By Dr. E. Faye Williams
(Trice Edney Wire) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is probably the best person Trump could find to carry out his wishes to be known as something he is not. His boss has taken every opportunity to be known as the “Peace President” while declaring more wars than any President I’ve ever known, while bragging about a brutal war that is negatively impacting not only America, but also so many of our true friends in the Middle East. I’ve traveled to nearly all the nations and have friends in the ones negatively impacted by Trump’s and Hegseth’s war. You might have noticed that most Americans do not approve of this war. We see those over 200 known children to have been killed. We see men and women who had nothing to do with nuclear weapons killed by the hundreds. We see beautiful structures destroyed, where people have nothing to do with nuclear weapons.
Look at the smirk we see on Hegseth as he says, “If you think this is something, just wait.” Look at the nonchalance of the ‘would-be king’ saying, “Some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.” That’s easy for him to say to the families of those who have already died, while his family never considered going to war to protect the country that has given them every advantage in life.
Hegseth can act as if he cares about women when he says he wants to review the role of women in ground units, while questioning the “effectiveness of women in combat roles.” He has a history of hostility towards women serving in the military. He’s made disparaging comments about “Moms in the Military,” stating, “We need Moms, but not in the military—especially in combat units.” Instead of worrying about what he doesn’t want women to do, I would suggest, if he cares about us, why not support the rights of women to determine what we want to do with our bodies!
The “wanna be king” wants Sen. MarkWayne Mullin, who doesn’t look promising to improve on what former Secretary Kristi Noem did with Homeland Security. Mullin is one of Trump’s staunch supporters. It doesn’t matter to Trump or his supporters that Senator Mullin has no law enforcement experience! Most of us, regardless of the job, are expected to demonstrate education or experience for such a high-level role. So, the question is, “What does Mullin bring to this job?” As a Member of Congress, he wasn’t even asked to vote on Trump’s war, so is Mullin even informed about how this war impacts our homeland?
Trump nor Hegseth seems to have plans for when this war will end and how. Trump has said the end must come without concessions. With so many nations involved or affected, how do they expect it to happen?
With this war going on, I guess this is a way for most Americans to forget about Epstein and not to notice that in the first week of this war, gasoline prices have increased by 11% and are expected to rise to at least $4.00 per gallon soon, if it’s not already there in some places. Stocks are down. Over 92,000 Americans have lost jobs in the last month; there’s been no job growth in the past 12 months; people are not getting raises; others are not finding jobs. Meanwhile, we’re told this war is costing Americans one billion dollars per day! I didn’t mention the millions of Americans in the war zone having no way to get out. They had no way to know how their lives would be impacted while visiting or working on behalf of their country. How do they leave the area? They are told to evacuate when the question is “How?”
We need to be asking Trump and Hegseth when this madness will end.
(Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of The Dick Gregory Society.)
