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US defense secretary Pete Hegseth attempted to show off the might of Donald Trump’s administration and the American military this week by sharing operation names on Twitter/X, but judging by the response, it appears to have done the opposite.
In a tweet posted on Friday, which is still being met with ridicule days later, Hegseth wrote: “OPERATION ROUGH RIDER = Freedom of Navigation for U.S. ships.
“OPERATION MIDNIGHT HAMMER = Obliteration of Iranian nuclear sites.
“OPERATION SOUTHERN SPEAR = Destroy Narco-Terrorists killing Americans.
“@POTUS Trump means business – and the world knows it. Peace Through Strength.”
Except, fellow Twitter/X users aren’t seeing it that way, with one account referencing the game show Jeopardy and writing: “What are Grindr Handles near DC for $800 Alex?”:
“I thought @SecWar was listing out Gay porn movie names,” admitted another:
And policy consultant Adam Cochran said Hegseth “[makes] America look weak”:
There were also those who decided to contribute their own operation names, such as Rick Wilson of The Lincoln Project with “Operation Downlow”:
Another account suggested “Operation Morning Wood”:
And a third offered up names such as “Operation Husky Farmboy” and "Operation Throbbing Member":
Awkward.
The blunder comes as Hegseth continues to try and make the Department of War a thing, even though an official name change requires approval from Congress.
Earlier this week he was seen affixing a 'Department of War' sign to a wall, but given the above, social media users quickly dismissed it as "performative".
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