Hegseth Announces Elon Musk and Newt Gingrich Will Help Lead Military

[u/T_Shurt]

https://newrepublic.com/post/216045/pete-hegseth-elon-musk-newt-gingrich-help-lead-military

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[u/Murais]

Given that he just purged a bunch of generals and is now appointing partisan private citizens to command,

Why is nobody talking about this as the bedrock of a coup?

Because that's 100% what this reads like to me.

[u/Burial → u/Murais]

This isn't the first purge of military leadership since Hegseth was appointed, it's not the second or third either. A lot of people have been pointing out this is how you setup a coup since the first.

Not sure why nothing is being done about it at an institutional level. For awhile I thought something might be happening behind the scenes. At a certain point you just stop pointing at the asteroid.

[u/nnomae → u/Burial]

To all the people asking "what can they do?" they could have impeached Hegseth at any time over the politically motivated sackings of military leadership.

[u/9mackenzie → u/nnomae]

Yes, if Republicans backed that impeachment (well, besides Massey who is currently trying to do it) he would already be gone.

Which is why everyone should remember this is the entire Republican Party, not just Trump and cabinet.

[u/PyroIsSpai → u/9mackenzie]

What stops Hegseth 2 Acting doing the same? SecDef Stephen Miller?

Conservatives can never be allowed to rule again.

[u/9mackenzie → u/PyroIsSpai]

Exactly. Everyone acts like Trump dying or being ousted will somehow solve the problem…….he was just the symptom of the disease that is the Republican Party (ie fascism/christian dominionism). Did he speed up their long term goals by a huge margin due to his cult of personality ? Absolutely. But what is happening was always the end game, and that plan has been in the works for DECADES.

[u/kidcrumb → u/Burial]

The only things you could realistically do to stop this aren't legal. That's the catch 22.

[u/fr_hairycake_lynam → u/Murais]

The coup happened January 6, 2021. When they got away with that, they knew they could get away with anything

[u/Magjee → u/fr_hairycake_lynam]

It's actually incredible how little happened as a consequence of that day

[u/LaserGuidedPolarBear → u/Murais]

It's always been a coup.  It's a slow coup.  We are frogs in a pot.

[u/supercyberlurker]

The military partnering directly with the richest man in the world.  It’s the setup for a thousand movies warning why not to do this.

[u/exodusofficer → u/supercyberlurker]

You didn't even mention that he's a foreign national and a drug addict. I'm not sure any movies ever predicted something so stupid. Even in Idiocracy, the military leaders were Americans.

[u/cooldash → u/exodusofficer]

Pete is a white nationalist and an alcoholic. What is it with these people?

[u/PNDMike → u/cooldash]

Easier to control / have leverage over people like this.

The skeletons in their closets are making them dance like marionettes.

[u/hollow_legs_ → u/PNDMike]

swaying to a symphony… of destru-uction

[u/AggressiveAnt7613 → u/cooldash]

Pete is also a failed solider that didnt have any warfare quals.... no airborne, no air assault, and no ranger school (tab). he was an infantry guy with no quals. talks about lethality because he was a poser/pogue

[u/feint_of_heart → u/cooldash]

Pete is a white nationalist and an alcoholic.

I feel like you're doing him a disservice here. He's a white nationalist, alcoholic coke-head.

[u/GratefullyPug → u/cooldash]

Birds of a feather fuck America up together

[u/The_Colour_Between → u/exodusofficer]

Foreign National Technocrat Nazi, richest man, with Twitter (X), space rockets, all our data, the green light on unlimited AI data centers, access to voting machines (outcome)... Oh, and his fascist technocrat grandpa was booted out of Canada for trying to take over.

Dr. Evil and Lex Luther would be so jelly.

Just how many cars are out there that he could potentially control?

Satellites?

Is he secretly plugged into Flok or Ring?

I guess it doesn't matter, he will be...

[u/mojocookie → u/The_Colour_Between]

He’s also building an army of AI robots. What could go wrong?

[u/Magnon → u/mojocookie]

Based on the ai driving of his cars? Skynet with brain damage?

[u/strangefish → u/supercyberlurker]

This has got to be a military takeover, but these three clowns have no idea how to run a military. This is going to end incredibly badly.

[u/jimbarino → u/strangefish]

Fascists are always incompetent. One of the reasons they go evil extremes is to try and cover up their previous failures. People always talk about the Nazis as these cold calculating bastards, but the reason for the 'final' plan was because they fucked up actually achieving every single prior plan. The atrocities are because of the incompetence, not despite it.

