Politico plays fool to the king

Indignity Vol. 5, No. 72

Trump seated semi Oompa Loompa-tinged, happily blathering away as Hegseth stands nearby doing childlike puffy-cheek face
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 21: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks alongside U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office of the White House on March 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump announced the Next Generation of Air Dominance (NGDA) program, the F-47, the sixth-generation high-tech Air Force fighter to succeed the F-22 Raptor. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

THE WORST THING WE READ™

Did Our Wise President Make an Uncharacteristic Mistake by Putting Pete Hegseth in Charge of the Military?

HOW DOES THE former Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot feel about Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, who has now apparently attained the status of Embattled Secretary of Defense? He is Hegseth's "longtime backer," Ullyot wrote in Politico in Sunday. "In December," he added, "when his Senate confirmation was in jeopardy, I wrote an opinion piece arguing strongly that he was the best man to shake things up at a Pentagon in need of serious reform."

"I value his friendship," Ullyot wrote. Also: "I salute his leadership in helping the president make America strong again." 

Nevertheless, it was time for Ullyot to face the facts about his friend—or rather, to turn partway toward the general direction of the facts about Hegseth, so as to cast careful, furtive glances at them. "The last month has been a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon—and it’s becoming a real problem for the administration," he wrote. 

The man had been replaced by a building, a location in which regrettable things were happening—or were being done? A few paragraphs later, Ullyot would recount how "the Pentagon set up a top-secret briefing by the Joint Chiefs of Staff on China for Elon Musk," before the White House intervened and canceled the meeting.