Republished with permission from Steve Schmidt

The motto of the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School is “Ductos Exemplo,” which means lead by example.

Pete Hegseth’s service as US Secretary of Defense is a farce.

It is sick joke.

The entire purpose of West Point, Annapolis, the USAF Academy, USCG Academy, Officer Candidate School, ROTC and every NCO school is to ensure that no commissioned officer or non-commissioned officer ever destroys their credibility like this:

The greatest insanity of the moment is that it occurred after the bracket of the story had been confirmed by the White House.

Does Pete Hegseth think he is covered in the same coat of teflon as his master?

The questions he should face should approximate what the 101st Airborne faced in the Ardennes.

Will he?

Will he be asked questions about the concept of responsibility and accountability?

Pete Hegseth has erased Jackie Robinson’s service, and made sure no member of America’s Armed Forces will ever again be tempted by seeing the words “Enola” and “gay” together again on a Pentagon website, but without question, his greatest achievement during his 60 days of service is sending out war plans on a Signal group chat that included a reporter. No person on the email paid attention to this fact whatsoever because each of them is incompetent, unfit, barely functional, inattentive to detail, and lighter than helium.

For the record, the email included the entire clown posse: Michael Waltz, JD Vance, Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff, Stephen Miller, Tulsi Gabbard, Scott Bessent, Joe Kent and John Ratcliffe.

Do you ever think about the Boomers? I don’t very often, but I suspect I do more than most—which is barely at all. I wonder why the overwhelming majority of Americans never think about them and their potential. It’s almost as if they don’t exist at all. But of course they do.

Boomers, of course, are the nickname for America’s fleet of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, which are the most powerful weapons of war in the history of human civilization. Here are their names:

• USS Henry M. Jackson (SSBN 730), Bangor, WA
• USS Alabama (SSBN 731), Bangor, WA
• USS Alaska (SSBN 732), Kings Bay, GA
• USS Nevada (SSBN 733), Bangor, WA
• USS Tennessee (SSBN 734), Kings Bay, GA
• USS Pennsylvania (SSBN 735), Bangor, WA
• USS West Virginia (SSBN 736), Portsmouth, VA
• USS Kentucky (SSBN 737), Bangor, WA

Aboard them are men and women from all 50 US states and territories.

They are US Navy sailors, and are in the business of deterrence, which means they will be the first to know if Armageddon is at hand.

After that, they will be the first to wonder what happens next.

Let’s watch Commanding Officer John Gage of the USS Pennsylvania contemplate the end of human civilization and what it would be like aboard the ship that fired the missiles— after the mushroom clouds.

Before watching though, are you at all interested in the personality type of the man who is wearing the silver oak leaves on his collar?

What makes him tick?

What is unique about his character, judgement and intellect that would interest the US Navy in turning over the keys to the most potent weapon that ever existed and the lives of those under his command?

The American political system has yielded a result that means the captain of the world’s deadliest weapon man reports up a chain of command to a ludicrous liar like Pete Hegseth, who is unfit, dishonest and untrustworthy.

There are no words for the scorn America’s military officers must feel towards the Fox News lightweight and misfit who leads them and debases their values, ethics, training and integrity with each absurdist performance for his one-man Chuck Barris.

Here is a remarkable scene from the fire control room aboard the ship:

Notice the ages of the crew and the diversity.

For those unfamiliar with naval rank, the Black man with two silver bars on his collar is in charge. He is a lieutenant.

Look at the bridge of the ship and the faces.

Right now, at this exact second, there is a crew of Americans in a ballistic missile submarine lurking, hidden, in each of the world’s oceans.

They are training, preparing and readying. They are preparing to execute an order they simultaneously pray they will never receive.

Let’s watch the captain explain the process by which he would launch nuclear weapons from his ship via ballistic missiles:

Remember that it is the job of America’s citizens to decide the fate of humanity by electing the commander in chief, who singularly controls the weapons and would release them with orders that would be carried out by the secretary of defense.

The commander in chief is the president of the United States. The crew will follow his orders, and they will fire the missiles.

The American people choose the person who can give that order. Why don’t we ever talk about that? Why aren’t politicians ever asked about it?

It is real.

Let’s watch Martha Raddatz of ABC News talk to some of the women crew aboard the USS Maine. Listen to her describe the deadliest weapon in the world:

Remember, when listening to her, that Pete Hegseth has spent every single second as defense secretary denigrating the service of American women in uniform:

When you see the young Lieutenant Jg Erin Chandler handle the nuclear launch key what do you see?

What is it that a citizen owes her and her shipmates?

How should we think about the young people who will hand the keys to the captain, who will launch the missiles that will annihilate civilization?

Don’t we owe them wisdom and circumspection in our voting choice?

Didn’t we owe ourselves, our children and their descendants someone more stable, secure and trustworthy than Donald Trump?

Here is another question raised by the broad indifference Americans seem to have towards the country in which our descendants will live.

When do we stop caring at all about what happens, and when?

Is it after our grandkids?

Do we not care what happens to their kids and their grandkids?

Is it too far forward after that?

Never let it be said that selfishness doesn’t kill in America.

Now watch the captain talk about how the hidden submarine communicates with the commander in chief, receives its orders and prepares to fire.

Lest there be any doubt around whether the order to fire would be disobeyed the captain will put your mind to rest. The missiles will be fired:

Donald Trump controls the Republican Party at an institutional level. Fully.

He is unambiguously the boss.

He is a convicted felon praised as a victim, an adjudicated rapist held up as a saint. He is a fool called a genius, and a clown who was made president twice.

He launched an insurrection against the US government, and is now fulfilling his campaign promises of revenge and retribution against the US government and his enemies that he has targeted for destruction.

Trump has cowed America’s CEOs and university presidents, while chilling corporate newsrooms and redefining balance as being nice to Trump always—or else.

He has assembled and empowered the most unfit and disordered pack of sycophants assembled in a political cabinet since 1938 Berlin or 1991 Baghdad. He has assaulted the rule of law, abused his authority, defied the courts, and used the US military as a prop in a television show by striking for show, not cause.

We should all think about Boomers and the awesome responsibility of their crews and officers.

We should think about their commander in chief. We live in an age of disgrace and unfitness that is both epic and conquerable.

Moving past it requires zero tolerance for the extremism and cult of personality that has broken faith with American values in the name of Donald Trump.

They have betrayed an idea for a person. The surrender of a political party’s elected members to the whims of a despot has been as pathetic as it had been despicable.

Whatever stripe the cowardice may be it will be viewed as unpardonable by history.

The harsh judgement ahead will scorn the cowardice and people that allowed a fascist movement to plant, root and thrive on American soil in the first quarter of the twenty-first century.

None will be judged harder than Pete Hegseth and all of his absurd apologists and enablers. Together, their conduct is shameful in a historic manner.

This era must end.

It is dangerous beyond any measure.

We should all think about our Boomers. We should think about the young men and women aboard them. They will survive the first wave.

It is said that when the missiles launch, the survivors will envy the dead.

In the end, there is only one American who is ever given the power and discretion to launch the weapons of extinction. That person is the president of the United States of America.

What type of sick society would ever invest that power again in a man like Donald Trump.?

What type of broken media would pretend that the powers of the office don’t exist?

What type of people are we?

In the end, we will know.

America got the chance to vote on its own euthanasia, and it chose Donald Trump.

Appalling doesn’t begin to describe it all, but it will have to do for now.