Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been inspiring hilarious memes roasting him and calls for his resignation since he was appointed at the beginning of the year, but now he’s being laughed at on social media for a brand new reason: even the military seems to be tired of hearing his voice.
Hegseth summoned hundreds of senior military officials to Quantico, Virginia, so that he and Trump could give speeches showcasing changes they want to make in the military and the “warrior ethos” Hegseth thinks is currently lacking in the armed forces.
Multiple times throughout his speech, Hegseth paused for applause , but no one in the crowd of military brass cheered or clapped.
“Should our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be crushed by the violence, precision, and ferocity of the War Department," Hegseth said. "To our enemies, FAFO.”rickets.
But when he spelled out “FAFO” — short for “f*ck around and find out” — he paused for a moment, and looked around the room, but was met with silence, except for a lone “woohoo,” Rawstory reported.
The roasts on social media came fast and furious, making the video of speech almost as satisfying as that time Hegseth smacked himself in the balls while trying to show off with a skateboard.
But that wasn't the only time he set himself up for applause and failed to get any. At the end of his speech, Hegseth finished by saying, “…because we are the War Department, Godspeed” before pausing again and looking out at the crowd, but when there was no response, he walked off stage.
It appeared clear that Hegseth expected applause despite tradition dictating that military officials hold applause during a political speech.
This would be embarrassing for anyone, but Hegseth has done nothing but fumble the ball since he took on the position. He has been caught leaking classified information multiple times, both his top advisor and Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg were escorted from the Pentagon, gave a rant-filled speech at the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll that seemed to embarrass his own children, and before he was confirmed, he even had to promise not to drink on the job.
The lack of applause at his bizarre speech did not go unnoticed on social media, where people immediately began circulating videos of the awkward pauses and mocked Hegseth for giving a speech where no one clapped.
