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Top Military Leaders Send Stark Warning to Trump and Hegseth

28m 17s

Top Military Leaders Send Stark Warning to Trump and Hegseth

The transcript highlights a cascade of warnings from current and former U.S. military leaders over the past 24 hours, condemning the Trump administration’s handling of the military and the war with Iran. Central to the criticism is Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, whose purge of top generals—including Army Chief of Staff Randy George and General Christopher Donoghue—has left the Army rudderless, with a historic low of five four-star generals. The New York Times reports that Hegseth’s loyalists, like the inexperienced General Christopher Leneve, are filling key roles, prioritizing a "back-to-basics" testosterone-fueled ethos over modern drone warfare tactics. The Wall Street Journal reveals that CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper and Hegseth misled Trump with false optimism, ignoring intelligence warnings and J.D. Vance’s push for diplomacy, leading to a disastrous war. ProPublica details how Hegseth’s removal of civilian protection programs resulted in mass civilian casualties, including children. NBC reports Iran caused billions in damage to U.S. intelligence sites, exposing military vulnerabilities. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll plans to resign by Labor Day, but the White House wants him to stay. Retired General Barry McCaffrey warns of a strategic disaster, with the U.S. losing access to 15 Persian Gulf bases and facing no regional allies. The administration is also pushing a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, raising proliferation risks. Overall, the leaks paint a picture of an incompetent, reckless leadership that has endangered U.S. security and morale.

