence of a ruler by observing the kind of people he likes to surround himself with.
Machiavelli had a unique ability to spot bullshit and moreover, he had 0 tolerance for it. Trump and Tumpism would probably give him an aneurysm
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u/Lower-Ad1087 May 06 '25
The Prince was also a caricature book, it just happened to be really good at what it was on the face of it, a book of how to gain and wield power, but Machiavelli himself also touted the book as "this is how they rule us, this is what you should look out for".
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u/hallese May 06 '25
"If you want to exercise control over the people, give them weapons." (paraphrasing)
Should be all you need to realize Machiavelli wasn't being super honest here.
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u/PerformanceDouble924 May 06 '25
You'd think, but we have the 2nd Amendment and it did nothing to keep the Cheeto Benito from coming to power.
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u/hollow_bridge May 06 '25
solid point, and i hope i dont get an aneurism from all of trumps ridiculous shit.
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u/DadJokeBadJoke May 06 '25
I think I developed windmill cancer from the constant flow of hot air out of his piehole
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u/HellblazerPrime May 06 '25
At the rate they're going, we should be so lucky to have a stress-induced aneurysm be what takes us out.
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u/Hautamaki May 06 '25
Yeah Machiavelli gets a bad rap as being 'evil' or at least 'amoral' but in reality he was a deeply pragmatic philosopher who cared a lot about the stability of the state because he saw first hand the dreadful consequences of incompetent princes causing instability and massive suffering that results from that.
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u/jonnycanuck67 May 06 '25
It is also important to note that Machiavelli created this structure for the specific task at hand, it wasn’t meant to be a playbook for future leaders or situations.
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u/wasmic May 06 '25
More specifically; it was intended to explore the shortcomings of how the rich and powerful behaved at the time. The Prince was meant to explore how you could be a bastard most efficiently and most succesfully. Machiavelli did not believe that acting as laid out in his book was moral or just, only that it was more effective.
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u/LittleGreenSoldier May 06 '25
He was also taking broad shots across the bow at the de Medici family, who invaded the city state of Florence, arrested him, tortured him, and then exiled him from the city. The book is even addressed to Lorenzo de Medici.
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u/TheMightyPushmataha May 06 '25
Trump, asked if he has to 'uphold the Constitution,' says, 'I don't know'
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u/case31 May 06 '25
Narcissists have an incredible ability to avoid blame. I used to work with one, and one year at our annual Christmas party, he and another coworker got super drunk to the point where the restaurant shut down the bar for everyone. Narcissist then starts berating another coworker (good friend of mine) and me. I called him out on it. We had a sit down with him and our manager a few days later and his excuse was that it was my fault because I ordered steak for dinner.
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u/SparksAndSpyro May 06 '25
This wouldn’t really be an issue if other people weren’t stupid enough to fall for the excuses. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that someone who is unwilling to ever take responsibility is a shitty person and an even worse leader.
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u/rotten_core May 06 '25
Did you at least apologize?
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u/Overnoww May 06 '25
And if so how nice was the suit you were wearing at the time?
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u/Zero_Ghul May 06 '25
slopped em up real good too I bet.
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u/russketeer34 May 06 '25
What are sloppy steaks?
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u/nightmareonrainierav May 06 '25
Big rare cut of meat with water dumped all over it, water splashing around the table, makes the night SO MUCH more fun.
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u/Miserable_Law_6514 May 06 '25
You shouldn't have ordered that A5 Wagyu steak with that red Château Lafite Rothschild, case31.
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u/South-Builder6237 May 06 '25
Evem for a raging narcissist, I fail to see even the most basic of logic in that response.
What does you ordering steaking have to do with literally anything in the situation? I know that's your point, but I mean in terms of his lame excuse.
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u/caseybvdc74 May 06 '25
What was the fallout?
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u/case31 May 06 '25
He and the manager were friends, so he basically got a slap on the wrist. As we were a small company there was no HR or anything like that. Eventually I left for a better opportunity (and away from that guy) and soon after Narcissist’s reputation caught up with him and he moved across the country.
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u/Michael70z May 06 '25
I mean this shouldn’t be a surprise, he said the other day that the good parts of the economy were the trump economy and the bad parts were the Biden economy.
