I’d be a lot more impressed by this move if Hegseth issued an apology — or did literally anything else to demonstrate that he understands why his behavior was distasteful.
He hasn’t done that. He’s trying to score brownie points with a “I support our troops” message without actually acknowledging that he personally did anything wrong.
To be totally fair, and I do not like being fair to Pete Hegseth, awarding the medal is pretty clearly an implicit admission that he was wrong and the soldier was right.
He should still publicly and directly admit that, though.
I’d be a lot more impressed by this move if Hegseth issued an apology — or did literally anything else to demonstrate that he understands why his behavior was distasteful.
He hasn’t done that. He’s trying to score brownie points with a “I support our troops” message without actually acknowledging that he personally did anything wrong.
To be totally fair, and I do not like being fair to Pete Hegseth, awarding the medal is pretty clearly an implicit admission that he was wrong and the soldier was right.
He should still publicly and directly admit that, though.