this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
443 points (99.8% liked)

politics

28737 readers
2240 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Whether it was due to the early hour of the day or just to the blood-thirsty nature of the moment, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared particularly unhinged during the first official news ...

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 5 points 11 hours ago

Is that him admitting to bombing those girls?

[–] thlibos@thelemmy.club 5 points 11 hours ago

Send this absolute fucking shithawk to The Hague.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago

So their plan to cheat the election is sending the troops to die in Iran, so they can't even coup that fucking orange pedophile...

[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 8 points 19 hours ago

Netanyahu and trump are Mussolini and Hitler 2.0

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 20 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Is that why we're shooting down our own F-15s? His ROE is just "if you see something, shoot something?"

[–] minorkeys@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago

He got torn apart by Trump behind closed doors and now he's overcompensating for his failures by being even more abusive than usual to try and salvage this and win daddy Trump's approval again. Because conservatives think hitting harder and being less empathetic is obviously the solution and since Trump is a raging narcissist and has zero empathy, the standard for what's acceptable is anything that doesn't harm Trump. Why would anyone think Trump, the racist, serial child rapist, would give a fuck about some brown children getting blown apart?

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 79 points 1 day ago

Rules of engagement are literally how you define the difference between a civilian and an enemy combatant.

"No rules of engagement" is military lingo for "yes to all the war crimes."

[–] mcv@lemmy.zip 77 points 1 day ago (15 children)

No stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy-building exercise, no politically correct wars.

No democracy, no nation building. So what is the actual goal here? Just to shoot stuff for its own sake?

[–] porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

The goal is not to make Bush's mistake of setting a goal that they can later be held accountable to.

[–] mcv@lemmy.zip 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

So just shoot the place up, see what comes out, and then declare that that was the goal all along.

[–] porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 1 points 13 hours ago

Yeah, pretty much. I think they're really hoping for Syria, but I'm not sure they can achieve that, Iran is a much more unified country.

[–] masta_chief@sh.itjust.works 3 points 15 hours ago

I have a feeling it's as simple as wanting to use all the toys they've spent trillions on over the years and just want to see big explosions and play war.

Imagine if our society provided taxpayer funded paintball/airsoft/bomb ranges so all these warmongers can get their rocks off without hurting people.

[–] aquovie@lemmy.cafe 7 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

"Democracy" and "nation building" is just "occupation" by another name. So I guess we can take some comfort in that not being their goal?

[–] duncan_bayne@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Sometimes. It can be done honorably and with good outcomes; Japan and Germany post-WW2 are good examples.

[–] aquovie@lemmy.cafe 1 points 11 hours ago

There are very few absolutes in life. War is bad, until you need to kill some Nazis. Occupation is bad, until you tread that fine line between Treaty of Versailles (too heavy) and 1800's Reconstruction (too light). Statistically, you're almost certainly not doing the right thing.

[–] mcv@lemmy.zip 2 points 13 hours ago

Those are the good examples, and they worked very well. But ever since, the US seems to think they can replicate the effect by going in, bombing the place, shooting some locals, and declaring mission accomplished.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 63 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Now I'm hearing that the commanders all gave their troops a speech about doing this for God and Christianity, etc., so it seems like the primary motivation was to kick off the End Times for the religious freaks.

So we're in it until The Rapture. Our entire world has to burn down to satisfy the fantasies of delusional religious weirdos, so the Sociopathic Oligarchs can comb through the rubble for treasure.

How about we just Rapture the entire MAGA leadership, and move on?

[–] GutterRat42@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I am an atheist, but if heaven and hell exist, they should know, there is enough space in hell for them.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago

No god worth worshipping would condone their actions. I stand by the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius, that I will live a moral life and reject any god that has a problem with it. Killing to kill is the mandate of an evil god.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 9 points 1 day ago

I understand. Whenever one of these psychopaths assume room temperature, I'm always slightly sad that I don't believe in their mythology.

When Dick Cheney croaked, I remember thinking that it would be really nice to be able to smile at the thought of him having his Welcome Orientation in Hell. Instead, I was just sad for the person who didn't get a heart because Cheney took it.

[–] Didntdoit71@feddit.online 5 points 1 day ago

Call it whatever you want...just...make them stop...

[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

He just wasn’t getting that same high exploding South American fishermen anymore.

Tolerance is a hell of a drug.

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] TomMasz@piefed.social 47 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I dunno, maybe putting an alcoholic psychopath in charge of the armed forces wasn't a great idea.

[–] PlaidBaron@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago

I got some news about military leadership for the last 500 years.

[–] m3t00@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago

fox news host drama. ad lib

[–] f314@lemmy.world 143 points 1 day ago (3 children)

No stupid rules of engagement

This sounds like a great way to get your planes shot down by allies!

[–] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago

friendly fire ain’t gonna fire itself

[–] CADmonkey@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

Let's see if it happens three times, just to be sure.

[–] ExtremeDullard@piefed.social 168 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Fun fact: the last head of state who launched a war without rules of engagement was Adolf Hitler.

[–] eddanja@lemmy.world 54 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] three@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

F is for fire that burns down the whole town!

U is for uranium... bombs!

N is for no survivors

[–] jim_v@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Planktonnn! That's not what fun is about!

[–] Bieren@lemmy.today 18 points 1 day ago

He’s not high. He’s drunk.

[–] e8CArkcAuLE@piefed.social 87 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Whether it was due to the early hour of the day or just to the blood-thirsty nature of the moment, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared particularly unhinged during the first official news briefing about President Donald Trump’s attacks on Iran.

are they implying he was still drunk from the night before? 🤫

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 50 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I think a big part no one talks about, is all these old men are on gender affirming hormone care because their physical identity doesn't match their mental identity.

They want to be 20 again, so they're shooting up enough testorone that they have the logic and critical thinking of a 20 year old.

The alcoholism isn't helping, but that's not where the bloodlust is coming from.

I've had a couple friends try, and I honestly don't know why anyone over 40 would ever want to feel 20 again. They all love if for like 6-12 months, before they realize acting like they're 20 again isn't a good thing and it's fucking their lives up.

When the people running the country are on it, they're fucking all our lives up, the alcoholism is why Hegsworth can't come that realization on his own, or listen to anyone telling him.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] horn_e4_beaver@discuss.tchncs.de 31 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

no nation-building quagmire

Surely this is how you build the next generation of aggrieved suicide bombers?

Oh, and create an absolutely massive migrant problem.

[–] GardenGeek@europe.pub 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

For whom?

Europe most probably. This will strenghten right wing parties and weaken thr union... win-win. While the majority of EU is licking US boots after they started a war of agression against a sovereign nation with little to no justification of any kind... I'm tired Boss.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] PoopSpiderman@lemmy.world 59 points 1 day ago (6 children)

People dunk on Pete about alcohol because he’s been drunk at inappropriate times in the past, but I think they basically ignore the fact that he probably does a ton of blow too.

[–] ZiggyTheZygote@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Definitely. He has to be sharp and focused while making terrible decisions.

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] U7826391786239@piefed.zip 66 points 1 day ago

people who should be spending decades in prison are instead starting wars with the rest of the world

[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My favorite was "no more politically correct wars"...... So I guess the only option moving forward is politically incorrect wars? I don't think I can keep up with the Machiavellian minds of this 4d chess administration.

[–] UpperBroccoli@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Macciavellian? Are you serious? Macchiavelli said you can be a cruel asshole, but the one thing you cannot be is unpredictable. Old Mac would have given this US government a 2/10 score.

[–] Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz 0 points 14 hours ago

~~defense secretary~~ war secretary IFTFY

load more comments
view more: next ›