Pete Hegseth’s latest tough guy posturing has backfired after he quoted an ancient Roman general in a show of defiance—oblivious, apparently, to the general’s subsequent beheading.
“Stop quoting laws to MEN WITH SWORDS,” Hegseth wrote, sharing a clip in which Secretary of State Marco Rubio used the same reference during a recent speech to the Federalist Society escalating the Trump administration’s attacks on the International Criminal Court.
The quote, as Rubio explained, was attributed to Pompey the Great, a general during the final days of the Roman Republic who had apparently said the line in response to the city attempting to impose its charter against its legions.
But that pithy quote doesn’t tell the full story. Pompey, one of Rome’s most powerful statesmen in his era, was forced into exile in Egypt after losing a civil war to his one-time ally turned bitter rival Julius Caesar. Upon arrival, he was stabbed and beheaded by a Roman mercenary. In other words, swords did not turn out well for Pompey.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accompany US President Donald Trump (not seen) during a press conference following the annual NATO Summit at Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey on July 8, 2026.
ALTAN GOCHER/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
It’s unclear if the Trump administration’s own saber-rattling against the ICC will prove any more successful. Last month, hours after one of its former judges was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Rubio announced that the United States would sanction the Hague-based organization, which was created in 2002 to prosecute genocide and crimes against humanity. Earlier this year, Hegseth warned that the Court could investigate the Trump administration’s extrajudicial strikes against drug traffickers in Latin America.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivers his 2026 “State of the Force” address to US junior officers and enlisted leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia, US, September 30, 2026.
Hegseth, a former Fox News host handpicked by President Trump to run the Pentagon, has enjoyed a largely scandal-filled two years in charge of the Department of Defense, mired by allegations of excessive drinking and an obsession with optics, and inadvertently sharing sensitive national security information with a journalist inadvertently added to a Signal group chat. He recently narrowly survived an impeachment push brought by Republican Congressman Thomas Massie related to his role in the Iran war.
And this weekend’s “men with swords” post isn’t his only recent quote gone wrong. Earlier this year, the defense secretary and self-described Christian appeared to cite a prayer invented by Quentin Tarantino for Samuel L. Jackson’s hitman character in Pulp Fiction while speaking at a Pentagon religious event.
The post Pentagon Pete’s Cringe Flex Backfires Spectacularly appeared first on The Daily Beast.
