Op-Ed: The Cowardice Of Pete Hegseth

The older you get, the more you realize that one of the underappreciated truths of being human. The more bluster someone publicly exhibits, the more they engage in trash-talking, the less likely they are to truly be brave and strong.

I grew up watching old John Wayne movies, and I don't recall him every riding into town while screaming "I am the toughest warrior in the land. Kneel before my power and my direct connection to God himself!" Instead, he just quietly did his thing until he was forced into a corner. And then he did whatever he needed to do in order to win.

In 2026, we live in a world filled with performative bravery. Anonymous posters on X pretend to be truth-tellers, politicians accuse opponents of being terrorists or worse. And because they know that in our society there are few penalties for being a blowhard dumbass, they aren't concerned with the consequences.

Now we have a Secretary of Defense War who helms the finest military the world has ever seen. And his preferred management style seems to be an unhealthy mix of firing anyone who doesn't look like him combined with fiery rants against critics and the media. If the old Taco Bell Chihuahua had a government job, it would likely act exactly the same as Pete Hegseth.

The thing to understand about Hegseth is that at his core, he is a fearful coward. It's easy to be brave when you're a commentator or anchor on a television news channel that is filled with people who believe the same things you do. When the biggest bone of contention revolves around deciding how much of a secret Muslim President Obama might have been, you are living an intellectually sheltered life. You don't have to be brave. You just have to be loud and outwardly confident.

But now Pete Hegseth is surrounded by people who know much more about our military than he does and he feels insecure. And that's a character flaw of his. Any Secretary of Defense War is expected to be one of the dumbest people in the room. Their job is not to micromanage personnel decisions or choose specific bombing targets. Their job is to manage. To have the wisdom and inner strength to shut up. Listen to various points of view before making a decision you believe is the best for the country. You don't want to be surrounded by yes men or people too scared to tell you the truth. That is a recipe for disaster and any Defense head that believes otherwise has chosen personal comfort over the truth.

It's not a surprise that Pete Hegseth and his Scooby Gang of staffers have made it their mission to punish the press as much as possible. The press is an easy target and it's especially fun because reporters covering the Defense Department are not going to directly confront misinformation. So Pete Hegseth feels all brave and badass standing in front of the press corp and calling them traitors. Because he knows they won't talk back.

But that bluster is there to hide the underlying core truth of Pete Hegseth. Deep down inside, he's a scared little boy who is intimidated by the people around him. He walks through life petrified people are going to see the man that's hiding behind the outrage: someone who is in over his head, who doesn't feel worthy of being the head of the Defense Department. And perhaps most importantly, he knows he's not really the brave soldier of war he pretends to be. He's not worthy of his position and he lives every day feeling that truth deep inside his soul.

If Pete Hegseth were half the warrior he pretends to be, he would sit down with experienced reporters and directly answer their questions without deflecting. He would be confident in knowing that he knows what he's talking about and if the reporter is lying or being inaccurate, he can prove them wrong in real time.

But Pete Hegseth won't do that. Because his living nightmare is being trapped in a situation that reveals him to be the blustering coward that he has truly become.

Pete Hegseth is a coward. And that's all you need to know about him.