Pete Hegseth’s Art of War 

Hello, it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕️

“Discipline means organization, chain of command, and logistics.”

 — Master Sun Tzu 

In “The Art of War,” his famed treatise on military strategy from the 6th Century B.C.E., the legendary Chinese strategist Sun Tzu spends much of his time on the need to keep armies well fed and supplied. It appears America’s self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth skipped over those parts of the ancient manuscript. 

On Thursday, USA Today reported that U.S. service members on board ships deployed to the Mideast as part of the war in Iran are facing food shortages. Family members of troops in the region told the newspaper military personnel are rationing their supplies and are out of fresh produce amid prolonged deployments and President Donald Trump’s frenetic dealmaking. The report included grim photos of meal trays sparsely filled with chunks of greying processed meats provided by family members whose efforts to supplement the supplies with care packages from home have been stymied by disruptions in mail service. 

While Hegseth seemingly hasn’t spent too much time on the basics of effective battlefield strategy, he has been focused on sermonizing from behind the Pentagon podium. Over the past week, the former “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host showed off his unique brand of Christian nationalism in attempts to complain about unflattering media coverage and rally the troops. 

During a press briefing on Thursday, Hegseth invoked a sermon that described the Pharisees, an ancient Jewish sect that came into conflict with Jesus Christ. Hegseth suggested “incredibly unpatriotic” reporting was akin to questioning Christ’s teachings.

“Our press are just like these Pharisees — not all of you, not all of you, but the legacy Trump-hating press. Your politically motivated animus for President Trump nearly completely blinds you from the brilliance of our American warriors,” Hegseth said.

Those comments, which came on the heels of Trump repeatedly posting AI images of himself with, let’s say, messianic overtones, weren’t Hegseth’s only biblical reference. On Wednesday, during a prayer service at the Pentagon, Hegseth quoted a prayer that was apparently used by a team involved in a rescue mission in Iran. Critics quickly pointed out the militaristic version of a Bible verse more closely matched a memorable scene from the movie “Pulp Fiction” than the King James Version. 

Hegseth’s prayer may not draw on ancient treatises on strategy or actual Biblical doctrine. However, he’s not letting any of that get in his way. As he sermonized on Wednesday, before dipping into the gospel of Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson, Hegseth quipped about his own lack of expertise. 

“I’m not a theologian,” Hegseth said, “But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”

— Hunter Walker

Why Is the NYT Subjecting Us to Ragebait About Happy Billionaires?

It was truly the profile no one wanted. 

The New York Times’ Amy Chozick went long on Lauren Sánchez Bezos in a fluff piece bizarrely framed around Sánchez Bezos’ defiant insistence on not apologizing for enjoying her extravagant wealth. The headline: Someone Has to Be Happy. Why Not Lauren Sánchez Bezos? A topic of great concern for the American public at this time.

Sánchez Bezos is, of course, the second wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and is perhaps best known for her role in his creepy middle-age glow-up (?) into a buff, muscle-tee-wearing, celebrity-influence courting man about town. The couple is worth over $268 billion, and they enjoy relatable pastimes, like joking about buying legacy media properties (there was discussion that Bezos would buy Condé Nast as a gift for his bride) and going on ego-inflating missions into space. 

The piece tells us that they start their day in their $230 million Florida compound sipping coffee from mugs that read “Woke Up Sexy as Hell Again” and “HUNK” (both available on Amazon.com); that her “happiness is infectious, undeniable, world-historical”; that she doesn’t like talking about politics; and that she’s a helicopter pilot. The only unsurprising takeaway is that being rich allows you to do what you want, and be insulated from any consequences.

Times readers seemed to be predictably and universally furious with the piece. “Anyway…MacKenzie Scott is dope,” one commenter wrote, nodding at Bezos’ ex-wife’s move to donate half of her net worth and counting to charity. “No one wants the ultra rich to apologize for their happiness — we want them to stop exploiting workers and hoarding wealth,” another wrote. “Will the New York Times apologize for this article?” read another.
I’m sure the Times got the clicks they wanted, but the piece didn’t do much to make the mainstream media seem less out of touch and influenced by corporate interests. (As a reminder: TPM’s membership drive is underway and we aren’t funded by people like this, nor would we ever write nice things about the people exploiting America’s working class!). Chozick, the reporter, didn’t seem bothered by readers’ concerns, instead sharing multiple Instagram stories about the 56-year-old Sánchez Bezos’ comments about being ready to have a baby with her husband — the angle that was picked up by People and E! News.

