Pete Hegseth is being accused of punching down after body-shaming a young Canadian woman in a bizarre social media post—and even Republicans are calling him out.
The defense secretary sparked outrage Monday when he reposted a photo from the Vernon Cadet Training Center in British Columbia showing a smiling cadet receiving a medal from an instructor who appears to be overweight.
Hegseth slapped a Canadian flag onto the image and added the caption: “(this is real).”
The post quickly detonated online, with critics questioning why the Pentagon chief was spending his time body-shaming young women while the nation is engaged in a deeply unpopular and costly war with Iran.
The post also attracted criticism from Hegseth’s own party.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon slammed the post as “demeaning” during an interview with CNN on Wednesday. Asked about the image by host Jim Sciutto, who pointed out that one of the cadets is a teenager, Bacon did not mince words.
“It is,” Bacon said. “It’s lowbrow. I think it’s unprofessional, and I’d like to think that our leadership, representing us in the Pentagon and in the White House, we should be better than that, and I thought it was demeaning and uncalled for.”
Hegseth has been fixated on the physical appearance of the officers under his command.
Last September, he declared that he did not want to see “fat generals and admirals” in the armed forces.
He has also repeatedly drawn fire for his views on women in the military. In November 2024, days before Trump announced Hegseth would lead the Pentagon, he told podcast host Shawn Ryan, “I’m straight-up saying we should not have women in combat roles.”
He added, “It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated.”
Meanwhile, when Hegseth unveiled his new “highest male standards” for combat roles last September, which included a ban on beards for service members, he said, “If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is. It will also mean that weak men won’t qualify because we’re not playing games. This is combat. This is life or death.”
Monday’s post came as Trump, 80, escalates his trade war with Canada and continues to needle its government, including by signing an executive order seeking to rename Lake Ontario—which straddles the U.S.-Canada border—“Lake America.”
It also lands as Hegseth faces mounting turmoil inside the Pentagon. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned Monday after months of reported infighting, adding to the growing instability surrounding Trump’s defense chief.
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin reported that Driscoll quit over “concerns with the administration surrounding Army transformation and readiness and Hegseth’s blocking those efforts specifically by firing the Generals who were responsible.”
The departure prompted Republican Sen. Thom Tillis to call for Trump to fire Hegseth.
“I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country. He is intimidated by competence and retreats to ginning up culture wars instead of soberly attending to the vital work of our national defense and the health and well-being of our fighting force.
“I urge the President to find a new leader at the Pentagon who will retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it,” he wrote on X.
Tillis’ pointed references to “ginning up” and “soberly attending” were widely viewed as digs at allegations of alcohol abuse involving Hegseth, which Hegseth has denied.
Bacon went even further when asked whether he agreed with Tillis.
“I agree with the sentiments of Senator Tillis,” Bacon told CNN. “[Hegseth] would not be on my team. I think he has not been a very good leader in many ways.”
Sciutto then asked whether the Republican senators who confirmed Hegseth “should have seen this coming.”
“I think so,” Bacon said. “I felt like he was trouble from the beginning.”
Bacon cited the SignalGate scandal, in which Hegseth took part in an unsecured group chat discussing sensitive military operations that inadvertently included a journalist.
Asked whether Hegseth’s conduct puts “U.S. national security at risk,” Bacon delivered another brutal assessment.
“I think it weakens us. And by the way, it’s just wrong. Most Americans expect more out of our secretary of defense. I mean, he’s fired approximately 20 generals and admirals, mainly three- and four-stars. Now, we’re seeing service secretaries as well either resigning or being fired.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the Pentagon for comment.