Which, you know, doesn't bode well right now...

[u/hellbentsmegma → u/jimbarino]

When people talk about the Nazis being efficient, well organised and keeping good records, these are qualities Germany was known for before they gained power. 

The fascist era was a step backwards on all of these counts. Hitler thrived on bureaucratic chaos as it allowed him to maintain power, he had terrible military plans because he thought he was a genius who knew better than everyone, and there are plenty of examples of the Nazis not documenting or destroying documentation when they thought it might make them look bad.

[u/ArrBeeNayr → u/hellbentsmegma]

Not to mention that even the holocaust was devised in response to the Nazi's own incompetence. For the years leading up to (and even a few in to) WW2, their goal was to deport minority groups.

As anyone could tell you, relocating millions of people is a logistical and financial nightmare. Their hate made them try anyway, and when it didn't work they shrugged their shoulders and resorted to genocide.

[u/YoureAWinnerBob → u/strangefish]

For everyone too =/

[u/SimmerDown_Boilup → u/supercyberlurker]

Musk now has a military force.

[u/T1gerAc3 → u/SimmerDown_Boilup]

He did pay for it tho

[u/yourboydmcfarland → u/T1gerAc3]

This. Every fucking cent was a bribe. You don't spend that kind of money and not want something in return.

[u/T1gerAc3 → u/yourboydmcfarland]

He bought our data, he bought the closure of investigations into his companies, he bought a trillion dollar valuation for Space Ex, he bought our military and you'll soon find out, he also bought our elections.

[u/BaconDwarf → u/supercyberlurker]

Dude's not even American. Where are all the capital P patriots on this one?

[u/bill_brasky37 → u/BaconDwarf]

He's an African! I can't put my finger on why that was a "problem" for Obama, and not for Elon... Eh probably nothing

[u/IrritableGourmet → u/supercyberlurker]

East India Trading Company 2.0

[u/Pipe_Memes → u/supercyberlurker]

“Look how bad Pete is, might as well give Grok a chance.”

[u/VariationDry]

This is the stupidest thing I have read all month.

[u/AbsolutelyNotAPossum → u/VariationDry]

And that's *really* saying something given how the month has gone.

[u/Leading_Scholar2688 → u/AbsolutelyNotAPossum]

Last day too

[u/bemad4483 → u/Leading_Scholar2688]

“Wake me up, when September ends”

[u/html5billion → u/bemad4483]

I'll stay asleep, thank you

[u/SurroundTiny → u/VariationDry]

The title left out the third person; Palmer Lucky. Designer of Occulus VR, co-founder of Anduril Industries, self described 'radical Zionist ', and brother-in-law of Matt Gaetz.

See? It did get dumber.

[u/Jdmaki1996 → u/SurroundTiny]

What’s with the all the techno fascists naming their shit after Tolkien stuff?

[u/drpestilence → u/Jdmaki1996]

I've been wondering that. It's like they only read an AI summary of the stories..

[u/Faux_Real_Guise → u/drpestilence]

They root for Sauron— “Gandalf's the crazy person who wants to start a war…Mordor is this technological civilization based on reason and science. Outside of Mordor, it's all sort of mystical and environmental and nothing works.”

[u/jfudge → u/Faux_Real_Guise]

Honestly they probably see themselves like Saruman thought of himself. They think that they are the special snowflakes who are wise enough to use whatever power they get for "good", or at least their version of it. They don't think of themselves as the big bad, but more that they are completely willing to take the power given to them regardless of what harm it causes.

[u/yorlikyorlik → u/jfudge]

They fail Galadriel’s test. Every time.

[u/alexthealex → u/yorlikyorlik]

Meanwhile Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) is trying to protect people from AI using their likeness and creations without their direct consent.

[u/Successful_Shoe_8083 → u/jfudge]

Hitler thought hitler was a good guy

[u/nhavar → u/Faux_Real_Guise]

But the Uruk-hai are so cool, so masculine, and did you see that all seeing tower??? Amazing technology.

[u/SpinosRule → u/nhavar]

I mean, Barad-Dur IS cool looking.

[u/nhavar → u/SpinosRule]

It's just like how they keep quoting and promoting Nazi stuff, it just looks so cool to them.

[u/ThanklessThagomizer → u/Faux_Real_Guise]

There's actually an alternate story of The Lord of The Rings told from the viewpoint of Mordor, that basically argues that exact premise. Funnily enough, it was written by a Russian. It's actually not bad, though it's been awhile since I read it.