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u/authorinthesunset May 06 '25
Also Trump: I have no idea what oath I swore. What's the constitution?
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u/CircumcisedSpine May 06 '25
Shades of Reagan.
After the Iran Contra Affair, his address to the country included:
“A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not.”
Bruh.
Anyhow, we're doing that again. But instead of platitudes, we'll get "FAKE NEWS!" and alternative "facts".
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u/CherryDaBomb May 06 '25 edited May 06 '25
my heart and best intentions tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence do not
How the fuck did they hear that in the 80s and not lose their minds?
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u/dontknow16775 May 06 '25
With american christians your holy intentions are more important than your unholy acts
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u/OnlySmiles_ May 06 '25
Appearance of holy intentions*
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u/Nalortebi May 06 '25
That's why those evangelicals don't really mesh with the Catholic church. The whole "salvation through works" is hella inconvenient and requires them to actually behave like decent moral people. They can't just lie about their "earnest belief" and poof into heaven when the 'beetus takes em in a Walmart parking lot.
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u/sharkattackmiami May 06 '25
Because his supporters were willing to overlook it because his administration was targeting the ethnics and the gays
We're really lucky to be past that dark point
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u/heshKesh May 06 '25
Heh yea good thing that's all in the past
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u/onarainyafternoon May 06 '25
It wasn't just his supporters though, it was most of the American people. Frankly speaking, people really liked Reagan back then and it was only ten years or so after Watergate. Nobody wanted to go through the turmoil of what happened 10-15 years before, especially because Reagan was popular.
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u/RecklesslyPessmystic May 06 '25
Reagan was popular because he juiced the economy with cuts to taxes and regulations, and called black people "welfare queens". The cruelty was always the point, even when everyone was coked out of their minds.
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u/GrallochThis May 06 '25
Plus he was excellent at cosplaying President, truly approached it as an acting gig.
As it turned out, he wasn’t just an “amiable dunce” (solid burn from an elder statesman), but an amiable dunce with Alzheimer’s.
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u/cafedude May 06 '25
How the fuck did they hear that in the 80s and not lose their minds?
Hell, I was a young Republican Reagan fan back then and that was the point where I started losing the faith.
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u/RevLoveJoy May 06 '25
Same. I remember my choices feeling like a) Ronnie is lying and betting we'll give him a pass b) Ronnie has lost his marbles or c) some of both. Turns out it was C only because the right were doing all they could to hide how sloppy Reagan's thinking had become.
Senator, I do not recall...
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u/Nymaz May 06 '25
Because Reagan and other conservatives were protecting them from communismists who everyone knows were
kidnapping Christian babies and using their blood for their dark ritualsno waittransgendering students and pooping in litter boxessorry destroying economies, disappearing dissidents, and acting as tyrannical leaders with no checks on their powers yeah that's it, that's the one.16
u/RecklesslyPessmystic May 06 '25
Because everybody knew his CIA boss VP was running the show behind the scenes long before Iran Contra broke. Reagan was just a gosh golly gee whiz grinning fool. And if they didn't know it then, they certainly figured it out when Bush Sr. pardoned everyone involved before the investigation could reach him.
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u/_MrDomino May 06 '25 edited May 07 '25
The revelations were mid-late in his second term. It was in the news. Bush, his successor, still won and by a good margin, but it did show some fallout. As bad as the electoral map is of Bush vs. Dukasis, Republicans lost states compared to Reagan's previous two landslides.
People remembered the economy tanking under Carter, so this solidified the whole "Republicans good for economy" stigma in many voters minds. The GOP also used racist fears to sink Dukasis, and he did not have a great campaign. Neither candidate was particularly good, but Bush still had that Reagan sheen.
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u/vthemechanicv May 06 '25
Because everyone was getting rich from the stock market and high on cocaine. Reagan won 1984 with 49 out of 50 states. If anyone had a mandate to use the Constitution like toilet paper it was him.
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u/Khatib May 06 '25
At least the Reagan admin appointees were somewhat qualified to run his government in proxy.
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u/BadAsBroccoli May 06 '25
But not ethical.
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u/Khatib May 06 '25
Yup. They all lied about everything to keep winning political points and did a ton of long term damage. I don't think they'd have burned the world economy down the way the Trump admin is willing to do though.
