Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was already trying to outrun one embarrassing controversy when critics say he handed them another one on a silver platter — and the internet immediately noticed the timing.
Days after a massive online blowback for his failure to salute a Black service member while deplaning at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, Hegseth stepped in it again, this time over a video he posted of a Black soldier that critics say he was using as a prop to send a message to Americans who don’t approve of President Donald Trump’s war in Iran.
Hegseth reposted a video of an unnamed soldier riding in a vehicle with the caption, “I know some people who need to hear this…” repeating what the soldier in the TikTok video says.
“Hey, I don’t know who need to hear this. I see a lot of people be talking sh-t about America,” the soldier says. “Hey, if you don’t like America, go to another country, b-tch.”
The video was initially posted by TikTok user Gmgdray last January 2025.
Hegseth, a veteran and former Fox News host who had no prior experience leading any large organization, let alone the world’s largest military, reposted the video on Monday, March 16, as Trump’s deadly war in Iran enters its third week with no end in sight.
It was clearly directed at a majority of Americans, according to polling, who do not approve of the ongoing Iran war, which has already killed more than 1,200 people, including at least 13 Americans.
The new backlash against Hegseth follows another online uproar over the weekend when Hegseth got off a plane in Florida and saluted some of the white service members waiting for him, but did not salute the one Black man among the ranks. However, it’s unclear what the protocol is in that case.
Opponents were quick to pounce on the optics of Hegseth’s repost, and social media descended into a frenzy criticizing the Defense chief over the video ploy.
“Oh you found your token black person….whom you probably hate anyway,” X user Cally Jazz stated. “Is that your token black guy with your white supremacy tattoos – log off b—h,” another said.
Another user posted a picture of Trump in a MAGA hat standing at a podium with the words “A WAR STILL IN SEARCH OF A MISSION” with the caption, “This isn’t the flex you think it is, Petey.”
And X user Greg Stoker wrote, “Not listening to an untabbed E-4 ASVAB waiver about geopolitics and military science. Also this was from waaay before the war started. Going that badly huh? The propaganda ain’t propaganda-ing anymore.”
The “untabbed E-4 ASVAB” refers to the soldier’s entry-level rank and placement upon entry into the military, which is based on education level, among other criteria.
One of those Americans killed in a plane crash in Iraq while attempting to refuel another military aircraft mid-air was Air Force Tech Sgt. Tyler Simmons from Ohio.
His family is speaking out against Simmons’ death and the war and saying it’s “uncalled for.”
“This could have been prevented,” said Simmons’ cousin Stephan Douglas, referring to the death of the 28-year-old in an interview with Ohio’s WCMH TV.
“We didn’t need to be in this war. This is uncalled for – and this is what we get,” Douglas continued.
He also said it’s “just the worst nightmare we could ever imagine.”
Simmons’s family said the way to end the nightmare is for Americans to register and vote.
“Families are suffering right now,” Bernice Smith, Simmons’ mother, told the TV station.
“Just to create a war because you want to create a war is not right,” she said without mentioning Trump’s name.
