Overview
- MS NOW’s Morning Joe panel unloaded on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, following Tuesday’s Oval Office presser about the Iran war.
- Hegseth said “We negotiate with bombs” and motioned like working a throttle as he vowed to “keep our hand on that throttle,” a clip that showed President Trump raising his eyebrows.
- Hosts Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Willie Geist, and Jonathan Lemire called the display childish and “frat boy” rhetoric and said Hegseth sounded like he was trying to impress “dad” rather than brief a nation at war.
- The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg tried to frame the comments as hard‑line bargaining, but his defense drew laughter from the panel as they argued the style undercut credibility.
- Raw Story noted the segment aired on the one‑year mark of reporting that Hegseth was mistakenly added to a Signal chat on war planning, renewing scrutiny of his judgment as Iran continues to deny any ongoing talks and no policy shift has been announced.