President Donald Trump got a twofer on “losers” when a question about War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s future cleared the way to criticize an outgoing lawmaker and the correspondent.
Monday in Washington, D.C., as Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie (R) was using his final days in Congress attempting to end Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon, the president remained steadfast in his support of the Cabinet official. Not only did he unload on “stone-cold loser” Massie, Trump similarly rebuked CNN’s chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins to her face.
During a White House press briefing, a question on Massie’s articles of impeachment alleging Hegseth violated the War Powers Resolution of 1973 found the president touting the secretary’s victories in Venezuela and Iran. A follow-up from Collins found Trump doubling down on his support and ripping the question.
“Will you stand by Pete Hegseth if he’s impeached?” asked the CNN anchor, who, when the president responded, “Yeah, I’ll stand by him,” added, “So, even if he’s impeached, you are going to keep him as your defense secretary?”
“He won two wars. He was in charge. We all won. I had great people,” said Trump, to which Collins stated, “Massie says that he carried out illegal acts,” earning the response, “Massie’s a loser. Just like you’re a loser at CNN. Just like your ratings are a loser.”
.@POTUS on @SecWar: “I’ll stand by him. He won two wars. He was in charge; we all won… Massie is a loser — just like you’re a loser at CNN.” https://t.co/8I0ilWejpi
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 9, 2026
“Massie is a loser, a stone-cold loser. I ran, I did something that nobody’s done. I took on a guy that was, in his own way, sort of popular in his state, and I beat him badly. Beat him easily, with a man that never ran before, but a good man,” the chief executive said, referring to Kentucky Rep.-elect Ed Gallrein (R).
“Massie has a lot of hatred in his heart. I watched, I heard what Massie did. I don’t want to waste my time watching him. We won two wars. We won two wars. And we’ve made the world a lot safer place, and then we’re supposed to impeach. Why haven’t we gone after all these other people that ran wars that lost? What about this?” challenged Trump before bringing up former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. “What about good old Lloyd?”
“Why didn’t we go after him? Why didn’t we go after the people that disappeared? They’re in charge of the military, and they disappeared from, nobody knew, had any idea that nothing happened to him. What about all these people that lost wars? You don’t go after him,” added the president. “All I can say is this: we have the highest recruit — the recruitment numbers of — you know, when I came in, when I was campaigning, we had the worst recruitment, people wanting to join the military, in the history of our country. We couldn’t fill any of the spots. It was a disaster.”
“Now we have the best numbers we’ve ever had,” reminded Trump, who went on to assert that the servicemembers, “love Pete Hegseth.”
Meanwhile, the president took another swing at Massie later on Truth Social, writing, “Defeated Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, a total loser, is trying to Impeach perhaps the most popular and successful military official in the Country, Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth. With recruitment at an ALL-TIME HIGH, from an all-time low under Sleepy Joe Biden, and TWO VICTORIES, Venezuela and Iran, Pete Hegseth should be praised, not Impeached. Congress, stand up for Pete!!!”
https://t.co/2w63tmk5xe
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 10, 2026
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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