SURROUNDINGS: Hegseth spilled with tribal anger!

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2026

The segregation we've chosen: Yesterday morning, at 8 o'clock Eastern, Secretary Hegseth briefed the nation along with General Caine. As usual, he was annoyed by the sheer stupidity of the Lilliputians by whom he was surrounded. 

Six minutes into the Q-and-A session, General Caine answered a perfectly sensible question. It concerned a report that additional troops were being sent into the theater. 

That Q-and-A was perfectly sensible on both ends. Now, the secretary's rabbit ears had him responding to a different question.

How long was this military action likely to be? The question had been shouted out without being formally recognized, but Secretary Hegseth had heard it:

HEGSETH (3/2/26): I heard the question about "four weeks." It's the typical NBC sort of gotcha type question. 

President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take. Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks—it could move up, it could move back. We're going to execute, at his command, the objectives we've set out to achieve. And what he has shown ability to do, that other presidents can't quite seem to have the aperture to do—well, I mean, Joe Biden didn't even know what he was doing—is to look for opportunities and off ramps and escalations for the United States that creates new opportunities to execute what we need on our own timeline.

So you can play games about "four weeks, five weeks." He has all the latitude. And I'm glad he does, because there's no better communicator than our president expressing those things.

I've been in meetings with the president for the last two and a half days. We know exactly where his head space is, and he will communicate, as he should, exactly what he would like, and we will follow those orders. And I think everything he said on that is right down the middle. 

Whatever his possible merits might be, Hegseth is a bit of a hothead. In the current instance, his rabbit ears had heard a reporter "playing games" by trying to ask a "typical NBC gotcha type question." 

Also, under current rules of the tribal game, there could be no presser without a statement about what a dumbass former president Joe Biden had been. 

Hegseth is routinely peeved with the sheer stupidity of the others. Two minutes later, there he went again:

REPORTER: Secretary Hegseth, and one for Chairman Caine as well. I understand to your point here, that you don't want to broadcast everything for our adversaries to hear, but the American people also want to know what they're sending their men and women to war for. Is there a concern of this spiraling into a longer war? And then one for the chairman when you're done.

HEGSETH: Did you not hear my remarks? I mean, we're ensuring the mission gets accomplished, but we are very clear-eyed, as the president has been, unlike other presidents, about the foolish policies of the past that recklessly pulled us in, the things that were not tethered to actual clear objectives. 

So we know we have plans, we have generals, we have chairmans, we have commanders, CENTCOM commanders, Admiral Cooper, who's executing very deliberately to ensure outcomes that I laid out are accomplished. But we would never, in front of a press pool, lay out how long that may take. The mission for our war fighters, which is what matters to us, is very, very clear and they're executing it right now, violently. 

Why can't these idiots listen? Once again, the fellow was peeved.

In fairness, Hegseth's answer makes basic sense. What's striking is the hostility with which he delivered his answer—and the constant denigration of the "foolish policies of the past" advanced by those dumb other presidents.

Unlike the calm and professional General Caine, Secretary Hegseth is a bit of a hothead. He has the revolutionary fervor which can arise in the surroundings from which he emerged at the Fox News Channel.

Hegseth was working as co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend when President-elect Trump selected him to serve as Secretary of Defense. As such, Hegseth was deeply entrenched within the modern array of American "news orgs" built upon the principle of "segregation by viewpoint."

We now have Cable News Red and Cable News Blue, with CNN still trying to find some way to maintain some sort of tribal balance. Under current arrangements, the war fighters of our major "cable news" channels are kept separate, Red from Blue.

Rarely the twain shall meet. Unfortunately, the angry certainty voiced by Hegseth is part of the siloed segregation we've unwisely chosen

As is routine on the Fox News Channel, so too in Hegseth's remarks! To this day, it's rare to see participants expound on Fox News Channel programs without someone making mocking remarks about the dumbness of President Biden. Beyond that, the presumed bad faith and stupidity of Blue America is a constant part of the diet the Red American viewer is served. 