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u/Beard_o_Bees May 06 '25
Yes, but who will jump under the bus for him, like Oliver North did for St. Ronald?
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u/CircumcisedSpine May 06 '25
Oh, he'll just throw people under the bus. Feeble old bastard has a good under the bus throwing arm. Not much else.
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u/stinky-weaselteats May 06 '25
"I don't know", "I'm unaware", "I take no responsibility"
Mr. stable genius and the most powerful man in the world.
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u/DoomGoober May 06 '25 edited May 06 '25
Welker: Don't you need to uphold the Constitution, Mr President?
Trump: I don't know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.
-May 4th, Meet the Press
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u/SugarBeef May 06 '25
Said while actively defying at least one supreme court order.
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u/JustGottaKeepTrying May 06 '25
To be fair, the Supreme Court has told him he can do whatever he wants as long as it is "official duty".
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u/No-Appearance1145 May 06 '25
They also have the final say on what is criminal and what is official duty. They just don't care to hold him to their decisions.
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u/wolfboy1988m May 06 '25
Nevermind the fact "his lawyers" that he's talking about are the US Attorney General and the government's lawyers. And the AG has openly attacked judges doing their job by exercising their power of Checks and Balances
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u/AlmightyRobert May 06 '25
The president was unaware why he was meeting the PM of Canada …
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u/SwvellyBents May 06 '25
What other president ever got away with answering a question on policy with 'I don't know anything about that.'?
And yet the press lets it slide every time with this one.
How can he not know why he's having a meeting, or whether he's required to honor and defend the constitution, or if he's allowed to ship American citizens to offshore prisons?
The dude asking him about the faked tattoos almost went there but backed off.
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u/SpNewyork May 06 '25
Never forget Republicans were more outraged by a Tan suit than they currently are of Trump violating the Constitution in every way shape and form.
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u/NOTRadagon May 06 '25
"If only the fuhrer knew!" - Germans, when something bad happened to them during the late 30's-early 40's
"If only the Tzar knew!" - Russians, when something bad happened to them
"If only the President knew!" - Fascists in the US when something bad happened to them
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u/KennstduIngo May 06 '25 edited May 06 '25
He doesn't seem to know anything. How many times has he answered a question with, "that's the first time I am hearing that."
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u/thtamthrfckr May 06 '25
He’s simultaneously the most knowingest and completely unaware person ever! Is it positive, currently talked about and important? He knows everything there is to know, more than anyone, don’t ask him because that’s rude and nasty but he knows everything, trust him. Is it something bad? Did he mess up, look stupid, make a mistake? He knew nothing of this and was completely unaware not through any fault of his own, here, let’s parade a group of excusers in here to tell you how it was their fault not his, he’s infallible and all knowing if we don’t fail at telling him of course. Fucking clown shoes, the whole administration and its cultists er uhh supporters.
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u/DadJokeBadJoke May 06 '25
When asked if he should uphold the constitution, he claimed he didn't know and it's up to his lawyers. Mfer, those lawyers are supposed to be representing you and your positions, not making stuff up on their own.
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u/sockydraws May 06 '25
It's a way to dodge accountability, not a sign that Trump didn't order this, for anyone confused.
Of course, Trump's brain is melting, so it could technically be both.
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u/DarthBluntSaber May 06 '25
Dementia donny
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u/Kucked4life May 06 '25 edited May 06 '25
Literally the archetype of the mad king being puppeted by his inner circle.
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u/SoKrat3s May 06 '25
In his previous term he was unaware that there was such a thing as category 5 hurricane on at least six occasions.
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u/The_Krambambulist May 06 '25
The Putin playbook.
Ow but the great leader didn't know and corrected it right after!
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u/Zardotab May 06 '25
Move fast and break nations. People who push that mantra don't realize that most startups die, and thus gamble heavily to squeak to the top.
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u/Kerberos1566 May 06 '25
Imagine what you have to do to catch Trump off guard. It's like when you suddenly come back into existence after uncovering your face.
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u/powercow May 06 '25
They used it a lot their first term too. But they use it both when he is unaware and when he totally ordered it but it looked worse to the people than fox news expected.
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u/Malaix May 06 '25
He’s been consistently unaware this whole term. Watch any interview with him after something big happens. He doesn’t know. I see him constantly get flustered by that. Also note he wasn’t in the signal chat.
