“We have killed more than 80 people in these little boats already,” Kimmel said.
Jimmy Kimmel ripped into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for allegedly committing a war crime against a vessel in the Caribbean.
Hegseth had ordered troops to “kill everybody” aboard a suspected drug trafficking boat near Trinidad, including two survivors simply clinging to the wreckage, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
“In his defense,” Kimmel joked, “we’ve all done some crazy stuff when we’re drunk.”
The joke referred to Hegseth’s widely-alleged issues with alcoholism, which had made him one of Trump’s most controversial cabinet picks heading into his second term.
Kimmel continued, “Usually when Pete Hegseth orders enough bombs to kill everyone, they come with a shot of sake.”
“But members of Congress from both sides believe Hegseth may have committed a war crime. Trump even distanced himself from it,” Kimmel said.
When Trump was asked Sunday about the second strike that killed the remaining survivors, he responded, “We’ll look into it, but no, I wouldn’t have wanted that, not a second strike.”
Kimmel joked, “So now they’ve changed the sign again to the Department of War Crimes.”
He showed the video of Hegseth in November presenting the new “Department of War” plaque at the Pentagon, except the clip was edited so that “Crimes” was added on.
Kimmel further emphasized to his audience how bad it is for the Trump administration to be bombing ships off the coast of Venezuela.
“Here’s the thing: there’s no way they know who was on these boats. They could just be fishermen. President El Porkchapo said, ‘Blow ‘em up anyway,’” Kimmel said.
“We have killed more than 80 people in these little boats already,” Kimmel added.
Pete Hegseth posted the meme to his personal account, which has 1.8 million followers.Pete Hegseth/X
Hegseth has lashed out against the war crime accusations, mocking his critics with memes on social media and describing the reporting around the bombing as “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory.”
Hegseth wrote on X, “The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narco-terrorists. Biden coddled terrorists; we kill them.”
The 45-year-old and the White House have shifted responsibility to Frank Mitchell Bradley, the commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command.
As outrage swelled throughout Washington, the political fallout intensified by the hour. Lawmakers demanded classified briefings, military officials scrambled to reframe the incident, and the Pentagon’s internal investigators were reportedly thrust into “emergency mode.” According to a senior congressional aide, shockwaves rippled through national security circles—not only because of the brutality of the strikes, but because of the tone-deaf bravado Hegseth displayed online.
Behind closed doors, insiders claim tensions within the administration are “boiling over,” with some officials furious that Hegseth’s public mockery could worsen legal exposure for both the Pentagon and the White House. One official described the atmosphere as “chaos layered on panic,” noting that even allies are struggling to defend the narrative as global human rights groups begin demanding independent inquiries.
Meanwhile, late-night hosts, foreign governments, and military veterans continue to pile on criticism, warning that the precedent set by this kind of action could have severe diplomatic consequences across the Caribbean and Latin America.
Despite the backlash, Hegseth has doubled down, promising that operations against so-called “narco-terrorists” will not slow down—and hinting that even more aggressive tactics may be on the table.
For now, Washington is bracing for the next revelation, as investigations, leaks, and political fractures threaten to turn a single strike into a sprawling international scandal.
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