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Some of the top military generals and admirals past and present in the United States military have been issuing a series of warnings over the past 24 hours about the incompetence, recklessness, and maliciousness of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, of Admiral Brad Cooper, who is the commander of CENTCOM, as well as Donald Trump and the incompetent regime, the incompetent war plans, that they don't know what they are doing. So there has been a series of major, major leaks. This, as the Trump regime has apparently also raided the Secret Service offices, blaming the Secret Service for certain leaks regarding the old Air Force One. Donald Trump humiliated that these stories have gotten out about him hiding in the catering container with Natalie Harp. I'll probably do another video on that today, though, as well. But here's some of the warnings that are coming out. First, you had the New York Times reporting in the past 24 hours how Pete Hegseth's purge of top military generals has left the United States Army completely rudderless. And this article goes on to talk about how the firing of the Army Chief of Staff, Randy George, the beloved top. person in the United States Army, has led to a destruction of morale in the Army, that nobody has filled that position of Randy George. It also goes on to talk about General Donoghue, a beloved general, who Christopher Donoghue, the last man standing in Afghanistan, is what he was known for, who had a major role overseeing U.S. ground troops in Europe, and who also brought some of those lessons of the war in Ukraine to the Middle East during critical time where the Trump regime was not prepared for the drone warfare by Iran. This article talks about an incompetent and inexperienced general by the name of Christopher Leneve, who nobody seems to like, including the Republican senators. And this guy is a Pete Hegseth loyalist, a bootlegger, and he's going to be the president of the United States Army. And this guy is a Pete Hegseth loyalist, a bootlegger, who's a back-to-basics guy who's been working with Hegseth. That's what they call it, back-to-basics. Let's get rid of the cutting-edge drone programs and focus on testosterone-fueled World War II war ethos. I'm going to get into more of that leak in a moment. But then, so that was New York Times. Then you had the Wall Street Journal. The warnings that came before a war, now reaching the six-month mark. Military and diplomatic efforts. Trump pins his hope on economic warfare. But what the article really talks about is it cites top military officials, generals, admirals, present and former, who basically say Brad Cooper, who's the commander of CENTCOM, was telling Donald Trump just everything Trump wanted to hear. And he would boast and brag about all of the killing of Iranian leadership, but not really. He didn't really talk about what was really happening on the ground. He talked about how Hegseth and others around Hegseth would tell Donald Trump, everything's going great, this is easy, we have the best plan, we're going to destroy Iran. And meanwhile, you had everybody in the intelligence community, and you had J.D. Vance saying that this war should not be started, and that Donald Trump rejected the intelligence community for Hegseth and for Brad Cooper, who continue to provide false information about the war. Let's dig into that one a little more as well. Then there was another leak that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told all of the Middle East nations around the world that for now, the United States is not expected to initiate new strikes against Iran, because the United States doesn't really even have the military capabilities to protect former allies in the Middle East, who you know have now formed the Mecca Pact, a lot of them Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey. And then there's just been regional coalitions forming that now that the United States security umbrella has utterly broken down. Then you had another leak, you following this? So there was the New York Times leak, top military officials. The Wall Street Journal leak, top military officials. There was that leak right there to an Israeli channel about Rubio. Then there was a leak all in the past 24 hours. Another one to ProPublica. After U.S. missile strikes killed hundreds of civilians in Iran and Yemen, the Defense Department is poised to reinstate a program meant to reduce civilian harm during military operations. Pete Hegseth gutted it over the objections of top commanders. So in this article, it talks about how top military commanders told Hegseth, do not cut off the civilian protection program. But he did it anyway. And the consequence of getting rid of the civilian protection program were things like the slaughtering of little girls in Manab, the slaughtering of the girl volleyball players in Le Maire, and other war crimes that need to get more attention, where the United States just slaughtered little children in Iran. And a lot of that took place in the early stages of the war. So you had that article as well. But by the way, the leaks, that continued. Then you had NBC, top military commanders and officials, talking about how the Trump regime has understated the destruction of American military bases in the region. The article is, Iran inflicted billions in damage to U.S. intelligence sites. Sources say, the attacks on buildings and surveillance equipment in the Middle East caused unprecedented damage for the CIA and other U.S. spy agencies. The NBC reporting is as such. Iranian missile and drone attacks have inflicted unprecedented damage on U.S. intelligence posts and surveillance hardware in the Middle East that is more extensive than any destruction America's spy agencies have endured and will cost billions of dollars to repair, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. And it talks about how Iran had very precise intelligence regarding where the U.S. intelligence assets were in the region. The U.S. The U.S. was unable to protect those assets. And one of the things that we know is that Hegseth had no plan. Hegseth is an idiot. Brad Cooper is a horrible CENTCOM commander. He's turned CENTCOM into a MAGA bootlicking propaganda social media operation. Shame on Cooper. And it pains me to say that I thought he'd be a serious guy, but he's turned out to be a total clown. And we now know because a lot of what he saw Donald Trump failed, so he dug deeper and deeper. But he's kept his position because he's a Trump MAGA bootlicker. And then finally, we have yet another leak. This is all again in the past 24 hours. