‘Thought You Promised to Quit Drinking?’: A 90-Second Video Sent Trump Into a Tailspin — But Hegseth’s Jealous Rage Is the Real Meltdown Everyone’s Talking About
President Donald Trump’s demand for retaliation against political opponents has ignited a bizarre, public feud, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth launching an obsessive and widely derided campaign against decorated military hero Sen. Mark Kelly.
The target of their rage is a simple 90-second video message to U.S. service members. Hegseth is threatening to reactivate the Arizona Democrat and bring a court-martial against him after an enraged Trump went ballistic calling the Democrats in the video “traitors” who should be executed for “seditious behavior.”
The video, which Kelly and five other lawmakers released, reminded troops that their loyalty lies with the U.S. Constitution first and that they can and should reject any “unlawful orders.”
Instead of following clear military procedure, Hegseth spent the next day fixated on the former Navy captain. The Secretary announced a “thorough review” of Kelly, citing “serious allegations of misconduct,” and then immediately went on the attack personally.
“So ‘Captain’ Kelly, not only did your sedition video intentionally undercut good order & discipline…but you can’t even display your uniform correctly,” Hegseth sneered in a post on X, claiming Kelly’s uniform was wrong. “Your medals are out of order & rows reversed. When/if you are recalled to active duty, it’ll start with a uniform inspection.”
Hegseth also claimed the video was a “politically-motivated influence operation,” according to ABC News.
“The military already has clear procedures for handling unlawful orders. It does not need political actors injecting doubt into an already clear chain of command,” he ranted on Tuesday never mentioning the former astronaut’s numerous military and NASA honors, including two Defense Superior Service Medals, a Legion of Merit and two Distinguished Flying Crosses
Social media responded to Hegseth’s comments with exasperation and derision.
“Good lord, Pete… I thought you promised to quit drinking? The image is clearly reversed….,” X user Catherine From MA posted.
This Threads user agreed, “He’s so jealous he can’t see straight. Or is that the liquor…”
And a fact check by X chatbot Grok responded that in fact Kelly was wearing his medals properly.
When asked, “Are the rows reversed?” Grok responded, “No. The top row clearly contains the higher-precedence U.S. military decorations, which is the correct orientation … Nothing in the image indicates that the rows are upside-down or reversed.”
@grok Are Captain Kelly’s medals out of order and rows reversed?
— Just Here For The Comments
(@here4thecoments) November 25, 2025
And when asked if the medals in the photo were out of order, Grok said, “No obvious order-of-precedence mistakes appear. The arrangement looks unusual…”
Kelly quickly turned the tables on Hegseth, using an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live to blast the Defense Secretary’s political motivations.
“It is right out of the playbook, you know, the playbook of authoritarianism. That’s what they do. They try to suppress speech,” Kelly said, reminding viewers that loyalty should be to the Constitution, not the President. Kelly also called Hegseth “totally unqualified” for the job and claimed “he just wants to please the president.”
Addressing the ludicrous threat of a court-martial, the Arizona senator stated, “He can go after me under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which is law in the military, which is kind of wild, because we recited something in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and he’s going to prosecute me under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It is so ridiculous, it’s almost like you can’t make this s— up.”
Kelly had previously rejected Hegseth’s accusations and possible “review” in a statement on X, writing about his long military career and rejecting the idea of intimidation.
“Secretary Hegseth’s tweet is the first I heard of this. I also saw the President’s posts saying I should be arrested, hanged, and put to death,” Kelly wrote. “If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won’t work,” he added.
While the Pentagon is not investigating the other five Democrats in the video, the FBI apparently is. Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin and four House Democrats said the FBI had sent messages to them requesting interviews.