MS NOW pundit Alex Wagner said on Friday that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth “humiliated” the nation with his “embarrassing” announcements that U.S. troops older than 30 will be provided with testosterone — and that military flyovers will continue “until morale improves.”
Wagner appeared on “The Moment with Katy Tur” to discuss the matter with panelists Paul Rieckhoff, a U.S. Army veteran and critic of President Donald Trump, and MS NOW senior national security reporter David Rohde, saying, “I find all of this so embarrassing.”
“I mean, great, like, maybe the testosterone will help them,” Wagner joked. “Because they clearly feel like they have some deficiencies — I’m not going to speculate what they might be — and they need these big toys to demonstrate that they’re not deficient in certain areas.”
She continued, “You know what might help with morale, Katie? Not getting the U.S. military involved in a disastrous war which we’re losing to Iran that has spiraled the global energy markets. You know what would help morale? Not having the U.S. bomb a girls’ school in Iran.”
The February airstrike killed up to 175 people, most of them girls between 7 and 12 years old.
Hegseth announced in a social media video posted Wednesday with the phrase, “The High-T Department of War,” that military service members older than 30 will start getting screened for “testosterone deficiency.” He said this will ensure they operate at their “absolute best.”
The former Fox News host has frequently painted America’s armed services as a “warrior” class diminished under prior administrations. After a dangerously low flyover by the U.S. Navy in Florida on Wednesday, he wrote on X, “The flyovers will continue until morale improves.”
Hegseth has also overseen dozens of lethal airstrikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since September. Despite bipartisan furor at the potential war crimes, Hegseth has boasted about the strikes — and even posted footage of them on social media.
“I mean, what he has done not just to America’s reputation, but to its armed services, how he has be-clowned us on the global stage and committed war crimes in our name, and this is what they say is going to ratchet up morale among the troops?” Wagner said Friday.
“I mean, he has humiliated us. He is humiliating our armed services. He has tarnished our reputation. We have a stain on ourselves because of this president,” she continued. “And it’s all going to get solved if they fly some jets around really fast at a low altitude?”
CNN reported Thursday that an investigation into the February airstrike has long been completed, but that military leaders have “held off on ordering a critical, standard intelligence review” into what happened, citing three unnamed sources familiar with the situation.
“What a humiliation and embarrassment,” said Wagner. “But yes, by all means, do the testosterone shots. Maybe that will help.”