Mark Kelly Blasts Trump and Hegseth on Military Changes
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What happened
On MS NOW’s “The Last Word,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a retired Navy captain, said President Donald Trump “is ruining this country.” Kelly said half the country is having a hard time affording food, people cannot fill their gas tanks, and a mother was struggling to get her child to cancer treatment because of gasoline prices; he said Trump was wasting time on ballrooms, arches, and banners with his image on buildings. Kelly said Trump started a war in Iran without a strategic goal or a plan, that Trump “has no idea what to do,” and that higher energy prices would lift the price of food and everything else, calling the presidency “one disaster after the next.” On a separate MS NOW appearance, Kelly denounced Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s changes to Pentagon leadership, describing Hegseth as “a guy who runs around on the stage, yelling about killing people and maximum lethality and testosterone,” and saying the U.S. military “doesn’t need more testosterone.”
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Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage did not report Sen. Mark Kelly saying President Trump is ruining the country, covering a separate attack on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instead. Readers of The Hill would see a Tuesday MS NOW appearance about Hegseth's leadership changes and talk of lethality. Right-leaning coverage at Breitbart carried Monday remarks from The Last Word in which Kelly said Trump is "ruining this country," tying the charge to food prices, gasoline, and a war in Iran. Those points do not appear in the left-leaning write-up.
The two sides led with different Kelly targets. Left-leaning coverage opened on Hegseth and the Pentagon. Right-leaning coverage opened on food, gas, and the president's time. Ballrooms and Iran never appear in left-leaning coverage. Testosterone never appears in right-leaning coverage.
Did the White House or Hegseth respond to either appearance?
Bottom line
Only Breitbart carried Kelly saying Trump is "ruining this country"; The Hill's Kelly story never printed that line and wrote up Hegseth instead.
The receipts — 5 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Sen. Mark Kelly said on Monday's The Last Word that President Trump is ruining this country
- Kelly said a mother was having a hard time getting her child to cancer treatment because of the price of a gallon of gas
- Kelly said half of the country is having a hard time affording food
- Kelly rebuked Pete Hegseth as a guy who runs around on stage yelling about killing people, maximum lethality, and testosterone
- Kelly is a retired Navy captain
The Left View
The Hill frames the story through Kelly’s Navy background and his clash with Hegseth, not the broader attack on Trump. It presents Kelly as bluntly denouncing Hegseth’s Pentagon leadership changes and highlights the rebuke of Hegseth as someone yelling about “killing people and maximum lethality and testosterone,” plus the line that the military “doesn’t need more testosterone.”
The Right View
Breitbart leads with Kelly’s charge that Trump “Is Ruining This Country” and runs extended quotes on food and fuel costs, the parent delayed from cancer treatment, ballrooms, arches, and image banners, and a war in Iran Kelly said lacked a plan. It frames the remarks as a sweeping Democratic indictment: a presidency of “one disaster after the next,” and a wish that someone around Trump would tell him he is ruining the country and focus on “the things that that matter to the American people.”
Our Take (balanced)
Left-leaning coverage’s strongest argument is Kelly’s standing as a retired Navy captain attacking Hegseth’s “maximum lethality and testosterone” posture and leadership changes as the wrong model for the military. Right-leaning coverage’s strongest argument is Kelly’s own wording: that people cannot afford food or gas while the president focuses on ballrooms, arches, and banners, and that a war in Iran without a “strategic goal or a plan” will drive prices higher. The central unresolved tension is what the episode is actually about—a fight over Pentagon culture and Hegseth’s tenure, or a claim that Trump’s economic and war decisions are “ruining” the country—and whether Kelly’s causal links from those decisions to household costs are established.
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