‘This Guy’s Fuuuu—kedd!’: Hegseth Crosses the Line Everyone Warned About — Right as Reports Drop That Trump Thought the ‘Dangerous’ Stuff Was Too Much for Him
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing the most serious scrutiny of his tenure yet, and it’s unclear what awaits on the other side of this scandal as new reporting raises questions about whether President Donald Trump ever trusted him with high-risk decisions.
The pressure intensified this weekend following revelations that Hegseth allegedly ordered U.S. forces to kill all 11 occupants of what the White House insists was a suspected drug-smuggling boat.
The directive was delivered verbally as: “The order was to kill everybody,” according to the Washington Post, citing two people with direct knowledge of the operation.
The Sept. 2 attack, carried out by SEAL Team 6 and overseen by Joint Special Operations Command, marked the opening strike in a mission that has now killed more than 80 alleged traffickers, prompting accusations of unlawful conduct, potential war crimes, and concerns from some U.S. officials about Hegseth’s competence and escalating approach to military force.
The strike began after aerial surveillance led intelligence analysts to claim that the 11 people on a go-fast boat were ferrying drugs. A missile hit the vessel off the Trinidad coast, engulfing it in flames.
When the smoke cleared, commanders monitoring the live drone feed saw two survivors clinging to the wreckage. According to two people familiar with the operation, the Special Operations commander overseeing the strike ordered a second attack to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, the Post reported. The two men were killed in the water.
Several current and former officials, along with war crimes experts, said the Pentagon’s ongoing campaign is unlawful because the alleged traffickers posed no imminent threat to the United States and were not involved in an “armed conflict.”
Without a legal basis for war, “killing any of the men in the boats amounts to murder,” Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer now at Georgetown Law, told the Post.
He noted that the lethal strikes may expose those most directly involved to future prosecution. Even under wartime conditions, Huntley said, an order to kill incapacitated individuals “would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime.”
Online reaction was overwhelmingly negative. Many argued the orders were unlawful, noting the U.S. is not at war, and called for accountability — even prosecution of those involved, including Hegseth.
“Pete Hegseth is so f—ked,” said a workers rights lawyer on Threads. “The moment his orange daddy ain’t around, he is F—KED. He’s murderer and a war criminal and he’s pissed off every respectable officer in the military. That guy’s Fuuuu—keddd.”
Many in the comments predicted that even if Hegseth were held accountable, he would ultimately receive a presidential pardon. But at least one person warned, “A Trump pardon won’t save him from the Hague.”
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One critic on Threads responded: “And we’ve only begun waiting for you to go to a military prison Pete.”
“This INDISCRIMINATE MURDER must STOP NOW. Hegseth and Trump must be stopped and held accountable now. No proof, no identification, no DUE PROCESS equals MASS MURDER!” another fumed.
Others caught the irony of the moment following both Trump and Hegseth’s response to the six Democrats who warned military members against following unlawful orders.
“This is literally why that video about not following illegal orders was filmed,” said Mark.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, however, rejected the account, saying, “This entire narrative is completely false,” and insisted ongoing operations to dismantle narcoterrorism “have been a resounding success.”
Hegseth responded Friday on X, calling the report “fake news” but not disputing any of the specifics, writing, “these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes.’ The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”
He accused the Biden administration of having “preferred the kid gloves approach,” adding, “Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them.”
Early Saturday, Hegseth doubled down: “We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Eugene Vindman has called for an immediate inquiry into the September boat strike, tagging Hegseth on X and writing, “you will be held accountable for illegal orders you give.” He demanded the unredacted video of the strike and radio recordings of the orders “be shared with Congress and the American people immediately.”
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At the time of the strike, Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, commander at Fort Bragg, told participants on a secure channel that the survivors remained legitimate targets because they might summon other traffickers, according to the Post’s sources. He ordered the second strike to fulfill Hegseth’s directive.
The Pentagon has struck at least 22 additional boats, killing 71 more alleged smugglers. One operation yielded two survivors who were later captured by U.S. forces and repatriated to Ecuador and Colombia.
An apparent survivor from a strike in the Pacific was left to Mexican forces to rescue and never found. In other cases, boats were hit multiple times to ensure they sank. Briefings to Congress described the double tap on Sept. 2 as an effort to remove a navigation hazard, an explanation lawmakers found unpersuasive.
Hegseth’s forceful posture has also renewed internal concerns about his judgment. Several senior officials, speaking broadly about his tenure, have noted his limited management experience and the White House’s tendency to keep him away from high-stakes negotiations.
While Trump favors Hegseth personally, officials have increasingly relied on Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll for sensitive military diplomacy, including talks with Russia in Geneva to settle the Ukraine war. As Tom Nichols of The Atlantic wrote this week, the administration appears cautious about letting Hegseth handle “anything breakable or dangerous.”
Some commenters pointed out that Trump’s rhetoric about cracking down on narcotics entering the country directly contradicted his decision to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, convicted in 2024 on cocaine and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
On Friday, Trump defended the pardon on social media, saying Hernández had been “treated very harshly and unfairly.”