'Daily Show' Reveals Why Pete Hegseth Is Nonchalant About War Crimes

On Tuesday, Desi Lydic, a correspondent for The Daily Show, revisited unsettling comments made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth years prior to his involvement in a scandal over fatal military strikes on a suspected drug trafficking vessel. Hegseth faces accusations of overseeing an operation described as murder or a war crime during a September 2 attack on survivors clinging to the boats wreckage.

Lydic expressed a wish that there had been warning signs indicating Hegseths casual attitude toward war crimes. She played a 2019 clip showing the former Fox News host defending Army Major Mathew L. Golsteyn, who had been charged with killing an Afghan detainee allegedly involved in bomb-making and was later pardoned by President Donald Trump before the case concluded.

If he committed premeditated murder, then Duncan did as well. Then I did as well. What do you think you do in war? Hegseth said during an interview on Fox & Friends with then-Representative Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), an Iraq War veteran.

The audience applauded as Lydic shrugged, commenting on the casualness of the remarks. She then criticized Hegseth, whom she jokingly called the secretary of defensiveness, for addressing the scandals backlash with a Franklin the Turtle meme depicting the character piloting a helicopter and apparently firing missiles at drug boats.

This whole image is deeply disturbing, especially the part where the turtle is wearing a helmet. Why does he need a helmet? His whole body is a helmet! Lydic quipped.

She continued to lampoon Hegseth for involving Franklin in such a violent depiction. There are already several turtles who famously kill people for a living, use them! she joked, referencing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Viewers can catch more of Lydics monologue from Tuesday on The Daily Show.

Author: Sophia Brooks