Mika SLAMS Hegseth’s 'EMBARRASSING' speech: “Desperate attempt to save his job”

[0:00] He took a few questions there, very friendly questions, I will note, after his opening remarks about the impeachment effort underway on Capitol Hill. [0:10] Mika, a few highlights here. He, of course, gave a rosy assessment of the Iran war, as he always does. [0:15] He used a lot of overheated warfighting rhetoric as well as a lot of religious imagery. [0:20] He compared the casualty counts to Iran war there to what's happened when America suffered in Vietnam and Korea, I guess, making the point that this was a lesser effort. [0:30] And he, of course, was very defensive in terms of the impeachment inquiry, suggesting it was a win for our adversaries to make him and his president weaker. [0:41] And he can, as he did repeatedly, every opportunity to praise the leadership of President Donald J. Trump. [0:46] Right. So very defensive and defiant former Fox News host and got to pull back a little bit looking at that performance. [0:57] You think about those who have held that position, Jim Mattis, Bob Gates, other cabinet secretaries, Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, my dad, Zbigniew Brzezinski. [1:09] And then you listen to Hegseth. It is it is a little embarrassing, I have to say, to hear him talk and to hear him talk about members serving in uniform. [1:25] I got a text from a Republican who served in the DOD and worked on Capitol Hill. [1:30] Hegseth's speech summarized this way. Mr. President, please don't let me go. [1:34] Pathetic to see him cowering behind those in uniform. [1:37] And that is the big point here. This was not for the media. [1:44] I don't even think it was for the American people. [1:46] I think it was for one person. And that would be Donald J. [1:50] Trump. What's going to matter here is is the president going to think this performance was anything but embarrassing and desperate and groveling? [2:02] Almost. It was childish at times. The language he used, the way he described some of the actions that the department took. [2:10] And he mentioned the Houthis. I mean, this is a secretary of defense who went on a group chat and described war plans and used little, you know, comments to show his excitement for the action. [2:28] And forgot that there was a reporter on the group chat. Thank God it was just a reporter, I guess, you know, and and a really good one. [2:36] But, yeah, I that that is that was a desperate attempt to save his job, I think. [2:45] I think that the president is from the reporting I've heard is is thinking about this. [2:51] Yeah, it's certainly an audience of one event there. [2:54] David Rhoad, Secretary Hegseth, went on about saying that he'd be the first, you know, cabinet official to be impeached like this. [3:00] We should also note that he was the first defense secretary who got in on the virtue of the vice president casting a tiebreaking vote. [3:07] It was 50 50. And then J.D. Vance stepped in and got him through, which shows at the beginning there were real questions, [3:13] even among some Republicans, about Hegseth's ability to lead this department. [3:17] He then just spent the last half hour trying to defend his his record. [3:24] But, you know, it seems that led by a Republican, these impeachment proceedings are going to continue. [3:30] Yeah, he didn't really address the main facts that are raised in the eight articles of impeachment. [3:34] And more broadly, it was very political. He complained that the impeachment was, you know, a political stunt. [3:40] And he just I just want to fact check him. I know, Jonathan, we did this again throughout the spring. [3:46] But first of all, Iran has not been defeated. He talked about Iran can no longer, my apologies, have a nuclear bomb. [3:55] That is false. That has not been achieved by the Trump administration. [3:58] He said that the U.S. was humiliated when American troops pulled out of Kabul. [4:02] That's true. That was a failure. But some argue that the way this war has gone in Iran has humiliated the United States also. [4:09] And this war will have more of an impact than that had. [4:11] He talked about the success of the drug store of the drug boat strikes. [4:17] That is just false, that it's there is no evidence that it's reduced the flow of drugs in the United States. [4:23] A D.A. study that was reported about this summer by The Washington Post found the drug prices have actually dropped in the United States. [4:31] Traffickers are simply using different routes to bring the drugs into this country. [4:35] And lastly, have his policies succeeded? This gets beyond the impeachment questions as secretary of state. [4:42] And that's the issue. He's accused of carrying out a purge of getting rid of generals that don't support the president enough or don't fit Secretary Hague says sort of political views. [4:52] He's requested one point five trillion dollars in funding. [4:56] And at the same time, U.S. forces are short on the interceptor missiles they need to defend themselves. [5:01] And some and he's sort of he's hidden also the amount of damage to U.S. bases in the region and been slow in terms of releasing U.S. casualties. [5:08] So I'm just I just want to fact check him on these claims of success over and over. [5:13] And, you know, he's that war in Iran is one. The Houthis have been defeated. [5:18] They're actually stronger than they were. And again, the Venezuela situation, the boat strikes have not reduced the flow of drugs into the United States. [5:27] Well, we appreciate this fact checking, of course, not clear. What are the next steps in the Iran war? [5:31] We should also note he repeatedly tried to link his impeachment proceedings with the impeachment of the president and sort of conflated attacks on him with with attacks on American troops, [5:40] which, of course, is not at all what is happening here. This is about the performance of Secretary Hegseth. [5:46] No one else. MSNOW, senior national security reporter David Rode. Thank you so much. [5:50] Hey, it's Rachel. I am so glad to see you at the end of that clip, because this is where I get to tell you about a new way to watch all our clips and all of our shows and everything on MSNOW on your phone or your tablet or your laptop. [6:03] You can watch things live or recorded. Plus, you can ask me and all the other hosts and reporters questions in our weekly live chats. [6:10] You can go to MSNOW membership or just click below. Thanks.