Fuming liberals blast ‘frivolous’ steak and lobster purchases, revealing ignorance of time-honored military tradition
Journalists and other Democratic activists seethed with outrage this week after a government watchdog revealed that War Secretary Pete Hegseth spent a total of $24 million on ribeye steak, lobster tail, and Alaskan king crab in September of last year.
“Almost $7 million in lobster!” fumed Jessica Sidman, food editor of Washingtonian magazine. Mediaite reported that Hegseth “blew” millions on steak and lobster. Molly Jong-Fast, an anti-Trump commentator with ties to the Bulwark and MSNBC, slammed the “frivolous” expenditures on “luxury” food items. Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan sarcastically urged the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to look into Hegseth’s spending. “But SNAP recipients are the REAL problem,” Atlantic contributor Jemele Hill clapped back.
Democrats were eager to join the pile-on. Rep. Jim McGovern (D., Mass.) implied that Hegseth’s wasteful spending was why the United States couldn’t have universal health care. “DOGE gutted US food aid so that Pete Hegseth could splurge on steaks and seafood,” wrote Jeremy Konyndyk, a former Biden administration official. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D., Calif.) posted an AI-generated photo of Hegseth enjoying a steak and lobster feast at home all by himself.
Many of the liberals ranting about Hegseth appeared to be under the impression that the war secretary had personally expensed millions of dollars’ worth of steak and lobster to serve at fancy cocktail parties. It never occurred to them that the Pentagon routinely spends a lot of money on food for American troops.
Luther Abel, a Navy veteran and National Review editor, argued that the people expressing outrage were inadvertently admitting that they “don’t know anyone in the military.” If they did, they would presumably know that U.S. service members are typically served steak and lobster on the eve of deployment or before a hazardous mission. It is a traditional way to boost morale by giving them a nice meal every now and then.
“There seem to be quite a few people out there who think the troops should only eat MREs and not expect anything nice,” wrote Mike Glenn, a Pentagon reporter for the Washington Times. “Yes, you can occasionally get a lobster tail in the chow hall. I’m sorry they won’t give them to the military for free.”
Even Hegseth’s critics who have served in the military blasted the idea that he was wasting taxpayer dollars on steak, lobster, and crab legs for the troops. “When I was in Iraq serving at a very remote FOB not far from the Iranian border, we had steak and crab legs almost every Sunday,” wrote New York Times columnist David French. “It was the military’s version of a thank you meal, and it was very appreciated. There are lots of things to be outraged at, but feeding our deployed troops well is not one of them.”
Open The Books, the government watchdog whose report inspired this week’s outrage, has been releasing Pentagon spending data for years. It’s hardly the first time liberal ideologues who don’t like the military (or know anything about it) have denounced the Trump administration for feeding the troops. “This kind of waste has to stop. It’s an insult to taxpayers,” Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) whined in 2019 after Open The Books uncovered $4.6 million in Pentagon spending on crab and lobster.
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