Because sure, let’s treat the richest people on the planet as celebrity gossip fodder instead of a danger to society.

— Allegra Kirkland

Dems Take Last Ditch Shot at Delaying Senate Confirmation Hearing for Trump’s Fed Pick

Things are still looking down for Trump’s Federal Reserve Chair pick Kevin Warsh.

Every Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee —which Warsh has to face before his nomination can be brought to the Senate floor for a vote — urged the committee’s Republican chair to delay Warsh’s confirmation until a fraudulent investigation, brought by Trump’s compromised Justice Department targeting current Fed Chair Jerome Powell, concludes.

The 11 Democratic senators sent a letter on Thursday to Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who chairs the banking committee, the New York Times reports. In the letter, Democrats described the Department of Justice’s investigation into Powell over the cost of renovations on a Fed building — and a separate allegation against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook — as the “Trump administration’s broader effort to take control of the Fed.”

It’s just one more in a barrage of self-inflected blows to Trump’s effort to install a Fed leader who could be more easily bullied into lowering interest rates. 

First, last August, Trump tried to fire Cook outright for manufactured allegations of mortgage fraud which Cook has denied. Cook sued, her removal was stayed, and she has remained on as a governor as her case makes its way through the courts, with SCOTUS likely to rule on the legality of her firing some time this summer. The Trump administration apparently took things too far with its investigation of Powell, which was revealed in January. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who is a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has said he will block any Trump Fed nominee until the Powell investigation is brought to an end. With a 13-11 partisan split favoring Republicans, Warsh’s nomination can’t move out of committee without Tillis’s support. Despite harsh rebukes from a federal judge who blocked DOJ subpoenas of Powell, Trump has tripled-down on the investigation. 

Even Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) advised Trump to “wrap up” his investigation, citing the Tillis blockade.

The Trump-Tillis standoff shows no signs of ending and so Warsh’s ascendance to the central bank when Powell’s leadership term ends next month may not come to fruition. On the contrary, Powell has said he’ll stay on as chair “pro tempore” until a new leader can be confirmed. Powell also didn’t rule out staying on the board as a governor, which would be a rare move and could impact Warsh’s influence over board members and decisions, an expert told TPM. 

Much like Trump’s impact on the entire global economy, what’s going down at the Fed is a mess of the president’s own making.

— Layla A. Jones

DOJ Faces Sixth Loss in its Failing Voter Data Collection Campaign 

The Department of Justice’s floundering campaign to seize sensitive voter data from states faced yet another setback on Friday, after a federal judge dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Rhode Island. This most recent defeat marks the sixth loss for the Justice Department in its ongoing quest to force states to hand over protected voter information. 

The DOJ has demanded voter data, including social security numbers and driver license numbers, from at least 44 states and Washington D.C. As it stands now, few states have complied with this unprecedented overreach, prompting the DOJ to file lawsuits against 30 states, including Rhode Island. 

Although the DOJ has never said why it needs the data it is demanding, experts have previously told TPM  that it might be a way to sow seeds of doubt in our election system and a way for the administration to try to exert federal control over states’ election administration. 

Currently, the DOJ has seen the lawsuits it brought in Oregon, California, Michigan, Massachusetts, and now, Rhode Island dismissed. In January, a federal judge also dismissed a similar case in Georgia after the DOJ filed the challenge in the incorrect city. The courts have repeatedly noted that the federal government is not entitled to this type of information without proof that the states are in violation of federal voting laws. 

In a ruling on Friday, U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy, who is a Trump appointee, wrote that contrary to the DOJ’s argument, it is not entitled to sensitive voter information under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA).

“Defendants argue that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern this case, and that DOJ is not entitled to any sort of summary or abbreviated procedures for obtaining the information it seeks,” she notes in Friday’s opinion. “The Court agrees.”

“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements of the NVRA and HAVA, let alone the CRA,” she adds. “This alone would be enough to foreclose judicial enforcement of the demand.”

McElroy’s ruling comes against the backdrop of a similar ruling last week from former President Barack Obama-appointed District Court Judge Leo Sorokin, who also dismissed the DOJ’s lawsuit against Massachusetts for the same reason. 

Sorokin explained in his order that the DOJ had no basis under the CRA for demanding this type of voter data, calling the DOJ’s argument “facially deficient.”

“The Attorney General’s demand for the Massachusetts statewide voter registration list was facially deficient. It failed to satisfy a simple requirement imposed by Congress as one precondition to obtaining documents under the authority of the Civil Rights Act of 1960,” Sorokin wrote. 

— Khaya Himmelman