Pete Hegseth Says He Could 'Feel' The Communism During Panama Canal Trip

[Zorro]

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has warned there’s so much communism in the air at the Panama Canal you can “feel it.”

“I want to thank President Molina, a pro-Trump, pro-America president of Panama who’s sticking his neck out against communists, whose influence was real there,” he told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Sunday after returning from a recent trip to the small Central American nation.

Since assuming office this year, President Donald Trump has consistently (and falsely) claimed that the Chinese government currently operates the Panama Canal, and that with roughly 40% of all U.S. container shipping passing through the waterway, bringing the passage under control remains vital to U.S. economic interests.

The crucial maritime passage, which facilitates hundreds of billions of dollars worth of trade each year, has been solely and wholly operated by the Republic of Panama since it was transferred from US control almost three decades ago, though two of its ports have been under management of a Hong Kong-based firm since 1997.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-defence-secretary-pete-hegseth-says-he-could-feel-the-communism-during-trip-to-the-panama-canal/

Queueing Dylan...

[wcmagumba]

1. Hegseth is so stupid I can feel it...

[sop]

15. It's palpable, like he's enveloped in an aura of stupidity.

[C_U_L8R]

2. Is that like 'smelling' the gin on a DOD?

[dchill]

3. Yeah, that's the Whiskey, Pete.

[Vogon_Glory]

9. Or the rum. I don't think that he's realized that the

Glorious days of Commie-catching are over and done with.

And if by some cosmic twist he was thrown from the present to the Eisenhower years, I suspect that President Ike and both Dulles brothers would have taken drastic steps to see that he was tossed off the federal payroll.

[malaise]

45. I was about to write meh no

just the effect of your last drink😀

[dchill]

54. Pretty much the cause of all your "feelings," Pete

[Irish_Dem]

4. He's still drinking. A lot.

[John1956PA]

8. He may have been feeling the shakes . . .

. . . because he ran out of gin.

[Irish_Dem]

13. Yes and hallucinations are often present in DTs.

Visual, auditory, olfactory.
He can experience all kinds of things that are figments of his imagination
as part of alcohol withdrawal.

[John1956PA]

18. Apropos to nothing in particular, here are the Irish Rovers:

I am still looking for the version in which there is no intro to the song. It just bursts forth with the lyrics, "Could've been the whiskey, might've been the gin."

https://m.

&pp=ygUTd2Fzbid0IHRoYXQgYSBvYXJ0eQ%3D%3D

[pfitz59]

48. Been there. Done that.

In my 'drinking' days. Many, many years ago.

[Uncle Joe]

5. Did they show a Beetlejuice movie on his flight?

Thanks for the thread Zorro

[creon]

6. No such thing

There is no communism

[Ocelot II]

7. The air was thick with class struggle!

Gawd, wadda maroon....

[BOSSHOG]

10. Hegseth can see Russia from the Pentagon

On occasion he channels Sarah Palin. Obviously. You betcha. The gop hall of fame on parade tonight on DU.

[FSogol]

11. What an idiot. N/t

[PJMcK]

12. At the moment, I am in Panama

It is anything but a Communist country!

The people are free to pursue their desires and interests. Private property is encouraged by the government and they have instituted policies to encourage foreign investment and immigration. The banking system is the most secure in Central America. Private investment opportunities are numerous and supported by the government. The people are, for the most part, content in their lives. The cost of living is very reasonable. The services are excellent, superior and inexpensive, (a complete medical physical including tests and X-rays costs less than $200 and are performed by excellent doctors who were trained in the best schools in the world). In fact, many people don't have health insurance because it's so reasonable to pay out of pocket for normal care.

The people are friendly and helpful. The food is delicious. The country is beautiful. Panama is a jewel. Being equatorial, it's also outside the hurricane zones so the weather is fairly stable and consistently warm. The mountains are spectacular and the coasts are gorgeous oceanic vistas. The Canal is an amazing achievement but the Panamanian expansion of the Canal is as important as the original set of locks.

Hegseth is an idiot many kilometers out of his depth. It's clear that he doesn't know the ideology of communism or any other ism, frankly. He is uneducated, incurious and disgustingly biased. For Trump, he's the perfect hire. Pathetic.

[Bayard]

32. Thanks for this on the scene report

It sounds lovely.

[malaise]

46. One of my siblings and her hubby visit Panama every year

They love the place

[Frasier Balzov]

33. How is your Spanish fluency?

[PJMcK]

38. Not as good as my French!

Right now, I'm focusing on vocabulary and simple sentences. Thankfully, my wife is a bit better in Spanish than I! I'm working on it.

