Tom Nichols

Pete Hegseth Treats Fallen American Soldiers as a PR Problem His use of the Iran war dead to attack the media was disgraceful.

In his press conference today, Pete Hegseth "used the deaths of U.S. military personnel to air his own grievances with the press," @radiofreetom.bsky.social argues in The Atlantic Daily:

The Clown Princess of Crime is at it again

There are much bigger issues at stake here than making anyone “look bad”. Sad this Administration can’t comprehend this.

You should’ve seen the first draft

Pete Hegseth Treats Fallen American Soldiers as a PR Problem His use of the Iran war dead to attack the media was disgraceful.

Pete Hegseth, if he does not resign, should at least get out of the way and let better men than him talk to the nation and to the press.

www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

As I said, possibly apocryphal. But truthy enough :)

You can still evict that mouse if Mike Pence has the courage

I saw Stinky Dead Mouse open up for The Clash at the Rat in Kenmore Square, I think it was in '79.

I regret to inform you all that Pete Hegseth is despicable. Story coming momentarily.

evergreen, sadly

This conversation with our dear friend @radiofreetom.bsky.social was a master class. Thanks, Tom, for joining Ben and me the @thebulwark.com’s Command Post.

coming up on MSNOW at 3

It was worse than that. I'll say more in today's upcoming @theatlantic.com daily

Sir, I think the strategy now is "shoot everything, and hope something good happens." You and Henry would never have allowed the Pentagon to blunder about like this, but then, Mr Laird wouldn't have done this either.

I will also be joining my friends at The Bulwark LIVE at 2 pm, then over to MSNOW at 3.

Okay, there's a lot for the RFT fam today, see how much of me you can stand.

Here I am with David Frum, in a challenging, go-deep convo on Iran:
podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/t...

This begins in 20 minutes!

When I have a high fever, I do the same thing

There's a reason presidents have been wary of assassinating foreign leaders: Once it starts, there's no telling where it will end. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

In the age of Trump, we sometimes forget that a good message like this is the right thing to do.

Talarico wins outright, the GOP has to spend money and fight an internal conflict in May

Old Hegseth: We aren’t fighting one of those open-ended wars without clear limits, goals, and objectives.

New Hegseth: “Metrics are shifting, dust is settling, and more forces are arriving.”

In other words: Never mind.

For all its dire implications for the people of the Americas, it’s starting to seem like the worst impact of the Venezuela raid is how it convinced a handful of very powerful, very stupid men that they could dump the “risks” section of the analysis into the trash

CNN just called it a “very tight race” between Talarico and Crockett.

7+ points is not a tight race.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw just lost his Republican primary in Texas. He will be out of Congress in January. Steve Toth has won, per NBC News projection.

Apparently, the mouse was wedged in to a very tight spot behind a pipe that goes into the floor so the cat is now off the hook

Our handyman found the stinky dead mouse, and that guy is such a magician that I would pay him in gold bullion if that’s what we wanted

after absolutely eviscerating Kristi Noem and calling for her resignation, Tillis is applauded. He thens threatens to hold up nominees if she doesn't stop stonewalling him. My God.

SHE LOVES ME