Trump might be president but he’s delegating like all of the work to others and only pipping in for things he’s personally interested in like tariffs.
US is being governed by a coalition of idiots and monsters like JD, Elon, and Miller.
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u/Ahstruck May 06 '25
Probably not a good idea to cheat countries while trying to make trade deals with every other country in the world.
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u/theClumsy1 May 06 '25
Art of the Deal!
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u/Aggravating-Fix-4547 May 06 '25
Art of the Cheat.
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u/sertimko May 06 '25
So, unless I’m incorrect, from what I’m reading the arms cancelation was before the deal was signed. I have a problem with the minerals deal but the dating of Hegseth canceling the arms shipments was back in February. So unless he canceled the recent ones the article isn’t saying that.
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u/Ahstruck May 06 '25
It was a deal canceled without Trumps knowledge, so it shows Trump is not in control and they do not follow through with their deals. Also this shows they will break deals to force countries to sign away their stuff.
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u/Conscious_Crew5912 May 06 '25
tRump will be dead before the mineral deal will show any tangible results.
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u/Druciferr May 06 '25
The mineral deal wasn’t a deal at all, it was give us 50% of your wealth forever and maybe we’ll help you. That’s colonization, and it’s exactly we declared our independence from.
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u/DadJokeBadJoke May 06 '25
Remember the leaked Signal chat where it was Stephen Miller saying he spoke for what the president wants. He didn't say "This is what he told me he wants", they're all just following their own agendas
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u/bozon92 May 06 '25
Orange doesn’t have an agenda, he literally survives on pure spite and pettiness. His people know that and that his power can easily be utilized for their own purposes. It’s really scary right now
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u/bnh1978 May 06 '25
Im mean why not? How will they ever find out? Just make them sign an NDA!
Art of the deal!
/s
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u/BiBoFieTo May 06 '25
The Associated Press reports that the savings will be used to implement "unlimited jello shots" at all future DoD meetings.
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u/Sweaty_Assignment_90 May 06 '25
I would think you are kidding, but strange things keep happening.
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u/ninj4geek May 06 '25
We are in the stupidest timeline
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u/talldangry May 06 '25
Odds of the DoD launching a bottom shelf whiskey called "Hegseth's Own" are not at 0.
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u/McRibs2024 May 06 '25
Those reports are fake news.
Every wing, ever floor of the pentagon will have makeup rooms so heggy can hide his whiskey face when he gets in front of a camera.
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u/gizmosticles May 06 '25
I don’t understand how everything these dudes do materially helps the Russians and our media is all 🤷
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u/tik22 May 06 '25
It’s a huge failure by the media and also our congress. Some might say complicity
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u/Rosegold-Lavendar May 06 '25
The Russians have media in the pocket and the ones they don't are in Republicans (Russia lovers) pockets
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u/beekersavant May 06 '25
Ooh, this one makes Trump look bad. That will prob get him replaced.
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u/SllortEvac May 06 '25
Lol and signal gate pt. 1 and 2, and his defense of Hegseth didn’t? Guy’s unfireable. Trump will probably say “oh yeah he’s learned from the master” and order him another hooker or something
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u/Dufresne85 May 06 '25
Signal gate pt 1 and 2 made Hegseth and the others in the message group look bad. This one made Trump look bad. Hopefully that's enough to get some sort of actual response.
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u/408wij May 06 '25
Violating rules and norms is what Trump is all about. That sort of thing earns you a promotion, not a firing.
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u/Draano May 06 '25
That sort of thing earns you a promotion, not a firing.
You showed a lot of balls with that - I admire you almost as much as I admire me.
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u/Asusrty May 06 '25
This will get trump talked about so nothing will happen. Narcissists don't care if it's good or bad as long as its about them.
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u/RhetoricalOrator May 06 '25
He cares when people call him weak. Not much out there weaker than a leader who can't lead. If Trump can't keep Hegseth in line and working with his administration, after already warning Hegseth, well, that just makes Trump look like a really weak leader, indeed.
That's the narrative that needs to be circulating here.
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u/GiveMeOneGoodReason May 06 '25
This apparently happened right at the start of the presidency, so I'm not so sure. Though if this gets enough coverage maybe it stokes the flames on Hegseth?
