MaddowBlog-Pentagon's Pete Hegseth holds weird press conference, but satisfies his audience of one

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Will Hegseth’s Q&A shift the public conversation about the strikes in Iran? Probably not, but Donald Trump liked it, and it’s likely little else matters.

Was Pete Hegseth’s press conference weird, embarrassing, and wildly unpersuasive? Yes.

But it also seemed designed for an audience of one — and Trump was apparently impressed with the pitiful display at the Pentagon. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-06-26T15:38:29.476Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/iran-strike-pete-hegseth-press-conference-trump-rcna215226

Did the beleaguered defense secretary have “irrefutable” evidence to bolster the president’s dubious and premature boasts? Evidently not. The New York Times reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered on Thursday the Trump administration’s most detailed descriptions yet of the planning and execution of U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. But Mr. Hegseth and General Caine offered no new assessments of the state of Iran’s nuclear program or the damage to the sites.

......At this point, some readers might wonder why Hegseth even bothered holding a press conference if he didn’t have new information to advance the White House’s preferred political narrative.

The answer, by all appearances, was to satisfy his audience of one. As NBC News noted:

In a post on Truth Social, Trump praised the Pentagon news conference that Hegseth and Caine held on Iran this morning. ‘One of the greatest, most professional, and most ‘confirming’ News Conferences I have ever seen!’ Trump wrote. The president then attacked the press just as Hegseth did during the briefing. ‘The Fake News should fire everyone involved in this Witch Hunt, and apologize to our great warriors, and everyone else!’

The typical point of a press conference is to convey information to journalists. The point of Hegseth’s press conference was to make weird boasts, condemn journalists and whine like a delicate snowflake about coverage from mean news organizations that don’t seem to care about his feelings, all while dodging good questions that he should’ve been able to answer.

Will this shift the public conversation? Probably not. Did it make the secretary’s boss happy? Apparently yes — and given that there have been some reports about Hegseth being sidelined within Team Trump, the Pentagon chief may care about little else.

[maxsolomon]

1. Using the B2 Pilots and Bombadiers as shields.

GOP Modus Operandi for every war they get us in.

NO ONE IS QUESTIONING OUR "GREAT WARRIORS", you utter clowns.

[kacekwl]

2. How can this tough guy

warrior Alpha male drag his spineless ass out the door every day. If he was a real msn he'd apologize to his many families and disappear.