[u/Dsnake1 → u/ThanklessThagomizer]

Yeah the quote you're replying to is Thiel talking about that book. It's not his interpretation of the books Tolkien wrote.

I'm not saying that to give Thiel any credit, but it doesn't look like he's the one who headcannoned his way into Sauron being the good guy.

[u/travio → u/Jdmaki1996]

At least he named his company after something the good guys used. Naming your intelligence company palantir after the seeing stone the big bad guy used to spy on people is just bonkers.

Same with Zuck and the Metaverse. It came from Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson, a cyberpunk dystopia where governments have been superseded by mega corporations.

[u/PassiveGambler → u/travio]

Well, the palantiri were not evil themselves, nor were they created by the big bad. They were communication devices originally created by the elves (in Tolkien's universe, elves were more closely aligned with divinity than men). They were then given to the Numenoreans. They only responded appropriately to those who had the right to use them (ie the nobility and those they appointed to guard them). The reason they were dangerous is the big bad got hold of one and was able to use it combined with his own power.

The metaphor they're going for is: "We, the brilliant, righteous, and divinely aligned, created a way to retrieve and share information. We must ensure that it is only used by those who have a divine right to use it (the ultra wealthy neo-aristocracy). If it falls into the wrong hands, it can be used for great evil."

[u/GaiaMoore → u/PassiveGambler]

You got me thinking, it feels like the techno-fascists are speedrunning Akallabeth and the fall of Numenor.

"We're brilliant and righteous and divinely aligned, the Valar are just jealous and won't share their cool stuff with us. We totally won't risk greater forces destroying the entire world because we thought we were gods"

[u/According_Tea_6329 → u/PassiveGambler]

The wrong hands being the poors?

[u/Independent_Vast9279 → u/travio]

Finally someone who knows snow crash. Sadly underrated. And yes they are saying the quiet part out loud with these names. 

[u/Basicly-Inevitable → u/Jdmaki1996]

Musk stole Grok from Robert Heinlein.

[u/SpinosRule → u/Basicly-Inevitable]

I doubt Musk even groks the word Grok. What an asshole.

[u/pianotherms → u/SpinosRule]

He does not. I guarantee he has never read the book, nor Foundation, or any of the other shit he acts like he likes.

[u/ETxsubboy → u/Basicly-Inevitable]

To be fair, if you don't have a good grasp of some of the social and political stuff that Heinlien puts in his books, you can definitely get the wrong ideas from them.

[u/tryingisbetter → u/ETxsubboy]

I'm a little surprised that Elon would read, let alone like, strangers in a strange land though.

[u/ImAShaaaark → u/Jdmaki1996]

They also listen to rage against the machine. Understanding art isn't a strength of theirs.

[u/AnalTongueDarts → u/SurroundTiny]

It did, in fact, get dumber.

[u/Throwawaylikeme90 → u/SurroundTiny]

The immersive Jackstation goggles ceo is related to known (alleged) sex trafficker matt gaetz and co founded a company with Epstein associate Peter Thiel? That anduril?

Legit had no idea occulus was owned by such a syphilitic turbotaint. Not shocked, but definitely surprised. 

[u/UtopiaInProgress → u/Throwawaylikeme90]

'syphilitic turbotaint' is very, very good. just sayin.

[u/LuckyZero → u/VariationDry]

More than Tommy Tuberville ranting about furries in the airline industry, snipers and drones on trump's planned arch, or Kash's bestiality rule change?

[u/88secret → u/LuckyZero]

This has been one insane month.

[u/guisar → u/LuckyZero]

I mean aren’t those really just some of the bylines? We’ve got diaper offering the PLA weapons and their being like, “nah, we already accepted delivery of those form fedex so we get to keep them”, secret squirrel missions from the cia landing un moscow. I can’t keep track of just how dumb we are.

[u/illogical_mindset → u/LuckyZero]

The senator from Missouri falling on his face during his big gotcha moment. The same day he has someone at Axios float him as the next VP.

[u/Dirtgrain → u/VariationDry]

I'm pretty sure Hegseth led with the Paul brothers addressing the troops--just to make this crap and the cutting of 20% of military leadership seem somehow less stupid.

[u/SarcasticCowbell → u/VariationDry]

Just you wait, October will be an interesting month.

[u/polarparadoxical → u/VariationDry]

...stupidest thing, so far.

[u/Even_Trifle9341 → u/polarparadoxical]

Eh, it’s the 30th so we can have a bit of optimism.