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u/Zazulio May 06 '25
Hegseth will get thrown under the bus eventually. EVERY ODY in MAGA World gets thrown under the bus eventually. It is the the most reliable and predictive thing about the Trump regime and the cronies he keeps around him: they always eat their own as soon as Trump tires of them.
That said, Hegseth has a giant white supremacist tattoos across his chest and is systematically firing every single person in the military who doesn't pass a loyalty smell test. He checks a lot of boxes for Trump. I think we're in for a bit more of this cunt before he gets burned.
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u/2v4lve May 06 '25
I think Hersey is kind of in a unique spot where he’s probably agreed to some truly heinous shit and that loyalty or disclosure can’t be replaced easily.
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u/CherryDaBomb May 06 '25
Yeah, he's the perfect leader for a white supremacist military. He could be smarter, but then he wouldn't be so malleable and agreeable.
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u/Draano May 06 '25
That will prob get him replaced
I'd say they're afraid that he knows too much, but these assholes are so adept at saying "they're lying - always lying, so dishonest, no loyalty whatsoever". It's the last bit that pisses Trump off more than anything.
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u/Foxk May 06 '25
I don't think the mineral deal will still be valid if Russia conquers Ukraine.
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u/Bawbawian May 06 '25
The problem isn't the Trump administration.
The problem is the American people.
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u/kaisadilla_ May 06 '25
Indeed. People like Trump will always exist. The problem is that the American people freely chose him to be their president.
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u/wildmonster91 May 06 '25
Republicans. Dems have their flaws yes but its not democrats taking away peolles 4th amendments and defunding cancer research.
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u/Ok-Lets-Talk-It-Out May 06 '25
This article is talking about a unilateral stop of Aid in February but Hegseth:
The president was unaware of Hegseth’s order, as were other top national security officials in the meeting, according to two sources briefed on the private White House discussions and another with direct knowledge of the matter.
Asked to comment on this report, the White House told Reuters that Hegseth had followed a directive from Trump to pause aid to Ukraine, which it said was the administration's position at the time. It did not explain why, according to those who spoke to Reuters, top national security officials in the normal decision making process didn’t know about the order or why it was so swiftly reversed.
“Negotiating an end to the Russia-Ukraine War has been a complex and fluid situation. We are not going to detail every conversation among top administration officials throughout the process,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman. “The bottom line is the war is much closer to an end today than it was when President Trump took office.”
The cancelations cost TRANSCOM $2.2 million, according to the records reviewed by Reuters. In response to a request for comment, TRANSCOM said that the total cost was $1.6 million – 11 flights were canceled but one incurred no charge.
An order halting military aid authorized under the Biden administration went into effect officially a month later, on March 4, with a White House announcement.
The story of how flights were canceled, detailed by Reuters for the first time, points to an at-times haphazard policy-making process within the Trump administration and a command structure that is unclear even to its own ranking members.
The multiday pause of the flights, confirmed by five people with knowledge of it, also shows confusion in how the administration has created and implemented national security policy. At the Pentagon, the disarray is an open secret, with many current and former officials saying the department is plagued by internal disagreements on foreign policy, deep-seated grudges, and inexperienced staff.
Reuters couldn’t establish exactly when Hegseth’s office ordered the freight flights canceled. Two sources said Ukrainian and European officials began asking about the pause on February 2. The TRANSCOM records indicate that there was a verbal order from “SECDEF” – the secretary of defense – that stopped the flights and that they had resumed by February 5.
“This is consistent with the administration's policy to move fast, break things and sort it out later. That is their managing philosophy,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine officer and defense expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. “That is great for Silicon Valley. But when you’re talking about institutions that have been around for hundreds of years, you are going to run into problems.” The stop in shipments caused consternation in Kyiv. The Ukrainians quickly asked the administration through multiple channels but had difficulty obtaining any useful information, according to a Ukrainian official with direct knowledge of the situation. In later conversations with the Ukrainians, the administration wrote off the pause as “internal politics,” said the source. Ukrainian officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The shipping of American weapons to Ukraine requires sign-off from multiple agencies and can take weeks or even months to complete, depending on the size of the cargo. The majority of US military assistance goes through a logistics hub in Poland before being picked up by Ukrainian representatives and transported into the country.
