The more the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, tries to flex his manly strength, the wimpier he looks.

The former Fox News host has attempted to seize control of what the public is allowed to know, but bad news keeps creeping out from the Pentagon.

Shortages of key weapons, deteriorating conditions onboard a US aircraft carrier, and no end in sight for President Trump’s misguided war – all a very bad look for the boss.

Hegseth has restricted reporters’ access at the Pentagon, fired journalists at the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, and installed “influencers” to spread pro-Trump propaganda. He hasn’t held a Pentagon news briefing on the war since early May.

But none of it seems to work.

Now, trying to root out the problem at the source, he’s chasing down leakers by giving polygraph tests to about 50 military officers and civilian officials – something never done before in such a widespread way, according to New York Times reporting.

The boss, of course, heartily approves.

“The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down!” Trump crowed on Truth Social, his favorite........

© The Guardian