[u/grumpyoldbolos → u/Even_Trifle9341]

Its Oct 1 in Australia, pls let this be the dumbest thing I hear all month🙏

[u/Thevshi → u/grumpyoldbolos]

Sorry dude, I'm 99.9% sure you're going to be disappointed. We have elections coming the first Tuesday of November and there are A LOT of desperate Republicans out there.

[u/MrChip53 → u/polarparadoxical]

At most there's less than 12 hours left in the month. What could they have left!?

[u/polarparadoxical → u/MrChip53]

You are tempting fate.

We do not need another seal broken.

[u/PxcKerz → u/VariationDry]

We’re going to launch nukes, arent we?

[u/Narutophanfan1 → u/VariationDry]

That is an unfortunately very accurate statement. God I hate it here.

[u/SixSixWithTrample]

Newt Gingrich is still alive!?

[u/Laura9624 → u/SixSixWithTrample]

83 years old. Learned this crap from Nixon. Not kidding.

[u/BankshotMcG → u/Laura9624]

ALL of our problems are a direct lineage to Nixon letting criminals into the white house and the alums directing the next half century of fuckery

[u/bkgn → u/BankshotMcG]

Plenty of Reagan too, let's not give Nixon all the credit.

[u/RawrRawr83 → u/SixSixWithTrample]

That was my first though too.

[u/TheForeverUnbanned]

Putting the US military under the command of foreign national with no experience?

[u/Dukeish → u/TheForeverUnbanned]

Also an extreme conflict of interest since he’s an active government contractor

[u/_Phil_McCracken_ → u/Dukeish]

It’s just absurd on so many levels, it’s almost hard to process how insane this is. 

[u/Enlightened_Dirtbag → u/_Phil_McCracken_]

It’s absurd unless you consider a possible alternative agenda this brain trust may have, to focus on strategy for shifting the allegiance of military leadership towards the administration as they consolidate their power amidst the chaos they sow.

This is all coming as they are preparing to purge 20% of generals and other military leadership. This is no coincidence.

[u/masterchefguy → u/Enlightened_Dirtbag]

The Military Industrial Complex stepping out from the shadows, anarcho-capitalism at it's finest, and a major step towards the neo-feudal state they dream of for the future.

[u/1057-cl121v3 → u/Dukeish]

It’s hard not to feel lost and defeated when the obvious answer to this is always “yeah, and?”. I’ve spent my entire life doing the right thing not only for fear of consequences but because it’s the right thing to do. Now as a parent I’m raising my children to do the right thing even when no one is looking because it’s the right thing to do while these grown ass men knowingly commit treason taking money from foreign countries to destroy our country from within, while they do insider trading and decimate what little social programs we have that will certainly cost more lives than they already have, while things just get worse and worse and more and more expensive.

[u/HorribleHoggle → u/1057-cl121v3]

God damn I feel this reply so much. What’s the point anymore?? Trump is a role model for children? I’m just so sick of it. As if trans kids had anymore reason to hide. As if ME following the law is expected but for them? Fuck it?

[u/Irwin-M_Fletcher → u/Dukeish]

Of course, the solution will be more contracts with their companies.

[u/rainshowers_5_peace → u/TheForeverUnbanned]

Newt Gingrich hasn't served either.

Anyone who supports the military in any capacity should be pissed.

[u/pop-specs → u/rainshowers_5_peace]

Newt Gingrich is still alive??

[u/diceth1ef → u/pop-specs]

I haven't heard his name in what feels like forever, I also thought his stupid ass died. Now I'm disappointed AND appalled.

[u/VirginiaMcCaskey → u/rainshowers_5_peace]

I mean civilian leadership of the military is a good thing. As long as they're not you know, Newt Gingrich and Elon Musk.

[u/No-Guard-7003 → u/TheForeverUnbanned]

Ya, no, thanks. 😒🙅‍♀️

[u/turquoise_amethyst]

Newt Gingrich?! The guy who’s 83 and resigned from Congress in 1999??! 

Let that sink in… he left Congress 27 years ago. He has never served in the US military. He’s been out of office for longer than many of our recruits have been alive. 

And the “other one” isn’t elected, has never served, AND clearly doesn’t give a shit about how US government or military works, sooo…

[u/Embarrassed-Town-293 → u/turquoise_amethyst]

Hey, take that back. Elon Musk does care about how the US military works when it comes to procurement contracts for things he sells

[u/wildwalrusaur → u/turquoise_amethyst]

I'm fascinated how his name even entered the conversation.

