{"id":1299,"date":"2026-07-22T11:49:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1299"},"modified":"2026-07-22T11:49:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:49:25","slug":"hegseth-tells-senators-trump-should-be-praised-for-iran-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1299","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth Tells Senators Trump Should Be Praised for Iran War"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hegseth<\/div>

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\n\tPresident Donald Trump<\/a> has weathered fierce criticism over the past five months after beginning a devastating, never-ending war in Iran<\/a>. But throughout it all, there\u2019s been one brave man firmly in his corner: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a>, who on Tuesday told senators they\u2019d been thinking about this forever war situation<\/a> all wrong. Instead of criticism, we should be praising Trump for dragging us into war.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPresident Trump deserves the kind of praise he should get for undertaking this effort,\u201d Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee in a hearing on Tuesday. \u201cHaving the courage to ensure that crazy Islamists can\u2019t have a nuclear weapon to hold us at issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo their credit, the Senate was immediately skeptical. \u201cExcuse me, so he should be praised for starting a war without authority?\u201d Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed interjected. \u201cFor creating a situation in which the world economy is suffering tremendously?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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HEGSETH: President Trump deserves the kind of praise he should get for undertaking this effort<\/p>\n

REED: Excuse me. So he should be praised for starting a war without authority and creating a situation in which the world economy is suffering tremendously? pic.twitter.com\/3LvuNxAN4D<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\n\tReed wasn\u2019t the only dissenter during Hegseth\u2019s testimony. Over the course of the hearing, the secretary was repeatedly interrupted by protesters. \u201cYour hands are bloody with 17 Americans,\u201d one protester \u2014 displaying a banner emblazoned with \u201cNO WAR ON IRAN\u201d \u2014 shouted as they were dragged out of the room by law enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cStop bombing our children in Iran and Palestine, this is illegal,\u201d another protester shouted seconds later. Several more rounds of interruptions took place throughout his remarks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHegseth was on Capitol Hill to try to convince the Appropriations Committee to continue showering the Department of Defense with taxpayer money in order to implement Trump\u2019s policies \u2014 namely, bombing Iran over and over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNot funding this department at $1.5 trillion, I believe, is the greatest threat our nation faces,\u201d Hegseth said.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the Senate asked for clear answers on where that money is going, Hegseth only offered vague handwaving about overturning Biden\u2019s \u201cwoke\u201d military policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

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Durbin: It’s my understanding that this whole supplemental funding request is $87.6 billion. We are told the department of defense still has 75 billion in unobligated funding from last year’s reconciliation package. Is that true?<\/p>\n

Hegseth: Roughly. <\/p>\n

Durbin: What’s going to\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/59Cq0VY7Fy<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Acyn (@Acyn) July 21, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\n\tHegseth went on to brag<\/a> that the American military is \u201cno longer run by bureaucrats,\u201d but is \u201cinstead led by combat tested veterans and world class business leaders who are running the department like a business.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIf the Pentagon is being run like a business, it\u2019s certainly not a profitable one. Instead, Hegseth\u2019s grand corporation of war functions more like a taxpayer subsidized feast for defense contractors and Silicon Valley. Private corporations are allowed to milk American defense systems for profit, while taxpayers, deprived of adequate health care, education, and social services, are continuously asked to fund a bottomless pit of budget requests with little in the way of accountability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd outside of the dollar signs and D.C. budgets, the human toll of the war is only getting higher. Iranian civilians have been dying for months, but U.S. servicemembers have also died in Trump\u2019s name. In the past few days, at least three more servicemembers have been killed by Iranian strikes<\/a>, and the New York Times<\/em> reports that the Pentagon<\/a> has repeatedly withheld information on U.S. casualties from the public throughout the duration of the war. Thus far, at least 17 servicemembers have been killed as a result of the war.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tTrump, for his part, is defiant. On Tuesday afternoon, he posted a short list on Truth Social, comparing past U.S. wars \u2014 including, Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, and Vietnam \u2014 to his war in Iran. \u201cIran Military Conflict: 4 months, 18 DEAD,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe other wars on that list, of course, have already ended. Trump\u2019s war in Iran could last much longer yet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n