Senator rips Hegseth to his face as 'rift' among allies emerges: 'I'm stunned'

Sen. Chris Coon (D-DE) called out Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to his face for "fighting culture wars" instead of winning real conflicts like the war in Iran.

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Coons noted that President Donald Trump's Iran war had caused a "rift" with U.S. allies.

"I am concerned that we have a distracted administration and a distracted department," the senator said. "From your written testimony, Mr. Secretary, it seems at times you're more passionate about fighting culture wars than winning the real war that we're in, at banning books, at cleaning alleged DEI off of websites, at taking on an anti-vaccine position rather than continuing the longstanding public health policies, at interfering with promotions."

"I'm stunned that you fired the 44-year chief of staff of the Army in the middle of a hot war and dismissed the Secretary of the Navy in the middle of a naval blockade," he continued. "As dozens of senior flag rank officers have been dismissed, I am worried about what that does to focus and morale."

Coons also observed that President Donald Trump appeared to be distracted by the construction of a White House ballroom.

"We have a president who seems more focused on a billion-dollar ballroom and a victory arch rather than achieving actual victory," he asserted. "And a piece, a small piece of the $1.5 trillion request in front of us is for a new Trump class of battleships, a so-called golden fleet, which I think goes in the wrong direction."

"The world of warfare is changing. Every major service can and should embrace smaller, lighter, faster, more distributed, lethal capabilities that will mostly be autonomous. This move towards a golden fleet, towards a new battleship strikes me as moving in exactly the wrong direction, giving our adversaries a bigger target rather than a more capable platform," Coons added.