Morning Joe co-host flags ‘striking’ change from Hegseth: ‘This administration’s flailing’

MS NOW’s Jonathan Lemire called attention to a shift in tone from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in his latest press update on the Iran war.

The Pentagon chief attacked reporters once again during Friday’s briefing, but the “Morning Joe” co-host noticed that Hegseth seemed to be shifting the terms of what the Trump administration would consider to be a military victory.

“Some progress made yesterday in the Israel-Lebanon situation, that cease fire extended, but not here,” Lemire said. “We should note though, MS NOW is reporting that Iran’s foreign minister is expected to travel to Islamabad next day or so, potentially ahead of peace talks. This is not for peace talks, but to restart negotiations, to perhaps have negotiations. So maybe that will happen down the road.”

“But I also wanted to flag something here that was very striking, just a shift in tone from the secretary,” Lemire added. “Yes, strident bashing the press every chance he gets. But it was on April 8, he had one of these news conferences and he said this is a big day for world peace. They have had enough, meaning Iran, Operation Epic Fury has been laser-focused from the very start – sorry, that [it] is a historic, overwhelming victory on the battlefield, a capital-V military victory, declaring the conflict, in its essence, over.”

Hegseth didn’t display quite the same bravado in his latest press briefing, Lemire noted.

“He said Operation Epic Fury has been laser-focused from the very start,” Lemire said. “That mission continues today in a new phase, so an acknowledgment there that these were premature declarations of victory and that, while it’s true, no one’s really attacking each other at this very moment, this conflict is far from over, and I say reading from that news conference, this is an administration that’s sort of flailing to figure out a way out.”