I Would Say The Senate Is Finding Its Spine…

GOP Sen. Kennedy cuts off Hegseth as he rambles and says, "Guys, we need straight answers! We need straight answers" pic.twitter.com/LfmJqV8eER

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026

...but that would be too much. (Sen. Leghorn wants something he can spin as a “straight answer.”)

HEGSETH: President Trump deserves the kind of praise he should get for undertaking this effort

REED: Excuse me. So he should be praised for starting a war without authority and creating a situation in which the world economy is suffering tremendously? pic.twitter.com/3LvuNxAN4D

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026

MURRAY: How it is possible if Iran's capabilities were 'functionally destroyed' 3 months ago for them to be bombing us now?

HEGSETH: Iran is at the weakest point militarily it has ever been in pic.twitter.com/uiCOwbOq0N

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026

Didn’t Maria Bartiromo ask that question?

HEGSETH: Iran is not charging tolls and they are shooting at ships right now

MURRAY: Trump said he wanted to charge a 20% toll

HEGSETH: We have a blockade and it is effective pic.twitter.com/9X1qhRP2LO

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026

Sen. Murray is more satisfied with non-straight answers; because she knows Kegsbreath looks like a fool.

Reed: Your fallback to the Biden administration is just a very obvious excuse for what I think is probably gross negligence. You did not fully inform the president that you would be in a situation where the Strait of Hormuz could be effectively closed.

Hegseth: The fact that… pic.twitter.com/grCnrYcu66

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 21, 2026

Reed: Your fallback to the Biden administration is just a very obvious excuse for what I think is probably gross negligence. You did not fully inform the president that you would be in a situation where the Strait of Hormuz could be effectively closed.

Hegseth: The fact that those contingencies all were part of the possibility, and we understood that is all the more reason why president trump deserves the kind of praise he should get.

Reed: He should be praised for starting war without authority, creating a situation in which the world economy is suffering tremendously?

See?

HEGSETH: I don't know what Lloyd Austin did for four years

DURBIN: I'm sure he has questions about what you're doing now pic.twitter.com/pFWB3MMoW2

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026

It’s rope-a-dope.

MURRAY: Why exactly are billions of dollars for the National Guard and this administration's illegal strikes in the Caribbean urgently needed for the Iran war?

HEGSETH: Because of Biden pic.twitter.com/u66AYNaxic

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026

HEGSETH: We had US boats that surrendered to Iranian ships during the Biden administration--

REED: Listen -- we're talking about the war you started. Not a situation in which oil was flowing freely, there was no conflict, we weren't losing personnel. So your fallback to the… pic.twitter.com/o08lXFBVyO

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026

HEGSETH: I appreciate as much as anyone winning a war, but I sit in front of a committee that wants to talk about winning a war that's been going for four years, and talks about strategic defeat in a conflict that's been going on for four months to prevent Iran from getting a… pic.twitter.com/Xpnxwz61mO

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026

HEGSETH: I appreciate as much as anyone winning a war, but I sit in front of a committee that wants to talk about winning a war that's been going for four years, and talks about strategic defeat in a conflict that's been going on for four months to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb

SHAHEEN: I don't want to hear your speech

Something Obama accomplished without starting a war, depleting our military resources, losing control of the Strait of Hormuz, and endangering the world economy.

Hegseth: I would take issue with your characterization that we started this war. Iran started this war 47 years ago We didn’t start it. They did. pic.twitter.com/WzvKerV9QM

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 21, 2026

The CIA started it 73 years ago, genius. The Shah was so oppressive Khomeini looked like a better bet 26 years later.

VAN HOLLEN: Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is necessary for us to win, right?

HEGSETH: The overarching objective is ensuring Iran never has a nuclear weapon pic.twitter.com/sOn1ER3gvP

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026

Hegseth keeps saying that the goal of the war is to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon ... and yet, Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon is UNCHANGED since last summer, when the US joined Israel in attacking Iran's nuclear program. Our current military strikes are… https://t.co/ekAXQTiXlB

— Michael A. Cohen (NOT TRUMP’S FORMER FIXER) (@speechboy71) July 21, 2026

Hegseth keeps saying that the goal of the war is to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon ... and yet, Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon is UNCHANGED since last summer, when the US joined Israel in attacking Iran's nuclear program. Our current military strikes are focused almost exclusively on preventing Iran from closing the Straits of Hormuz -- not destroying Iran's nuclear program.

Hegseth is straight up lying. It would be nice if Senate Democrats pointed that out.

Fair point. Although I wouldn’t say this is helping:

Trump offers sales pitch for his war:

"Afghanistan War: 20 years, 2,000 DEAD.
Iraq War: 9 years, 4,600 DEAD.
Vietnam War: 19 years and 5 months, 58,220 DEAD.
Korean War: 3 years and 1 month, 36,574 DEAD.
Venezuela War: 1 day, 0 DEAD.
Iran Military Conflict: 4 months, 18 DEAD." pic.twitter.com/KL6B9uluW6

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 21, 2026

Yeah, Kegsbreath is not helping, either.