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who we've talked about before as wanting to leave his position because he was an ally of Randy George, Army Chief of Staff, and Christopher Donahue, who had that top post in Europe, who was forced out by Hegseth. And Driscoll believed in modernizing, how we're troops learning the lessons of drone warfare from Ukraine. But Hegseth wants to talk about injecting testosterone and war ethos and back to the basics, gutting these key programs and just projecting a kind of all white kind of military, whatever, you know. I mean, remember, Hegseth was in the military and he views the fact that he got pushed out of the military from the National Guard because of his time in the military. He has tattoos. He views that he was wronged and he's out to get revenge and vengeance on all of the top military people who he thinks wronged him. Hegseth is nowhere near qualified to be anywhere near any position of, like, medium leadership, yet alone to be the Secretary of Defense. In any event, we reported how Driscoll wanted out over the weekend. Remember that report? Well, now what we're learning about from another NBC leak is that Driscoll is not going to be in the military. Driscoll wants out, like, by Labor Day. Like, dude doesn't want to stay any longer. And even though he's being pushed out also by Hegseth, some people in the White House, particularly J.D. Vance, like, dude, we need him right now because he's the only kind of sane and rational person. So that's the sense of all of the leaks that have happened in a very short period of time. And then you have General Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star U.S. Army general who served in Vietnam, and the Gulf War, commanded U.S. Southern Command, and later served in President Clinton's cabinet as Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Last night, he posted the following message. The U.S. Navy is an incredible fighting force. Twenty warships and two carriers are deadly to the Iranians. The Navy has enormous offensive and defensive capabilities. They are well out to sea, and difficult to find or attack. The problem is logistics. The Iranians have ended the U.S. military. of army, navy, and air force Persian Gulf logistics bases which have been hammered by ballistic missiles and drones. Now the fleet will be supported from Diego Garcia and the Philippines, not by our former bases in the Middle East. We will disperse air power to western Saudi Arabia and southern Europe. The army will harden our dispersed missile forces. We are in the middle of a strategic disaster with no allies or support from the American people. In my judgment, he says, the U.S. armed forces have probably permanently lost access to 15 Persian Gulf bases. Iran now is poised to control access to the Gulf states. The U.S. will have to negotiate new access in western Saudi Arabia, Israel, and southern Europe. And you see what the U.S. is now doing with Saudi Arabia. Donald Trump announcing yet again that he will be giving Saudi Arabia access to civilian nuclear capabilities, which can always be upgraded to weapons-grade nuclear capabilities. And remember when Donald Trump was saying, but you have to join the Abraham Accords. Well, Donald Trump was just saying that. Donald Trump seems to be giving the nuclear capabilities to Saudi Arabia, and he wants Congress to blow up. He wants to blow up. He wants to blow up. He wants to blow up. He wants Congress to bless that. Also, McCaffrey says, note to readers, my posts are never based on classified information. I do not solicit input from active military leadership. I work tirelessly hours a day to gain an objective grasp on national security issues. My 32 years of military service included years of direct involvement with global leaders. 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But with trees.com, I can find exactly what I need online and have it delivered right to my door. The plants I've received arrived healthy, thriving, to plant, and there's real peace of mind knowing they're backed by the Alive and Thrive guarantee, with plant experts available if you need help along the way. They have thousands of options for virtually every climate and space. Right now, they have great deals on planting essentials, up to half off on select plants, and listeners to our show get 20% off their purchase when using the code MIDAS at checkout. That's an additional 20% off better plants and better growing at trees.com. Using the code MIDAS at checkout. Trees.com, code MIDAS, M-E-I-D-A-S. Now's the perfect time to plant. Let's grow together. Use MIDAS to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. And you see just the amateur behavior of our military. I mean, this guy, Sean Parnell, who's at the defense department, I mean, posting memes like this, America, taxing. America might was on full display at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. You see that. Then their new like marketing campaign is send me, send me, send me into war, send me. I don't care what the mission is. Send me. What do you mean send me? It's actually the opposite. Our service members, and from all we've heard from their family members and from them, don't want to be sent into unlawful and catastrophic wars. They don't want to be told you have to go to war. They don't want to be told you have to follow Netanyahu into these war crimes in the region and slaughter little children. They don't want to be sent into places where our military leadership doesn't even give them basic nutrition, doesn't give them food, doesn't give them showers, doesn't give them the basic necessities of life and treats their families like absolute crap and then defames their family members when their family members raise the alarm that their family members who are serving are being treated like crap. They don't want to be sent into places where our military leadership doesn't even give them basic nutrition, doesn't give them food, doesn't give them showers, doesn't give them food, doesn't give them I mean, y'all lost a war to Iran. You ran out of munitions. You ran out of weapons. And this is what you're posting here. Play this clip. Play this clip. We're going to end America's dependence on foreign supply chains and our adversaries. And we're going to build the interceptors on our own. We're going to build patriots on our own. And he released this weird video. I'll show it to you. And it's just like, what are you? What are you doing, man? Like, what the hell are you doing? You ran out of the interceptors. Okay. And we can have relationships with allies because parts come from different areas. Like America's doesn't make everything. And you can say, well, now we're going to. Well, we're not. You're not doing it. You're just being performative. And you're attacking our allies. And you are a bunch of idiots who ran out of weapons in a war against Iran with a trillion dollar budget. You're a bunch of idiots is who you are. And you've always been dumb your whole life. You've not been successful in your life. You should never have had these positions. You're bad people. And you're doing bad things now in leadership. Here, play this clip. American battlefield readiness runs through our schools. Small businesses. It always has. The vehicles, the planes, and even rifles in our warfighters' hands rely on a supply chain of hundreds of specialty producers. A patriot missile depends on hundreds more. These are the local factories, the shop floors, and the labs forging the arsenal of freedom. And that's why today the Department of War and the Small Business Administration are establishing the Smaller War Plants Commission. In the spirit of the historic Smaller War Plants Corporation. The hard work of the Department of War. Dude, just don't run out of weapons in a war. Okay? And then don't lie and say we don't have a munitions problem. It's very freaking simple. Here, let's play