Fighting for the Future We Want

Listen to the words of Trump, Hegseth and a federal judge. They are a warning of two different fates for America after the midterms.

Pete Hegseth, belligerent and unfit, pushes his toxic vision. (Photo by Alex Wong via Getty Images)

This is the tale of three Americans who told us this week what they think matters. One, who took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution to occupy the nation’s highest office, made clear once again he despises the First Amendment and the right of the free press. A second, who left his duties as a Fox weekend host to manage the world’s largest military and the nation’s largest bureaucracy, communicated his toxic belief in lawless violence that endangers every American soldier. A third, who presides over a courtroom, ruled in favor of the rule of law and the need for a justice system that does not harm innocent people.

I’d like to share with you snapshots of each of their public remarks this week. The first is an interview with Donald Trump published by Time magazine yesterday. The second is a so-called “State of the Force” speech delivered by Pete Hegseth on Wednesday. The third is a final ruling yesterday by Judge Todd Edelman in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia regarding David Hearn and the Justice Department’s charge that he destroyed property in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

With just one month until the November midterms, when our country’s fate will be decided, these three men ask us to decide what future we want. In their words which portray their values, they offer us a choice. Let’s take a look.

The despot demands praise

“Why should Americans believe that you respect the free press when you’re restricting access to the White House to some of our colleagues?” Trump was asked.

“Because I do respect the free press, but I don’t respect fake news,” he answered, adding, “If I do the finest thing, if I found the cure to cancer, they would say, ‘Why didn’t he move quicker?’ They are just horrible people, and they’re so bad. So I believe in a free press. I believe in an honest press, but I don’t believe in fake news.”

In other words, the only acceptable press is the one that praises him. And why, in his twisted authoritarian view, is that the correct course?

“I won the election. I won it handily by massive numbers. I won the popular vote. I won all seven swing states,” he said, adding, “If I wasn’t doing a good job, I wouldn’t have won that election by a lot.”

The Time interviewer was ready to move on, but Trump wasn’t. First, he needed to explain his greatness: “I've done great things. I mean, I've done Venezuela. I've done—I can name, I can name 100 great things I've done. I never get good press. I never get fair press. Doesn’t have to be good. All it has to be is fair.”

And how exactly would he assess what’s fair coverage? He focused on his crowds:

You know, yesterday I got tremendous applause from massive crowds that came to Duncan…I went to Tennessee. The crowd went wild. I went to, yesterday, to Chicago. Got the big golf tent. President’s coming. The crowd went absolutely wild…They asked me to make a speech. I said, ‘I'm not going to make a speech. I want to play golf.’ But I said to him—I mean, they had to stop the crowd from—they were going crazy, 100 percent. There was no negative number.

In other words, forget a free press that holds a leader accountable. Forget honest coverage based on facts. Rather, the despot in power is always right. It’s only fair when he is praised. The First Amendment can be tossed away to please him. That’s the country he hopes to make happen if the Republicans continue to control Congress.

The violent cowboys are in

And then there’s sadistic Pete Hegseth. I call him Killer Pete because he’s been telling us from the beginning how much he savors “maximum lethality.” Back in March, just days into his and Trump’s unauthorized war of choice in Iran, he couldn’t contain his excitement.

“America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy,” he said then. “Death and destruction from the sky…all day long.” And he said, “Our war fighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly.”

We’ve seen it in the mass casualties in Iran, the extrajudicial killings of humans in fishing boats—and on Wednesday we heard him double-down on his failing toxic vision that puts our uniformed men and women in danger.

His words were bellicose and bombastic. Apparently, they make Killer Pete feel strong.

He addressed his major cutting of top military officers—generals and admirals. “Yes, 20 percent reduction across the board,” he said. “Now the media calls that a ‘purge.’ I call it accountability and long overdue…what the media levels as an accusation, I wear as an accomplishment.”

He was just warming up his hot head. “We are no longer the Woke Department or the Weak Department,” he proudly boasted. “Simple translation of that: No fatties. No trannies. No beardos. No weirdos. No wimps. No radicals. Just warriors. Just tough, ready, committed troops…The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in — with testosterone testing on top.”

And more: “All of you deserve senior leaders who know how to war-fight, who will employ you like the War Department, not the State Department. Who will think outside the box—bold and violent.” And laws be damned: “We will fight to win. Clear missions, full hearts, hands untied.”

This tragically unfit buffoon also picked up on his boss’ hostility toward the press, hepped up with tough and false words. He laid out his hunger for only praise and an indirect justification for his banishment of journalists from the halls of the Pentagon.

“A free press is of course important, but partisan activism that intentionally smears the troops and the historic mission they are undertaking is fundamentally anti-American,” he lied. “It's sick. It's a national betrayal. It's treason, actually. I hate to have to say it, but it has to be said, especially in defense of the great Americans right in front of me.”

This is the vision of the military that this testosterone-pumped “leader” is bent on taking farther. Forget equality. Forget expertise. Forget decades of experience. Forget the law to achieve his violent ends. We’ll get more of this unless Democrats take over Congress. And if they do: The growing hunger to impeach Pete Hegseth may turn into real action.

“No right…to compound the errors”

But don’t lose all hope about the present. Consider Judge Edelman’s determination to free an innocent defendant wrongly charged by Donald Trump’s Justice Department—and to ensure that Trump’s vengeful prosecutors will not try their unjust trickery again.

First, he laid out the case:

In July 2026, the United States secured an indictment against Defendant David C. Hearn for felony destruction of property based upon allegations that he had damaged the lining of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Within a month, the government recognized that its prosecution lacked merit. It reached this conclusion not because it had misidentified Mr. Hearn as the perpetrator of the alleged act, but because no crime had occurred: the observed damage to the Reflecting Pool was due to a contractor’s ‘rushed and botched’ installation of the lining while conducting renovations, and Mr. Hearn’s actions had no effect on the value of the Pool.

That should have been the end of it, at least if there were a legitimate Department of Justice. But the judge worried that these prosecutors could try to find another way to charge Hearn, who doesn’t deserve this treatment. He wrote:

The government urges the Court to treat this case no differently than any other and therefore to dismiss the matter without prejudice, i.e., in a manner that would hypothetically allow it to re-charge Mr. Hearn with this offense at some point in the indefinite future, restricted only by the six-year statute of limitations…

In the exceptional circumstances posed by this case, the government has no right to retain the ability to compound the errors it has already made, or even to threaten to do so, at Mr. Hearn’s expense.

This is why Judge Edelman concluded that he needed a ruling that would ensure this case was finished. Really finished. In other words, with prejudice. “This case must be dismissed with prejudice, and the government must thus be barred from re-instituting this charge against Mr. Hearn.”

Now that’s a judge who stands up for the rule of law and the responsibility to treat innocent people fairly. He understood that David Hearn, a gold medal-winning athlete who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, could still be at the mercy of a president who despises the Constitution and the truth, an unwell narcissist who prioritizes saving his public image over justice and decency.

This should be what we expect from every judge in every courtroom. We have one month and one day until the midterms when we can decrease the power of a vengeful White House occupant who could not care less about who’s innocent or what the truth is. Just as the words of Judge Edelman provide us a picture of the kind of America we should demand, Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump provide us a picture of the kind of future we will have if Americans fail to stand up and curb their power.

As we head to the midterms, it’s more important than ever to support the survival of democracy. I remain committed to raising my voice as vividly and fiercely as I can. I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $50 a year or $5 a month to show your support and enhance your engagement—to share your thoughts in the comments sections and access all content.