Musk, I can at least connect the dots on. But Gingrich hasn't been even tangentially relevant in republican politics or conservative spaces for at least 15 years, and even when he was he was always more a domestic policy guy than a military one. How did he even get in the room, who approached who approached whom, and why?

Its bizzare

[u/smith129606]

That’s right, an unelected immigrant will help “lead” the military and the “patriotic” MAGA cultists will just go along with whatever their cult leader and his henchmen demand.

[u/TrumpsEarChunk → u/smith129606]

Illegal alien welfare queen grifter.

[u/wittnotyoyo → u/TrumpsEarChunk]

He's got the blood of a couple hundred thousand kids on his hands so far with millions more to come in the next few years.

[u/Ammut88 → u/[deleted]]

I hope that’s a disqualifying condition. With this administration I’m not confident it is.

[u/40StoryMech → u/[deleted]]

Me too! Oh, cuz of the military thing. Yeah, that too.

[u/ShakedNBaked420]

Why the fuck do we keep involving Elon Musk, who isn’t even American, in American politics and military.

Edit: to the multiple comments i keep getting in my inbox, okay, he’s American. I didn’t know he got his citizenship. Thank you for educating me. That said, he still isn’t qualified to be in this position.

[u/Illustrious-Roll7737 → u/ShakedNBaked420]

The plan is probably martial law.

[u/Kaffe-Mumriken → u/Illustrious-Roll7737]

Gingrich knows a thing or two about marital law

[u/dannytheguitarist → u/Kaffe-Mumriken]

And also how to cheat on his cancer ridden wife.

[u/TwistyBunny → u/ShakedNBaked420]

Crazy part is they complain about foreigners but completely forget he is one too.

[u/Jason1920 → u/TwistyBunny]

But, Elon's the white right kind of African.

[u/HobnoblinGoblin → u/ShakedNBaked420]

America is being looted like a discount electronics store on doomsday

[u/habbadee → u/ShakedNBaked420]

Because he funds their campaigns

[u/Rex_Gently]

Great, a total chode and an octagenrian, exactly what the military needs

[u/PopGoesTehWoozle → u/Rex_Gently]

Certainly not a bunch of highly qualified generals and admirals who swore an oath to the constitution

[u/Objective-Win → u/Rex_Gently]

And Matt Gaetz’s brother in law

[u/MrPloppyHead]

They are literally just doing everything dictatorships do. Germany’s loss under hitler was in a large part down to replacing people that are competent with people that are loyal and committed to the idea regardless. Nonceland is destroying itself From the inside.

[u/Blyrone__Blashinton]

Gingrich recently came out and said republicans would win the midterms in a landslide. Hegseth said he wanted the military to protect elections from “foreign” threats. Musk knew the results of the 2025 elections hours before ANYBODY. They are cooking up a scheme here.

[u/NoAd4056 → u/Blyrone__Blashinton]

Also Palmer Lucky, the VR headset guy with military contracts.

Are they about to roll out the droids? Does Elon have a secret Tesla robot army that they're about to control remotely through headsets?

[u/OldGaffer66]

This entire presidential term is like a poorly written satire where the writers go overboard because they don't understand that no one would believe any of this in a fictional movie.

[u/B-Z_B-S]

The Horseman of War has invited the Horseman of Famine and the Harbinger of Rot to aid him in destroying America.

[u/Mateorabi → u/B-Z_B-S]

Nurgle approves

[u/TwistyBunny]

Newt Gingrich?

The same hypocritical motherfucker who went after Bill Clinton for sexual misconduct while he was committing sexual misconduct the same exact fucking way?

That Newt Gingrich?

[u/atomicdog69 → u/TwistyBunny]

The same one who cheated on his cancer-stricken wife.

And:

• In 1997, the U.S. House of Representatives reprimanded Gingrich and voted 395–28 to penalize him after he admitted to ethical violations regarding the financing of a college course he taught and for using tax-exempt foundations for political purposes.
• The $300,000 Penalty: As part of a disciplinary agreement, Gingrich was ordered to reimburse the House $300,000 for the cost of the ethics investigation into whether he used tax-exempt funds for partisan political goals. This marked the first time a Speaker of the House was formally disciplined for ethical wrongdoing

[u/CreatrixAnima → u/TwistyBunny]

Wait… That guy is still alive? Wasn’t he 900 years old when Clinton was in office?