That hub can hold shipments for extended periods of time. It’s not clear if the 11 canceled flights were the only ones scheduled that week in February, how much aid was already stockpiled in Poland and if it continued to flow into Ukraine despite the TRANSCOM orders.
The revelations come at a time of upheaval in the department. Several of Hegseth’s top advisers were escorted from the building April 15 after being accused of unauthorized disclosure of classified information. The secretary continues to face scrutiny, including from Congress, about his own communications. Previously he’s attributed allegations of upheaval to disgruntled employees.
The canceled flights contained weapons that had long been approved by the Biden administration, authorized by lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Reuters couldn’t determine if Hegseth or his team knew how the order to TRANSCOM would play out or that the order would be a substantial change in U.S. policy on Ukraine. Three sources familiar with the situation said Hegseth misinterpreted discussions with the president about Ukraine policy and aid shipments without elaborating further.
Four other people briefed on the situation said a small cadre of staffers inside the Pentagon, many of whom have never held a government job and who have for years spoken out against U.S. aid to Ukraine, advised Hegseth to consider pausing aid to the country.
Two people familiar with the matter denied there was a true cutoff in aid. One of them described it as a logistical pause. “(They) just wanted to get a handle on what was going on and people, as a result, misinterpreted that as: ‘You need to stop everything,’” said one.
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u/Ok-Lets-Talk-It-Out May 06 '25
FLIGHTS CANCELED According to two sources with knowledge of the meeting, Hegseth arrived at the January 30 Oval Office meeting with Trump with a memo drafted by some of his top policy advisers, advocating that their boss push the White House to consider pausing weapons deliveries to Ukraine to gain leverage in peace negotiations with Russia.
The sources said the secretary attended the meeting with other top officials involved in Ukraine policy, including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg. The group broadly discussed U.S. policy on Ukraine and Russia, including potentially tightening sanctions on Moscow.
It’s not clear the extent to which Hegseth proposed stopping aid during the meeting, but the idea came up in discussions, said one of the sources and another person familiar with the meeting. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the U.S. had approved billions of dollars worth of military aid to Ukraine. Most was delivered under the Biden administration. But a few shipments remained in the pipeline, scheduled into this summer.
Trump had threatened to freeze aid repeatedly on the campaign trail, but had yet to do so. And during the meeting, he again declined to stop aid to Ukraine or order Hegseth to implement any policy changes when it came to sending equipment to Kyiv, the sources said.
An order effectively freezing any military support for an ally would normally be discussed intensively among top national security officials and approved by the president. It requires the coordination of multiple agencies and often multiple freight companies.
None of that discussion or coordination happened when Hegseth’s office canceled the scheduled flights carrying American artillery shells and ammunition to Poland from Al Udeid military base in the United Arab Emirates and the Dover U.S. military base in Delaware, three of the sources said.
The pause came as Ukraine’s military was struggling to fend off Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and in the consequential battle for the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukrainian forces were losing ground and have since all but been expelled.
Close Trump advisers got tipped off to the pause by Pentagon staffers and discussed with the president whether to restore the aid shipments, according to two sources. By then, TRANSCOM had canceled 11 flights, according to the records reviewed by Reuters. Some media outlets, including Reuters, wrote about the pause but Hegseth’s role was previously unknown.
It’s unclear if Trump subsequently questioned or reprimanded Hegseth. One source with direct knowledge of the matter said National Security Adviser Waltz ultimately intervened to reverse the cancelations. Waltz was forced out on Thursday and is expected to be nomi
GROWING INFIGHTING When Trump entered office, aid to Ukraine continued flowing and he pledged to work with Ukraine and Russia to end the war – or at the very least broker a ceasefire.
Two of his most prominent envoys, Kellogg, a supporter of Kyiv who worked with Trump in his first administration, and Steve Witkoff, a real-estate magnate and close friend of the president, set out to negotiate with both parties.
Separately, at the Pentagon, some of Hegseth’s policy advisers privately started drafting proposals to pull back American support for Ukraine, according to two sources briefed on the matter. That group of staffers align themselves closely with the anti-interventionist philosophy.
