By Ben Olson
Reader Staff
No matter how many times I think we’ve reached the bottom of the Dumb barrel in American politics, someone like Pete Hegseth comes and says, “Hold my scrapin’ ladle.”
Formerly a Fox News talking head, now defense secretary for the most corrupt president in U.S. history, Hegseth is, let’s just say, problematic.
In an apparent response to allegations that Hegseth’s multiple lethal strikes targeting alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean amounted to a war crime, he posted an AI-generated image of a children’s book character Franklin the Turtle firing a rocket launcher from a helicopter into a boat. The fake cover of the beloved children’s book reads Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists. Hegseth posted the image with the note, “For your Christmas wish list.”
In response to Hegseth’s meme, X users posted their own AI-generated Franklin book covers, with titles like Franklin Goes to The Hague, Franklin On Trial at the ICC and Franklin Goes to Jail.
“Franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy and inclusivity,” a representative for Franklin publisher Kids Can Press told the U.K. Independent. “We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image, which directly contradicts these values.”
Hegseth’s post follows a story by The Washington Post, which alleges Hegseth ordered military personnel not to leave any survivors behind after attacking boats they suspected were operated by drug smugglers. One such incident happened on Sept. 2, when the U.S. military fired a missile striking a vessel carrying 11 people. When two survivors emerged from the wreckage, a Special Operations commander overseeing the attack ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions to “kill everybody.”
There is now growing legal scrutiny from international investigators and members of Congress, who allege that the Trump administration’s missile strike campaign amounts to illegal extrajudicial killings. Hegseth balked at the claim.
“As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland,” Hegseth wrote, probably while strangling a kitten to death. “Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict — and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.”
When President Donald Trump was asked about it, he said he has “great confidence” that Hegseth did not verbally order military personnel to leave no survivors: “[H]e did not say that, and I believe him, 100%.”
The National Security Leaders for America, which includes 1,400 retired admirals, generals, diplomats and other officials, said the administration’s actions “would violate a core principle of military ethics and the law of armed conflict, which prohibits targeting people who are no longer a threat or cannot defend themselves.”
On Nov. 27, Trump posted to his social media company that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “closed in its entirety,” but gave no further details.
To put a cherry on top of it all, despite these multiple strikes apparently targeting “drug traffickers” — and his hardline stance against illegal drugs — Trump issued a pardon to former-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. The former Honduran president was serving a 45-year prison sentence after being convicted of conspiring to import “an almost unfathomable 400 tons of cocaine” into the U.S., according to court documents, which also claimed he was “at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world.”
Trump claimed Hernandez was treated “unfairly” and blathered something about Biden before trailing off into a diatribe about windmills, ballrooms and how he aced a cognitive mental test administered to stroke patients.
