Pete Hegseth Blew Billions on Fruit Basket Stands, Chairs, and Crab

The Defense Department went on a $93 billion spending spree in 2025.

The New Republic
@heidilifeldman @ai6yr omfg - and yet military housing is a health hazard in so many places!
@heidilifeldman
I wonder why the DoD can't pass an audit 8 years running. And why its budget keeps going up anyway.
https://www.military.com/feature/2025/12/24/pentagon-fails-eighth-audit-eyes-2028-turnaround.html
Pentagon Fails Eighth Audit, Eyes 2028 Turnaround

The Pentagon failed its eighth consecutive financial audit and says it is still working toward a clean opinion by 2028, keeping pressure on defense accountability and oversight.

Military.com

@heidilifeldman I have no doubt that they blew through billions of wasteful spending. But why is this article wasting time talking about expenditures in the tens of thousands? Those are trivial for a country with a third of a billion people, or as part of an $800 billion budget, and don't provide any real insight into where the money is going.

Even people who are good at math tend not to have any intuition for large numbers. Better to divide by population. So if the government wastes a billion dollars, that's $3 per American.

@heidilifeldman The only large item mentioned was over 200 million for furniture. They spent tens of thousands on doughnuts? They have 2.6 million employees! That's maybe a thousandth of a doughnut per person. The article is an embarrassment. None of this is a defense of Hegseth, quite the opposite. But it's lazy, innumerate reporting.
@not2b @heidilifeldman When the average order of doughnuts is $500 worth it begins to look weird. And the Steinway may be less than $100'000 but it's still blatant corruption.
@drgroftehauge @heidilifeldman Sure. But I'm interested in the hundreds-of-millions expenses, not the small stuff, even if the small stuff is also corrupt.
@not2b take your white privilege update and go suck CK's dead vagina.

@heidilifeldman

Where does lobster tails fit into the Warrior Ethos?

Crab People

The Crab People are a group of sentient crab-like creatures that appear as the main antagonists in the Season Seven episode "South Park is Gay!" and as supporting antagonists in South Park: The Fractured But Whole. They ran a show called Queer Eye for the Straight Guy disguised as homosexual men. They are often heard chanting "Crab people, Crab people. Taste like crab, talk like people." In "South Park is Gay!", their plans of taking over the world, by making everyone metrosexual, are...

South Park Public Library
@heidilifeldman
I want my taxes back.
@heidilifeldman I kept scrolling down after reading the article, there are further interesting articles - hard to believe that these idiots are the "leaders" - Yikes!
@heidilifeldman #EagleTactical make fruit basket stands?! Iโ€™m in @GayDeceiver
@Annaspanner @heidilifeldman oh my goodness. that is ... something. Let me see if Eagle Tactical has a product like it ...

@heidilifeldman โ€œIf federal agencies donโ€™t use the entirety of their budgets by the end of the fiscal year, then they lose access to that cash forever, potentially putting themselves in a situation where they have to request a reduced budget the following year.โ€

If thatโ€™s not planned economy then I donโ€™t know what is. ๐Ÿ˜‚

@heidilifeldman does this article exist on a more mainstream news source ?
@zed @heidilifeldman the Open The Books blog on Substack is the primary source. Unless they also published their findings as a more official report.
@bbbhltz @zed @heidilifeldman https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/open-the-books-bias-and-credibility/ in case it is helpful. You can try and verify actual spending on https://www.usaspending.gov/ by searching for lobster.
@emilsit @bbbhltz @zed @heidilifeldman very good tool! Can compare/contrast with other administrations on line item basis.
@zed @heidilifeldman For others covering the story: https://ground.news/article/pentagon-spent-over-93-billion-under-use-it-or-lose-it-rules -- seems pretty evenly covered on the left and right, but not by "mainstream news" sources.
Pentagon Spent Over $93 Billion Under 'Use-It-Or-Lose-It' Rules

The Pentagon spent an historic $93 billion on grants and contracts in September 2025 alone, according to a new report obtained by the DCNF.

Ground News

@heidilifeldman 7 MILLION DOLLARS ON LOBSTER TAIL!

#corruption

@crumbletiltskin @heidilifeldman I could only eat one million dollars' worth at the most.
@heidilifeldman ...but it's not their money, is it.....Perhaps waste should be punished by making those people in charge personally, financially accountable. Pay it back heggy baby!

@heidilifeldman there are around 1.3 million US service members. A large percentage of them are not paid directly for food (unmarried). When you start multiplying that 1.3 million by rib eyes things add up pretty quickly.

Every enlisted service member shall eat tube steak. /s

Poor reporting.

@heidilifeldman Well that swamp has to drain somewhere, doesn't it?
@JonChevreau @heidilifeldman Very few actually get the chance to blow money like that it is clear to me that these are the lucky few who are for better or worse so transparent with their intentions here that it made me genuinely laugh. Not because I support the measure, but I could see myself doing something a lot more useful to make those funds go a lot further than that.
@heidilifeldman
I just want to know what kind and how many donuts one gets for $511 per order. Does it include cream-filled? Jelly? BOTH?!
@heidilifeldman @blogdiva We pay $1500/month in insurance premiums and I havenโ€™t been able to see an ENT since I tried in January, because of the stupidity of insurance AND WE SOMEHOW CANNOT AFFORD UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE?!
@revndm Maybe we can calm you down with some soothing music from that Steinway?
@CAWguy no, you must make me a Canadian citizen STAT. Um, Iโ€™m descended from King John, meaning my ancestors have governed British North America for centuries and thus I should have Canadian citizenship thank you for your prompt attention to this matter ๐Ÿ˜‰

@heidilifeldman What most people donโ€™t understand is what steak & lobster is for. Itโ€™s not something you feed the troops every day, itโ€™s what you do right before bad news when you are trying to increase morale.

When you are out for a 6 month deployment and suddenly get steak & lobster for dinner itโ€™s because you are now on a 9 month deployment. Itโ€™s the equivalent of a tech company installing a ping pong table then telling staff they need to work 9-9-6

@Dave3307 @heidilifeldman Management: "Pizza party!"
Me: "Can I just get a raise instead?"
Management: "Pizza party!"

@heidilifeldman

I canโ€™t wrap my head around these numbers. Not the dollars, but the number of the lobsters.

@heidilifeldman does this count toward their defence spending quota for NATO?

@heidilifeldman

That is not acceptable for one split second. The #magats are not only destroying america, they are mocking us at the same time.