Pete Hegseth has been given a new nickname by staffers comparing him to a former Department of Defense head.
The current DoD chief and long-time Donald Trump supporter has been branded "Dumb McNamara," a reference to Robert McNamara. McNamara served as the Department of Defense head to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, and it seems the comparison is not at all favorable.
The Zeteo Substack post, First Draft, reported Hegseth had received the nickname as a result of the recent undertakings of the Trump admin in Iran. The nickname for Hegseth has spread from various staffers and officials, who are now calling the Iran war "Hegseth's war".
The "Hegseth's war" term coined by insiders marks another McNamara comparison, with the Vietnam War referred to as "McNamara's war" at the time. The nickname has spread rapidly, according to The Bulwark team.
"However, the nickname 'Dumb McNamara' has spread within the US government due to Hegseth’s cheerleading of the war and bombing blitzes – overzealous bloodlust and enthusiasm for military fiasco that reminds American officials of, well, a very stupid version of Robert McNamara," they wrote. "'We negotiate with bombs,' Hegseth said Tuesday. 'You have a choice, as we loiter over the top of Tehran.'
"It’s Trump’s war, to be sure, but as things continue to go south, it’s easy to see the president’s Iran bloodbath getting framed as 'Hegseth’s war,' in the way Vietnam famously became 'McNamara’s war.'"
Despite his comments on the Iran war, Hegseth has been thrown under the bus by the Trump administration for the current failures.
Trump was taking press questions after swearing in new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in the Oval Office when he gave a frank response about the status of the ongoing military conflict in the Middle East, which has now reached its fourth week and left 13 troops dead and 232 service members wounded.
"I don’t want to say this, but I have to. I said to Pete and General Caine, I think this thing [the war] is going to be settled very soon. They said, 'Oh, that’s too bad.' Pete didn’t want it to be settled," Trump said.