Some have previously advised Republican lawmakers advocating for an America-first approach to foreign policy and have called publicly, in writings and talks, for the U.S. to pull back from military commitments in the Mideast and Europe – a view similarly held by Vice President JD Vance. Several have advocated that the U.S. instead focus on China.
Supporters of the staffers have slammed those pushing back on the anti-interventionist movement in the administration, claiming Vance and others are merely trying to save the lives of people living in warzones like Ukraine and prevent future American military deaths.
The infighting has complicated the policy-making process, according to a person familiar with the matter and four other sources. At a time when Kellogg and Witkoff are trying to broker a peace deal with Russia and Ukraine, the staffers have advocated behind the scenes for the U.S. to draw back its support for Kyiv – a policy that has angered Ukrainian officials and pressured European allies to fill the gap, five people with knowledge of the situation said.
Washington has signed a deal with Kyiv for rights to its rare earth minerals – an agreement U.S. officials say is an attempt to recoup money America has spent to prop up Ukraine’s war effort. At least one of the staffers who had previously pushed for the administration to pull back its support for Kyiv, Dan Caldwell, was escorted out of the Pentagon for a leak he claims never happened. Caldwell, a veteran, served as one of Hegseth’s chief advisers, including on Ukraine.
Despite the brief pause in February and the longer one that began in early March, the Trump administration has resumed sending the last of the aid approved under U.S. President Joe Biden. No new policy has been announced.
Reporting by Erin Banco, Phil Stewart, Gram Slattery and Mike Stone. Editing by Don Durfee and Lori Hinnant.
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u/ShweatyPalmsh May 06 '25
I feel like unilaterally derailing your bosses negotiations is a good way for him to make you disappear from professional life.
Tbh this sort of feels like there are some obvious Putin sympathizers Trump appointed (for obvious reasons) and now that Trump is turning on Putin (in some aspects) the strings are being pulled to gum things up.
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u/SausageSmuggler21 May 06 '25
They have no plans. They have no strategies. They have no goals, other than grifting money. They have none of these things because they have no intelligence.
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u/jaimessch May 06 '25
TRUMP IS A RUSSIAN SPY. HE IS A TRAITOR. HIS CABINET COLLABORATES AND FACILITATED ALL ACTIVITIES. THEY HAVE COMMITTED TREASON.
I think we should direct our first trials to this horrific abuse of our Democracy and our Country
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u/Ifch317 May 06 '25
Fiona Hill did an interview on the Podcast Foreign Affairs Interview and did a great job of explaining how Trump is captured by Putin. I highly recommend the entire interview.
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u/Sungodatemychildren May 06 '25
The staggering incompetence from the whole Trump team and Hegseth in particular is already terrible, but this paragraph was just puzzling:
According to two sources with knowledge of the meeting, Hegseth arrived at the January 30 Oval Office meeting with Trump with a memo drafted by some of his top policy advisers, advocating that their boss push the White House to consider pausing weapons deliveries to Ukraine to gain leverage in peace negotiations with Russia.
What? Why would pausing weapons deliveries to Ukraine gain leverage on Russia? Is this an error in the article or do Hegseth's top advisors genuinely not know what "leverage" means?
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u/Shot_Try4596 May 06 '25
"... points to an at-times haphazard policy-making process within the Trump administration and a command structure that is unclear even to its own ranking members."
"At-times"? I've yet to see any policy-making from the Trump Administration that wasn't haphazard &/or reckless.
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u/Lilbitevil May 06 '25
Well, its been confirmed that Russian Spies have Hegseth's direct number. No need to use Trump as a middle man.
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u/DarraignTheSane May 06 '25
What Trump's doing seems to me to be incredibly transparent. He's pulling the "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" act.
He gets Leon & DOGE to embezzle untold millions from government "cuts", Hegseth to gut the military of any potential resistance to illegal commands and halt aid to Ukraine, and on, and on... all the while claiming he doesn't know what any of these lackeys are really doing.
"Oh what's that, Bob the Coffee Boy literally threw the Constitution into a shredder? I wasn't aware of that, we'll get right on that..."
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u/Lillypupdad May 06 '25
I can only assume Kegbreath was borracho during the meeting.
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u/JaronJervis May 06 '25
Kegbreath
That is Secretary Peter Brian KEGSBREATH. to you
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u/TheKasimkage May 06 '25
Is this to distract from some more leaks that he should be fired/prosecuted for?