As usual, Hegseth was peeved with the NBC style gotcha questions at yesterday's press event. As usual, he broke from entrenched tradition, taking unsolicited shots at the foolish policies of the dumbbell presidents of the past.

This steady drumbeat of tribal attack is now a basic part of American journalistic culture. Luckily, Hegseth does know where the current president's "head space" is. He's also quite sure that "there's no better communicator than our president," and that everything that president has said "is right down the middle." 

In fairness, journalists sometimes do ask redundant questions. Also, the policies of past presidents have almost surely fallen short of some Platonic ideal. 

That said, an unsettling question about the sitting president arose on CNN just last Thursday night.  

Does Mary L. Trump have any idea what the heck she's talking about? For ourselves, we'd guess that she almost certainly does—but whether she does or whether she doesn't, this is again what she said:

ERIN BURNETT (2/26/26): You've known him your whole life. Do you actually see a [cognitive] decline?

MARY L. TRUMP: I do, but I think it's important to remember that Donald has never been fit in any capacity. Obviously, what we're dealing with now are age-related cognitive declines. We're dealing with physical issues that the White House tries to cover over.

But this is somebody who for decades now has had serious, undiagnosed and untreated psychiatric disorders, which are only going to worsen, especially given the pressure he's under and given the cognitive and physical declines. 

Say what? The doctorate-wielding clinical therapist said she sees a cognitive decline in her uncle, the sitting president. But she also said what she initially said in her best-selling 2020 book, Too Much and Never Enough:

She said her uncle "is somebody who for decades now has had serious, undiagnosed and untreated psychiatric disorders, which are only going to worsen." Last week, that very same sitting president launched a war against Iran. 

President Trump has launched a war against Iran. Opinions on the undertaking differ.

Yesterday, on the Fox News Channel's Will Cain Show, (retired) General Jack Keane offered a fascinating account of the past forty-plus years, expressing the view that the president's decision is long overdue. 

"Stop patronizing me," he gruffly told his host at one point, as Cain attempted to offer the standard thanks for the general's service.

General Keane apologized to Cain when the segment ended, but Cain's search for greater clarity about the actual goals of this mission had triggered a fascinating cable news segment. We'll recommend that you watch the full videotape, as offered by Mediaite. 

Even inside Silo Red, denunciations of the president's decision are now being heard. (Questions are even being asked, as Cain did this day.)

The current structure of American discourse has rarely produced disagreements within a tribe. Hegseth's views were never challenged by the other friends on Fox & Friends Weekend. Within this culture of viewpoint segregation, Hegseth's brand of angry certainty is likely to arise and take hold.

As we speak, the president has propelled us into a war which has perhaps been somewhat poorly explained. All week, we'll try to describe the surroundings of that fateful decision, including the anger and the tribal certainty exhibited by players like Hegseth.

For today, we'll offer one clear thought about the cultural practices surrounding the president's decision. That on clear thought would be this:

Twenty-four hour "cable news" has turned out be to be an extremely bad idea.

We'll also float this additional thought: 

We Blue Americans aren't as flawless as we occasionally may believe. 

Mary Trump has emerged again with what should be a troubling thought about the man she's known her whole life. From 2017 right through to today, Blue America's journalists and academics have agreed that a medical possibility of this type must not be discussed. 

We're left today with the possibility that the fateful decision to launch this war was made by a man afflicted with the unfortunate but dangerous medical conditions Mary Trump has described. When Dr. Bandy X. Lee offered similar thoughts in 2017, her own best-selling book got disappeared by the Blue American press, and she ended up losing her position at Yale.

We apologize for today's jumble—for the lack of one simple pure thought. We apologize for this grab bag of surroundings, but for those who are willing to stare into the sun, there are quite a few more surroundings to come.

Tomorrow: Joe Biden's recent speech?