Podbit · The Bulwark Podcast
Pete Hegseth secured the Defense Secretary job through his on-air advocacy to prevent service members accused of civilian atrocities in Iraq from being held accountable. Trump overruled his own military chain of command to accommodate Hegseth's position. This history, Susan Glasser argues, explains his approach to the school bombing in Iran.
Where this was said
At 34:40 · chapter starts 34:20
Tim Miller references a major AP investigation reconstructing the U.S. missile strike on a girls' school in Manab, Iran [1] — Susan Glasser "Pete Hegseth's role in protecting service members accused of atrocities: Pete Hegseth got his job as Defense Secretary partly through his F…" 35:00 . A former Pentagon official told the AP that the strike resulted from Trump administration decisions to reduce staff dedicated to civilian harm mitigation and to stop work on no-strike lists. The Pentagon has still not released its own findings; Trump last week suggested the question of whose fault it was may never be answered. Susan Glasser provides the historical context: Pete Hegseth got his Defense Secretary job precisely through his on-air advocacy defending service members accused of atrocities against Iraqi civilians from accountability — and Trump overruled his own military chain of command to accommodate Hegseth's positions. That biography, she argues, is not incidental to the current situation.
Pete Hegseth got his job as Defense Secretary partly through his Fox News advocacy to shield service members accused of atrocities against civilians in Iraq from accountability.
The Trump-Iran memorandum of understanding has been called a landmark ceasefire, but firing between the two sides has continued. Iran treats the Strait of Hormuz as a spigot to turn on and off for leverage, and no meaningful nuclear talks have begun. Susan Glasser is skeptical any long-term peace deal emerges.
The Iran-U.S. ceasefire was labeled a 'landmark memorandum of understanding' but has not proven effective, with ongoing firing between the two sides and no meaningful progress in follow-on nuclear talks.
Fei-Fei Li went back to Stanford from Google in 2018 specifically to build a multi-stakeholder governance framework for AI. Her argument: market forces are not societal norms. Just as biology uses IRBs and cars have safety laws, AI needs layered oversight from educators, governments, and the public — not just a few industry titans.
Andrew Santino's personal MCU of political villains is collapsing. He and Bobby speculated that a circulating photo of Mitch McConnell with a Chinese official was AI-generated compositing two separate images.
Mass surveillance is here to stay. The real battle isn't stopping cameras — it's ensuring judges and laws keep that data out of family court and civil disputes, admitting it only for violent crimes and national security. The surveillance economy currently yields more upside than downside, but only if we build the legal guardrails now.
When people cite Scandinavia as proof socialism works, Galloway says they've got it backwards. Northern Europe runs highly competitive free-market economies with more competition in many sectors than the US — they just make sure taxes are actually paid and redistributed. Billionaires and universal healthcare can coexist.
Two percent adjustments to income tax and stamp duty tweaks are deck-chair rearrangements. The UK's competitiveness hinges on four structural levers: currency valuation, energy costs, regulatory burden, and tax rates. Devalue the pound, build 56 nuclear plants, slash red tape, introduce a flat tax — and the country transforms.
Lisbon had one of Europe's worst heroin crises. Then Portugal legalised drugs and redirected all enforcement money into rehabilitation and housing. Crime collapsed. Addiction fell. Then politics moved the money elsewhere, and the problem started creeping back. Chesterton's Fence: you forget why you were spending that money.
Congress passed the Boland Amendment 411 to 0, explicitly banning CIA and Defense Department funds for the Contras. Reagan signed it — then immediately moved the operation deeper underground, essentially responding to a bipartisan prohibition by going more illegal.
The CIA planted mines in Nicaraguan commercial harbors, wrote the Contras' press releases taking credit, and promptly blew up ships from four allied nations. The Wall Street Journal broke the story, Congress erupted, and the Boland Amendments multiplied.
Oliver North was a decorated Marine and devout Catholic with zero covert operations experience. He ran the entire shadow war against Congress — planes, airstrips, arms shipments, shell companies — learning on the job. And by every operational measure, he crushed it.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.