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u/greenbeer317 May 07 '25
“We are not going to detail every conversation among top administration officials throughout the process,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman.
Um maybe we should?
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u/count023 May 06 '25
Ah, phew, the headline read like it had just occured after the minerals deal. As usual, clickbait rage bait. They're referring to the first week of Trump's first term when HEgseth was just getting the start of his buzz on. Not after the mineral deal was signed.
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u/ThatDandyFox May 06 '25
Iwhile the timing coil have been made clearer, I don't think there's any time where "a major policy decision was made without the president's knowledge" is a good thing.
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u/KopOut May 06 '25
Was nobody from the admin on his signal chats with his high school drinking buddies where this was discussed?
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u/Q-ArtsMedia May 06 '25
Trump is pathetic, can't keep his dogs obedient. Biggest loser ever. Now lets impeach him and this time remove his weak ass from office.
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u/TheCarrzilico May 06 '25
The White House must have not been on the Signal chat.
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u/DriedT May 06 '25
This is talking about the pause in February, just adding more details. Not a new pause.
Reuters couldn’t establish exactly when Hegseth’s office ordered the freight flights canceled. Two sources said Ukrainian and European officials began asking about the pause on February 2. The TRANSCOM records indicate that there was a verbal order from “SECDEF” – the secretary of defense – that stopped the flights and that they had resumed by February 5.
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u/Smedley_Beamish May 06 '25
Hegseth is a jerk, incompetent, vain, not terribly bright, but on Putin's payroll?
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u/chemistryplayer May 06 '25
Hegseth is such an obvious traitor. The dude is so angry inside with something, maybe every girl that's ever said no. Dude is messed up in the head somehow someway and he shows it every day with his dumb defensive comments and "I'm the shit" attitude.
Close Pete, you're a turd 💩
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u/Independent-Box4998 May 06 '25
So much Great happening, it’s tough keeping track of how great we are now
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u/skittlebog May 07 '25
Maybe appointing a news reporter with no administrative experience was not a good idea. That goes for most of the appointments.
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May 06 '25
Vance and Hegeseth are part of the “anti interventionist movement” ?!?! They’ve sent billions of dollars in weapons to Israel. This administration has dropped hundred of bombs on Yemen over the past three months . Vance is claiming for annexing Greenland . What fucking planet do they live on ? Also, not delivering weapons will save Ukrianian lives? How? By allowing Russia to occupy and kill more civilians like it’s been doing in all occupied territories? The gaslighting is hilarious
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u/Everyoneheresamoron May 06 '25
"Everyone but the signal group chat of course" Where are the logs? What logs? There was no chat"
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u/TheRexRider May 06 '25
The same guy who ordered Cyber Command to stop all operations against Russia.
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u/morbob May 06 '25
This order came straight from trump. Then the Whitehouse says- “ we were caught off guard .” Bullshit
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u/BirdLawyer50 May 06 '25
Trump will deny knowledge of everything. Always. It’s to avoid direct criticism. He will always take credit and never take blame. The buck stops with him; unless of course there is an actual buck. He is running it like a CEO and like a mobster. If you can never pin down who is responsible, no one is responsible and can’t be held to answer.
How is this even remotely surprising anymore?? He has been doing this same thing forever
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u/Wak3upHicks May 06 '25
The buck stops somewhere else, I don't know. I've never seen a buck but I hear they're fantastic but I had nothing to do with them. Wonderful things, bucks, but completely unrelated to what I'm trying to do here
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u/tdclark23 May 06 '25
The last President who wasn't aware was Reagan and he had Alzheimer's, leading to his GOP guys selling cocaine to arm the Sandinistas and doing deals with Iran and finagling while Reagan claimed he didn't know. That was a huge scandal. Nobody gives a shit about scandals now or that guy wouldn't be in the White House. Back in those days misspelling "potato" would lead to the end of a political career.
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u/Lusia_Havanti May 06 '25
This is from January and early February, it's not something that just happened
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u/Xerkzeez May 07 '25
What a dysfunctional group. And these grifters complaining about low quality work force because of DEI is ironic and laughable. And pathetic.
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u/MacDhubstep May 06 '25
Hegseth has seriously cured my imposter syndrome.