[u/IThatAsianGuyI]

Elon Musk about to smash and grab literally all of the American military's secrets and most highly guarded/confidential information to exfiltrate to whoever (Putin). Coincidence that they're cutting 20% of the highest ranking officials, who should be standing in the way of that?

America is fucked.

There's no coming back from this. We are watching the Roman Empire collapse in real time.

[u/MediocreSchlanger → u/IThatAsianGuyI]

Proper fucked.

[u/vinylzoid → u/MediocreSchlanger]

Yeah, Tommy. Before ze Germans get there.

[u/TonyStarks81 → u/IThatAsianGuyI]

Most of my life I felt that with all the chaos in this country and divides between people, the one thing that would always bring us together would be the overall good country. That if anyone tried to properly fuck this up then the majority of people would not allow it. The internet and social media killed that idea over a decade ago. It is truly sad to watch people blindly allow this to happen because their team is in charge so everything must be good. This is a situation I could not have dreamed of in the first half of my life.

[u/notyouraverageskippy]

Newt is 83 years old and doesn't have a military background. Only a alcoholic would make that decision.

Hold on a sec

[u/MeepleMaster → u/notyouraverageskippy]

Not gonna lie, I thought he died awhile ago

[u/thepartypantser]

God damn this guy is a Dipshit.

Elon Musk failed so extraordinarily with Doge we're now going to let him fuck up with the military?

Newt Gingrich the draft dodging chicken hawk, who has argued we should have stayed in Vietnam longer has no place making military decisions either.

[u/robhaswell → u/thepartypantser]

Failed?? My brother. Wake up. DOGE was a total 100% success, the goal was to cripple the government and exfil vast troves of data. It was so successful they're getting him in to do it again.

[u/the_tanooki → u/robhaswell]

Precisely. DOGE did exactly what it intended to do, and the "falling out" between Elon and Trump was clearly staged to get people's focus off of the wannabe nazi Elon. That also succeeded.

[u/Ok_Instance7667 → u/the_tanooki]

The 'falling out' got people to stop attacking his very visible dealerships. He was clearly bothered by that.

[u/Sol_leks]

Elon Musk is currently defending the right to use the N-Word in his Tesla factories, where black people have been referred to as "slaves." He offered his ex-wife $40 million not to tell the world about his desire to make as many white babies as possible for an upcoming civil war. He purchased Twitter to create X where bigotry and misinformation flourish and feed xenophobia. Combine that with Hegseth's blatant contempt and targeting of POC in the military, and his plans to diminish the number of upper-level leadership by 20%, along with his obsession with brutality and violence, and this all looks pretty ugly and awful.

[u/Aloha_Tamborinist → u/Sol_leks]

I feel like we're living the prologue to a fucked up sci-fi book where a sociopathic trillionaire controls the military while a feeble minded, easily manipulated idiot controls the country.

This is insane.

[u/FartyJizzums]

Wait... What?

None of this is real. I'm in a fucking coma dream and I want out. Wake me up, doc. I'm ready to get back to reality.

[u/Sunbather77 → u/FartyJizzums]

We all died in 2020

[u/FartyJizzums → u/Sunbather77]

Phew. What a relief.

[u/Bagelgrenade]

Newt Gingrich is still alive???

[u/TakeAShowerHippie → u/Bagelgrenade]

I am also disappointed to learn this

[u/TheSquirrelWithin → u/Bagelgrenade]

Can't believe they're bringing this old coot out of mothballs. His 1990s "Contract with America", with its vow for Republicans to not work with Democrats, is largely to blame for today's stagnation in Congress,

[u/eugene20]

I hope everyone in the US remembers this nonsense come November.

[u/mm3chance94 → u/eugene20]

Come 2028 and the rules will magically revert back to 2008 and we can’t afford healthcare because of “deficits”!

[u/jemappellejimbo → u/eugene20]

They won’t. They will see “trans migrant caravan at border getting abortion, lets put them in camps” ad and line up in droves to vote for it

[u/RamonaQ-JunieB]

He’s dumping generals for these bozos. What could possibly go wrong? We are even more fucked than we could have possibly imagined.

[u/Sydnick101]

Ketamine addicted Nepo baby trillionaire from South Africa, leading our military…

[u/PerfectChard4439]

Will someone please take me away?

[u/Mcnab-at-my-feet → u/PerfectChard4439]

Calgon couldn’t take me far enough…

[u/Durzio]

This is legitimately concerning in a very scary way. This feels like something that would happen in the first 30 minutes of a horror movie about the dangers of fascism.

