Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is probably the best person Trump could find to carry out his wishes to be known as something he is not. His boss has taken every opportunity to be known as the “Peace President” while bragging about a brutal war he started with Israel against Iran that is negatively impacting not only America, but also so many of our true friends in the Middle East.
I’ve traveled to nearly all the nations there and have friends in the ones negatively impacted by this war. You might have noticed that most Americans do not approve of it. We see over 200 children known to have been killed. We see men and women who had nothing to do with nuclear weapons killed by the hundreds. We see beautiful structures destroyed where people had nothing to do with nuclear weapons.
Look at the smirk we see on Hegseth as he says, “If you think this is something, just wait.”
That’s easy for him to say to the families of those who have already died, while his family never considered going to war to protect the country that has given them every advantage in life.
The “wannabe king” wants Sen. Markwayne Mullin to improve on what former Secretary Kristi Noem did with the Department of Homeland Security, though he doesn’t look promising. Mullin is one of Trump’s staunch supporters. It doesn’t matter to Trump or his supporters that Sen. Mullin has no law enforcement experience. Most of us, regardless of the job, are expected to demonstrate education or experience for such a high-level role.
So the question is: What does Mullin bring to this job?
As a member of Congress, he wasn’t even asked to vote on this war, so is Mullin even informed about how it impacts our homeland?
Neither Trump nor Hegseth seem to have plans for when this war will end or how. Trump has said the end must come without concessions. With so many nations involved or affected, how do they expect it to happen?
With this war going on, I guess this is a way for most Americans to forget about Epstein and not notice that in the first week of the conflict, gasoline prices increased by 11% and are expected to rise to at least $4 per gallon soon, if they’re not already there in some places.
Stocks are down. Over 92,000 Americans have lost jobs in the last month. There has been no job growth in the past 12 months. People are not getting raises. Others are not finding jobs.
Meanwhile, we’re told this war is costing Americans $1 billion per day.
I didn’t mention the millions of Americans in the war zone who have no way to get out. They had no way to know how their lives would be impacted while visiting or working on behalf of their country. How do they leave the area? They are told to evacuate when the question is “How?”
We need to be asking Trump and Hegseth when will this madness end.
E. Faye Williams is president of The Dick Gregory Society.