‘Tragic things happen’: Pete Hegseth dismisses troop deaths, Pentagon staff insulted, horrified, hang heads in shame

Pete Hegseth is having the time of his life. For years, he fantasized about carving a bloody trail of death and destruction across the Middle East, piling up stacks of corpses in Christ’s name. Now, finally, he’s been let off the leash and is busily emptying America’s missile stocks to flatten Iran.

This time, the objective isn’t to bring democracy, it’s simply to rain down hell on innocent civilians, destroy critical infrastructure, and leave Iran as a barely functioning basketcase. As Hegseth himself says, he’s just here to deliver “death and destruction from the sky all day”. How very Christian of you!

For Hegseth, that’s a noble goal, one more than worthy of sacrificing American lives to achieve. So why should he let the deaths of six American soldiers yuck his yum? And so, when delivering a Pentagon briefing, Hegseth could barely be bothered to pretend he cared, dismissing it as “tragic things happen”.

The reaction?

This was the reaction in the room this morning when Pete Hegseth said "tragic things happen" about the deaths of six American soldiers. https://t.co/W3pRu2qwmO pic.twitter.com/V7rNiWSOwH

— nxthompson (@nxthompson) March 5, 2026

As per The Atlantic:

“His comments “sent a stunned silence through the briefing room”. Even members of Hegseth’s staff, she said, seemed to flinch at what he was saying. “Some put their heads down,” she said, while others just looked around. Someone in the room then said: “that was one of the most insulting things I have ever heard”.

“Stunned silence”

There was a time, not too long ago, that a government official appearing to casually dismiss the supreme sacrifice of American servicemen and women would instantly end his career. Everyone from MSNBC to Fox News would unite against them, saying comments like these insult the dignity of troops and their families.

But we simply do not live in that world any longer. Donald Trump was quite clear that he considered US troops who die serving their country as “losers” and “suckers”, not to mention that he personally dodged the draft. As MAGA would have it, anyone dumb enough to actually be caught in the firing deserves everything that’s coming to them.

But don’t take my word for it, take Trump’s. He says Americans should expect more dead troops soon, practically shrugging as he casually said “that’s the way it is“. Donald, the reason this is the “way it is” is because you started a pointless war that’s going to chew through money, equipment, and human life!