[u/EikonVera_tou_Lilith → u/Durzio]

‘Musk, Luckey, and Gingrich will work with private sector leaders, experts, and Pentagon chief technology officer and former Uber vice president Emil Michael to “creatively look to the future and identify the domains that we must conquer.’

—From the article

Seems ominous, to say the least.

[u/serger989]

Newt is basically THE Congressional architect for turning the Republican party into what it is today. He is quite literally Evil. This is an extremely dangerous direction for them to be taking by giving both Newt and Elon more power and within the military on top of it.

[u/blond_nirvana]

Wait - a foreign national is going to lead the military?

[u/gmrussell]

Pete’s unqualified for his position, but at least he was actually in the military. Musk is a foreign-born citizen with no military experience and Gingrich doesn’t have any, either. None of the three are qualified to be involved in high-level planning, especially with mapping the trajectory of wars, domains, and technologies. 

A skeptic might see this and think “well, Elon has a top secret clearance—so he must be familiar with military technology, right?” To that, I’d answer that clearances involve both the requisite clearance and the need to know. Elon might be aware of certain technology that relates to Space X, but he has no business knowing anything about many of the systems we use stateside or deployed. He’d have no experience with any of that, or even knowledge of it. So, any of that experience shouldn’t in any meaningful way qualify him for this role. Moreover, it means almost certainly giving a foreign-born drug addict access to even more military secrets (this isn’t a dig at foreign-born people or drug addicts in general—just Musk).

Hegseth introduced the autonomous warfare command, a unit focused on robotic, artificial intelligence and drone warfare

Oh perfect. That’s just what we need. Let’s give AI access to our drones and whatever other systems they decide to make autonomous. Surely it won’t ever hallucinate and strike an American citizen in America, or maybe destroy another school filled with children. 

[u/elite0x33 → u/gmrussell]

His military career is more of a detriment to his position as SECEF. He was a company grade officer that never held command because senior leaders determined he was an insider threat. He then promoted to MAJ while on inactive reserve (IRR) and has essentially zero field grade officer experience.

He hasn't proven them wrong.

[u/sad_cosmic_joke → u/gmrussell]

A skeptic might see this and think “well, Elon has a top secret clearance

Top secret clearance is below what would be needed for this kind of work. 

He's not even allowed to be involved in Space-X military operations!

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/why-elon-musk-doesnt-have-access-all-spacexs-top-secret-work-report

There's also an FOIA lawsuit asking clarification on his 'top secret' clearance as that would require a special waver given his public drug use and relationships with foreign nationals.

[u/EffectiveActive6837]

A foreign national is going to be allow to control the military

[u/thewabberjocky]

Only bright spot I can see is this really telling real conservatives to fuck off and not vote this midterm, who on earth is this appealing too??

[u/harbordog → u/thewabberjocky]

Says a reasonable person… I told myself that the last two times he was elected.

[u/ColeBane]

oh great...some oversized rib cage from south africa is soooo good at american military he is gonna lead? what the actual fuk.

[u/Ohhcrumbs]

You ok Amercia?

[u/scubaka → u/Ohhcrumbs]

Nope… no nope… not at all….

[u/Craigopocalypse → u/Ohhcrumbs]

No please send help

[u/SeanOfTheDead1313 → u/Ohhcrumbs]

The untreated cancer keeps spreading, but instead of removing it, America has been getting botox and lip fillers. We are slowly dying on the inside, while those in power are proclaiming how beautiful we look.

[u/Lalocal4life]

The possibility that the republican party might NEVER hold a majority again is an absolute nightmare for the gop. If texas goes blue and they "mamdani" the state, younger voters may change voting patterns for decades.

[u/_bufflehead]

There is no basis for the idea that Elon Musk and New Gingrich are “the best forecasters of future conflict.”

This kind of talk from Hegseth demonstrates huge disrespect for those who actually understand and execute international relations and military actions. It's also huge disrespect to us as American constituents.

tf

eta: I don't even know what to say about Palmer Luckey.

[u/akrafos]

I refuse to believe this is real news.

please say sike

[u/40StoryMech → u/akrafos]

We changed that to "aike".

[u/DailyUnderFlow]

Jesus fucking christ dude. It's like they sit in a room and think, "What's the dumbest possible thing we can do?" and then go ahead and do that thing.

Republicans are really starting to push hard for their inevitable violent takeover of the American government. They tried once and got away with their crimes and now Republicans voted them in so they can try again.

The Republican party is the treason and corruption party.

Only vote Republican if you hate America and want to see it fall in the near future.

