WAR RHETORICI’ve Studied MAGA Rhetoric for a Decade, and This Is What I See in Hegseth’s Boasts, Action‑Movie One‑Liners and Gloating Over Dominance
When Trump’s first Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, spoke, his professional tone and demeanor were a stark contrast to Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remarks on U.S.-Israeli combat operations in Iran. Hegseth not only deviated from the measured tone expected from high-ranking military officials. He flippantly employed villainous colloquialism, delivered with a combative and haughty tone, hypermasculine preoccupation with domination, giddiness about violence, and casual attitude toward death.
When Secretary of Defense James Mattis addressed the intensification of U.S. combat operations against the Islamic State group in 2017, he assured the American public of his commitment to “get the strategy right” while maintaining “the rules of engagement” to “protect the innocent.”
Mattis’ professional tone was a stark contrast to Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remarks following the first days of the joint U.S.-Israeli combat operations in Iran.
On March 2, 2026, after bragging about the awe-inspiring lethality of U.S.“B-2s, fighters, drones, missiles,” Hegseth casually brushed aside concerns about long-term geopolitical strategy, declaring “no stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win.”
Admonishing the press for anything less than total assent, he commanded, “to the media outlets and political left screaming ‘endless wars:’ Stop. This is not Iraq.”
Two days later, Hegseth gloated about “dominance” and “control,” while asserting that the preoccupation of the “fake news media” with casualties was motivated by liberal media bias and hatred of President Trump.
“Tragic things happen; the press only wants to make the president look bad,” he said. He dismissed concerns about the rules of engagement, declaring that “this was never meant to be a fair fight. We are punching them while they are down, as it should be.”
I’m a communication scholar who has studied MAGA rhetoric for a decade. I have observed how Hegseth and other officials in the second Trump administration refuse to abide by what recurring rhetorical situations – urgent public matters that compel speech to audiences capable of being influenced – typically demand of public officials.
The theme of this administration is that no one is going to tell it what to say or how to say it. It will be encumbered neither by norms nor the exigencies that compel speech in a democratic society.
The Big Man
When the U.S. goes to war, the public expects the president and the defense secretary to convince them of the appropriateness of the action. They do this by detailing the justification for military action, but also by addressing the public in a manner that conveys the seriousness and competence required for such a grave task as waging war.
But during the first week of the Iran war, Hegseth’s press briefings deviated from the measured tone expected from high-ranking military officials.