this clip. Secretary Hegseth has established the mission. America must build what our military needs when it needs it right here at home. That's where our most innovative, agile businesses come in. The SBA is proud to join the Department of War in establishing the Smaller War Plants Commission. This name reflects the SBA's commitment to the small world. The SBA's predecessor agencies formed during World War II and the Korean War that backed the mission-critical small defense manufacturers that armed American forces through victory. Now, just going back to this article in the New York Times, just so you can see how significant it is. Hegseth's purge of top generals leaves the Army rudderless. The Army has not had a chief of staff, the service's top officer, since Hegseth fired General Randy George. Hegseth forced out at least three senior officers who had been viewed as potential successors to General George. We know about Driscoll, who is leaving. Beyond General George, Hegseth has fired or forced out half a dozen senior officers, a generation of the Army's most combat-hardened leaders, thinning the service's top ranks for the next several years, top military officials told the New York Times. It goes on to talk about one measure of the vacuum. The vacuum at the top of the Army is the number of four-star generals serving in its ranks. As recently as January 2025, when Hegseth took office, there were 10 four-star generals on active duty. The service currently has five, the fewest in decades. Some of those positions are command-focused on regions of the world, like the Middle East or Asia, and are being filled by senior officers from other services. Some have been eliminated, others, like the job overseeing the Army's transformation. Some of those positions are command-opposed on regions of the world, like the job overseeing the Army's transformation. David Houdini, to lead the command and then fired him eight months later without explanation. The command is responsible for training and equipping the army's ground units, including its Patriot anti-missile crews. The Patriots are the main defense against Iranian ballistic missiles fired at U.S. bases in the Middle East. So why did we run out of Patriot interceptors? Well, because we didn't have the person there who was in charge to even know how you're supposed to use them in the first place. And so what Iran would do, recognizing that the U.S. purged its top military, is it knew where to shoot its Shahid drones and where to shoot its ballistic and cruise missiles and how to attract a huge amount of Patriots and THAADs, which caused on the Patriot side $4.5 to $5 million per Patriot. On the THAADs, it's like $8 to $10 million per THAADs. Each shoots two to try to shoot down like a $50,000 drone or at most a few $100,000 cruise missile or ballistic from Iran. Some are more expensive. And so Iran, every time it would launch a strike on a U.S. military base, could draw out $30, $50, $100 million worth of U.S. interceptors and they still wouldn't do the job of stopping the Iranian missiles from striking the bases. The article talks about, again, getting rid of General Donoghue, whose command overseeing U.S. ground troops in Europe was changed to a three-star position. And that was a critical vacancy. On the opening day of the war, Iran launched all of these Shahid drones and General Donoghue's command, building off the lessons of the war in Ukraine, had trained and equipped teams of drone defenders who were quickly dispatched to the Middle East. But then we fired Donoghue and got rid of him. And then, of course, there's Randy George. And then they brought in this Lenev guy who is viewed as just a sycophant bootlicker of Hegsip. We talked about what the Wall Street Journal's report was. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard cautioned that killing Supreme Leader Komeny could bring a more hardline regime open to acquiring nuclear weapons. J.D. Vance. J.D. Vance urged diplomacy. But at the same time, you had Netanyahu, Hegsip, Cooper, and others close to that group pushing Trump for war. And Trump took their advice over the intelligence community's advice. And so the short of it is you've got all of those warnings in a very short period of time. Oh, and now we've also learned that Donald Trump is submitting, officially now, the plan to give Saudi Arabia. a civilian nuclear weapons program, which we know is really the precursor to a weapons-grade nuclear program in Saudi Arabia. Because now, as Donald Trump destroyed the U.S. security umbrella in the region, and all of these nations are looking for Trump to pay up on the quid pro quos that Trump was giving them when they gave Donald Trump personally a lot of money and his family a lot of money, it's like, all right, UAE will give you our classified semiconductor chips. You want our black wells. Saudi Arabia, what do you want? All right, you want nuclear capabilities from the United States? We'll give you that. Now, we'll see what happens if our Congress actually allows the nuclear deal to go through. It's an election season. I don't think they will, but, you know, it's, you know, it's still controlled by Republicans in the Senate. So we will, and the House. So we will see. Anyway, I know that was comprehensive. We covered a lot of topics. I'm appreciative of you. I'm grateful for you. Get a copy. Where did they put the book? WTF America, somewhere over there. Get a copy of the book I wrote with my brothers. Thanks, everybody, for watching. Hey, if you want the full story, how democracy got here and how we take it back, pre-order our new book, WTF America, today. Just scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's do this. We'll see you next time. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Multiple leaks from top military officials criticize Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper, and the Trump administration for incompetence and reckless war planning.
  2. Hegseth’s purge of senior Army leaders, including firing Chief of Staff Randy George, has left the Army rudderless, with only five four-star generals—the fewest in decades.
  3. The Wall Street Journal reports that Cooper and Hegseth fed Trump false optimism about the Iran war, ignoring intelligence community warnings and J.D. Vance’s calls for diplomacy.
  4. ProPublica reveals Hegseth gutted a civilian harm reduction program, leading to mass civilian casualties, including children, in strikes on Iran and Yemen.
  5. NBC reports Iran inflicted billions in damage on U.S. intelligence sites in the Middle East, exposing the military’s inability to protect its assets.
  6. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll plans to leave by Labor Day, but the White House, especially J.D. Vance, wants him to stay due to his rationality.
  7. Retired General Barry McCaffrey warns the U.S. has lost access to 15 Persian Gulf bases, creating a strategic disaster with no allies or public support.
  8. The administration is pursuing a civilian nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, seen as a precursor to weapons-grade capabilities.
  9. Hegseth’s "back-to-basics" approach, favoring World War II-era tactics over drone warfare lessons, has led to munitions shortages and failed defenses against Iranian attacks.

