Cartoons in the Pentagon*
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth demonstrates the connections between the MAGA subculture and the heart of Trump’s political power.
The Simpsons’ scripts work because they put together a microcosmic world that lends credibility to the cartoons. Matt Groening, the series’ creator, has acknowledged that the search for absurd jokes has ended up somehow leading to reality, given that the world just gets more and more absurd. Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of Defense, is one of those figures who wouldn’t look out of place as a special guest of the yellow characters in Springfield. The collection of stereotypes, of course, only highlights the funny side of the former Fox news presenter who took control of the world’s most powerful army in January.
Hegseth, a 45-year-old veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has several tattoos he is proud of. Among them, the motto of the Crusaders, “Deus vult” (“God wills it”), next to a U.S. flag, an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, and a Jerusalem cross. After his department’s name change, ordered by Donald Trump, the politician presented himself as the secretary of war. And, despite the criticisms it has received, the new set-up is more in line with his decisions. The former soldier is heading the offensive against drug trafficking in the Caribbean and on the eastern shores of the Pacific, retrospectively named Operation Southern Spear. The operations, which have so far served as a bargaining chip to tighten the noose around Chavismo and put pressure on Gustavo Petro’s government in Colombia, have sunk 22 alleged drug trafficking boats and killed at least 87 people suspected of belonging to criminal organizations.
Questions surrounding this strategy increased a few days ago following an investigation carried out by The Washington Post which revealed that, following the first attack on a vessel on Sept. 2, there was a second to finish off two survivors, which the authorities did not report. An outright war crime. An admiral came to Hegseth’s defense, denying that Hegseth had given the order. At the same time, an official Pentagon report has pointed the finger at its top official for exposing U.S. troops by disseminating confidential information on Signal regarding operations in Yemen.
Hegseth’s reaction on social media sparked a wave of cartoons, with a flood of memes starring Franklin the Turtle, a character from a Canadian children’s cartoon. He opened the floodgates himself with an AI-generated image of the turtle firing a bazooka at some boats. An avalanche of Make America Great Again profiles joined in and followed his example.
An investigator from the nongovernmental organization Media Matters identified an X user with more than 70,000 followers, who self-identifies as Maverick Alexander, as the creator of the first meme reused by the secretary of defense. It stated that some of the images published by Alexander were about 9/11 conspiracy theories. Nothing unusual in the world of Trump followers, a movement fueled by paranoia that until recently was condemned to exist on the ideological margins of society, but that now influences the center of political power in the United States. The Canadian publisher Kid Can Press unequivocally rejected the violent use of “a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children.” Meanwhile, the MAGA underworld and the Trump administration continue to feed off each other.
Hegseth demonstrates the connections between the MAGA subculture and the heart of political power.
*Editor’s note: This article is available in its original language with a paid subscription.
The Simpsons’ scripts work because they put together a microcosmic world that lends credibility to the cartoons. Matt Groening, the series’ creator, has acknowledged that the search for absurd jokes has ended up somehow leading to reality, given that the world just gets more and more absurd. Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of Defense, is one of those figures who wouldn’t look out of place as a special guest of the yellow characters in Springfield. The collection of stereotypes, of course, only highlights the funny side of the former Fox news presenter who took control of the world’s most powerful army in January.
Hegseth, a 45-year-old veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has several tattoos he is proud of. Among them, the motto of the Crusaders, “Deus vult” (“God wills it”), next to a U.S. flag, an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, and a Jerusalem cross. After his department’s name change, ordered by Donald Trump, the politician presented himself as the secretary of war. And, despite the criticisms it has received, the new set-up is more in line with his decisions. The former soldier is heading the offensive against drug trafficking in the Caribbean and on the eastern shores of the Pacific, retrospectively named Operation Southern Spear. The operations, which have so far served as a bargaining chip to tighten the noose around Chavismo and put pressure on Gustavo Petro’s government in Colombia, have sunk 22 alleged drug trafficking boats and killed at least 87 people suspected of belonging to criminal organizations.
Questions surrounding this strategy increased a few days ago following an investigation carried out by The Washington Post which revealed that, following the first attack on a vessel on Sept. 2, there was a second to finish off two survivors, which the authorities did not report. An outright war crime. An admiral came to Hegseth’s defense, denying that Hegseth had given the order. At the same time, an official Pentagon report has pointed the finger at its top official for exposing U.S. troops by disseminating confidential information on Signal regarding operations in Yemen.
Hegseth’s reaction on social media sparked a wave of cartoons, with a flood of memes starring Franklin the Turtle, a character from a Canadian children’s cartoon. He opened the floodgates himself with an AI-generated image of the turtle firing a bazooka at some boats. An avalanche of Make America Great Again profiles joined in and followed his example.
An investigator from the nongovernmental organization Media Matters identified an X user with more than 70,000 followers, who self-identifies as Maverick Alexander, as the creator of the first meme reused by the secretary of defense. It stated that some of the images published by Alexander were about 9/11 conspiracy theories. Nothing unusual in the world of Trump followers, a movement fueled by paranoia that until recently was condemned to exist on the ideological margins of society, but that now influences the center of political power in the United States. The Canadian publisher Kid Can Press unequivocally rejected the violent use of “a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children.” Meanwhile, the MAGA underworld and the Trump administration continue to feed off each other.
Hegseth demonstrates the connections between the MAGA subculture and the heart of political power.
*Editor’s note: This article is available in its original language with a paid subscription.
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