[Baitball Blogger]

42. Which is why so many Americans choose it for retirement.

[jalan48]

14. Too many White Russians.

[wcmagumba]

16. He should be hanging out with "The Dude"

[Tanuki]

17. Delirium tremens

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delirium_tremens

"Delirium tremens (DTs; lit. 'mental disturbance with shaking') is a rapid onset of confusion usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol.[2] When it occurs, it is often three days into the withdrawal symptoms and lasts for two to three days.[2] Physical effects may include shaking, shivering, irregular heart rate, and sweating.[1] People may also hallucinate.[2] Occasionally, a very high body temperature or seizures (colloquially known as "rum fits&quot [5][6] may result in death.[2]

Delirium tremens typically occurs only in people with a high intake of alcohol for more than a month, followed by sharply reduced intake.[7] A similar syndrome may occur with benzodiazepine and barbiturate withdrawal. In a person with delirium tremens, it is important to rule out other associated problems such as electrolyte abnormalities, pancreatitis, and alcoholic hepatitis.[2]"...(more)

[AZJonnie]

39. It's def. possible he has a situation that's fairly called a drinking problem

esp. given his freaking JOB, but hallucinations? DT's? Doubtful unless he goes on benders where he sucks down like 1.75L bottles of liquor a day for weeks or months at a time, and there's not really any evidence of that level of consumption. Otherwise, dude is too young and in too good of physical shape to be at the level of drinking being supposed here where there's DT's and such. That's what people who've drank every day for 30-40 years and then suddenly quit suffer. Dude's not old enough yet for DT's unless he was drinking in diapers.

Just to be clear, what I'm trying to get at is: He is actually either this stupid, and/or this much of a pathetic gas-lighter. I don't think he deserves the excuse of 'the booze' honestly. He just sucks.

[Wonder Why]

19. That's because he spent his time in the "red" light district. 😁

[milestogo]

35. That "communist" feeling is from the genital crabs.

[LuvLoogie]

20. Not enough white men in charge. Gotta be communism.

[travelingthrulife]

49. It really just boils down to this, doesn't it.

[LudwigPastorius]

21. That was your liver, Pete, plotting to overthrow the rest of your body for trying to kill it.

[Wiz Imp]

22. Apparently they think crediting him with being pro Trump will make it so

He certainly hasn't been afraid to call Trump a liar.

https://apnews.com/article/panama-canal-trump-china-a56f0bcec1952417f1c8c47fa34ec20e

Panama president calls Trump’s talk of ‘reclaiming’ the Panama Canal a lie

Panama President José Raúl Mulino on Wednesday accused U.S. President Donald Trump of lying when he said in his address to Congress that his administration was “reclaiming” the Panama Canal.

Trump was referencing a deal announced Tuesday for a consortium led by the U.S. investment management company BlackRock Inc. to buy a controlling stake in the company held by a Chinese group that operates ports at both ends of the Panama Canal.

Panama maintains that it has full control over the canal and that the Hong Kong-based group’s operation of the ports did not amount to Chinese control over the waterway, and that therefore the sale to a U.S.-based company would not represent any U.S. “reclaiming” of the canal. Panama’s government on Tuesday called the sale a private transaction.

Mulino in a message posted to X on Wednesday, rejected that the deal came about because of U.S. pressure. “I reject in the name of Panama and all Panamanians this new affront to the truth and our dignity as a nation,” he wrote. He accused Trump of “lying again.”

[Clouds Passing]

23. I can feel the notseeism in the current political nightmare.

[Dan]

24. Suspect it was the DTs

[Marcuse]

25. How could Hegseth possibly feel communism when he can't even smell fascism.

[synni]

26. Here at home, we can feel the fascism....

[Initech]

27. And I feel the stupid every time I hear him say something stupid.

[RainCaster]

28. Can he feel it in that couch?

He's a drunken moron. That is all.

[sinkingfeeling]

29. Kinda like I can feel the fascism in the US?

I've been to Panama and it seemed almost like being in the states. Panama City is a modern city full of US businesses. The Canal (really 2 sets of locks) was awesome.

[sakabatou]

30. Pete, the 50s were 70 years ago.

[Norbert]

31. Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son

The first thing I could think of upon reading this.

[DFW]

34. Tell, me, Petey, just how DOES communism feel?

Is is anything like stoicism tastes?

[JHB]

36. "Feeling communism in the air" is a definite sign of mental disorder.

There ain't no communism there, Pete.

Either you are trying to manipulate the stupidest/most gullible portions of Trump's base, or you are just a fucking moron yourself.

[eppur_se_muova]

37. That's just the local mosquitos -- they've adapted to feed on tatoo ink. nt

[meadowlander]

40. Vodka fumes?

[Baitball Blogger]

41. Oh, Fuck You Pete Hegseth, a million times over.

Panama is very much a capitalist society, with a very large American ex-Pat community, that lives there. The running of the Canal was started with the disciplinary efficiency of an America that you and this Administration are doing everything in your power to destroy.

The most "communist" behavior you will see is that THEIR form of Christianity teaches good works and they have a social security system that is admired by everyone who sees it in action. When recipients are in line to get their checks. it is customary to allow the older people to walk up to the front of the line. You can also get discounts at restaurants if you say you're retired. That's all you have to do. Is claim you're retired.

This is what these Trump fuckers do. They try to poison the waters, defaming anyone and anything before they attack.

[Vinca]

43. Of course he can because he is the Communism.

[Emile]

44. Was he drunk?

[spanone]

47. An embarrassment to the world.

[Ping Tung]

50. Aren't the New Bogeymen scary enough? Resurrecting the old one sounds like desperation.

[Wicked Blue]

51. I can feel the fascism

[Aristus]

52. He wants a Trump-version of Just Cause. He's going to call it "Just Because".

n/t

[John1956PA]

53. In his 2017 visit to Saudia Arabia, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross felt the love . . .

. . . of the Saidi people for the crown Prince. That must have made him feel like dancing in his $7K slippers

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/22/wilbur-ross-saudi-arabia-trump-238672