Summary:

S. military leaders over the past 24 hours, condemning the Trump administration’s handling of the military and the war with Iran. Central to the criticism is Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, whose purge of top generals—including Army Chief of Staff Randy George and General Christopher Donoghue—has left the Army rudderless, with a historic low of five four-star generals.

The New York Times reports that Hegseth’s loyalists, like the inexperienced General Christopher Leneve, are filling key roles, prioritizing a "back-to-basics" testosterone-fueled ethos over modern drone warfare tactics. D. Vance’s push for diplomacy, leading to a disastrous war.

ProPublica details how Hegseth’s removal of civilian protection programs resulted in mass civilian casualties, including children. S. intelligence sites, exposing military vulnerabilities.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll plans to resign by Labor Day, but the White House wants him to stay. S. losing access to 15 Persian Gulf bases and facing no regional allies.

The administration is also pushing a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, raising proliferation risks. S. security and morale.

FAQs

Top military officials have warned that Pete Hegseth is incompetent, reckless, and malicious, with his purge of senior generals leaving the U.S. Army rudderless and morale destroyed.

Hegseth fired or forced out several top generals, including Army Chief of Staff Randy George, leaving the service with only five four-star generals, the fewest in decades, and no clear leadership or successors.

General Donoghue, who oversaw U.S. ground troops in Europe and applied Ukraine war lessons, was removed, leaving a critical vacancy that weakened drone defense preparations during the Iran conflict.

Trump rejected intelligence community warnings, including from J.D. Vance and Tulsi Gabbard, and instead trusted Hegseth and CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper, who provided overly optimistic and false information.

Iranian missile and drone attacks caused unprecedented damage to U.S. intelligence sites and surveillance hardware in the Middle East, costing billions to repair, according to sources.

The purge of top military leaders, including the head of Army Futures Command, left the Army without proper oversight, leading to mismanagement of Patriot and THAAD interceptors, which were overwhelmed by Iranian drones and missiles.

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