[u/Vegetable-King7626]

This is the same idiot that ran DOGE

Elon Musk needs to have his assets nationalized then be deported for sedition

This Nazi pedophile needs to go

[u/RyanC_Draws]

“leveraging a unique source of American advantage…”

1. A South African nepobaby Nazi.
2. A dried up politician that gave us the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
3. Yet another tech-bro that misappropriates names from Tolkien.

Absolute disgrace.

Edit for typo

[u/dmetzcher]

So…

A weak sissy with daddy issues who has never had a truly hard day in his life…

And a fat, old man who has never run a mile in under 15 minutes and hasn’t been involved with the government since I was in my early 20s…

Are going to help determine the future of our military?

Okay, at what point is someone going to start actually investigating whether this administration is literally working for our enemies? They couldn’t be making us any weaker if they had a PowerPoint presentation with directions straight from the Kremlin and Beijing.

What the actual fuck is going on?

[u/redditgolddigg3r]

If you want to really line up everything that is fucked in DC right now, most trace a path right back to Newt Gingrich. This guy is deplorable and an awful human being.

[u/Specialist_Crew5348]

Why do I feel like this ends in a massive ad campaign run by big Testosterone, right wing talk radio and Elon that somehow makes all of them a shit ton of money?

[u/BadAtExisting → u/Specialist_Crew5348]

That’s best case scenario. This ends in a terrorist attack on US soil with thousands dead - again

[u/TraumaticOcclusion → u/BadAtExisting]

False flag too

[u/ennuiinmotion → u/Specialist_Crew5348]

I think it's important to remember that Hegseth is a true believer in apocalyptic violence against the left. The grift may be a bonus to him but he really has a vision and end goal he's trying to reach here. He's probably the most dangerous American right now because of the position he holds and the insane personal beliefs.

[u/DefenstratedTwice → u/Specialist_Crew5348]

You think thats how this ends?

[u/jkvincent]

You know how, in all the stories about future evil empires, there are tons and tons of stormtroopers and henchmen around all the time, but they're all dumb and incapable as fuck?

This is what happens before that.

[u/Jennawantscox]

Ah good…so that’s what the military needs: people with exactly zero military experience put into a leadership role because…ideology I guess?

As a veteran this makes my blood boil.

[u/Mrhydez]

This has surpassed Idocracy.

[u/tiny_galaxies]

Musk wants to be Tony Stark so badly. See his cameo in Iron Man 2, and the way he dresses. The problem is, real life isn’t comic books. You can’t actually justify slaughtering people on behalf of nationalism, believe it or not. And in a moment of crisis, Musk would never sacrifice himself for anything like Stark does.

[u/berfthegryphon]

They're really just weakening the entire country for someone to attack aren't they? Why would china not take Taiwan at this point?

[u/OHdulcenea]

This shit is why I advised my sons not to join the military for the GI Bill, even though I did. There is no way in hell I want my kids putting their lives in the hands of these morons and grifters.

[u/SuperTaster3]

Every single action they take makes it more reasonable to assume they're trying to destroy the military from the top down. Aside from just generally illegal(no rank, no experience, Musk is a foreign national), this is exactly the sort of step you would take to try and get a lot of old guard generals and commanders to leave in protest.

For military members in the chat, you do NOT have to follow illegal orders, and remember that YOU are the ones in the best position to try and deal with this mess. Even if all you can do is malicious compliance and constant vigilance.
o7 to those who are in a position to whistleblow the depths of this. This is what we're seeing from the outside. The inside is probably so much worse.

[u/Aura_Borealis90]

Ah, more DEI hires.

[u/ReFreshing]

What the fuck is happening

[u/CardiologistOdd3203]

We are all gonna die

[u/deadheffer]

Wow, that is the most corrupt shit I have ever read

[u/RustedRelics]

This is indefensible and reckless. I just don’t know how much longer the country’s institutions and systems can survive this onslaught. This makes me sick to my stomach.

[u/ButterTheseNuts]

Does this mean that Elon Musk will take a chainsaw to the military budget?

[u/piepants2001 → u/ButterTheseNuts]

Nope, it means they'll fire half of the military that doesn't pledge allegiance to the cult of Trump and pocket the money earmarked for those people.

[u/squidvett]

They opened the tomb of Newt Gingrich? And they actually performed the ritual??

[u/acrowsong]

Is this fucking satire ?!?!

[u/Musashi_Joe]

I’m so fucking tired man

[u/iterable]

Incoming special long contract to create robotic soldiers from Elon companies.