Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, who is already retiring from Congress, apparently decided he hadn't burned enough bridges yet and went ahead calling Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth an "amateur person" while demanding President Trump give him the boot. As The American Tribune reported, this went over about as well as you'd expect with the MAGA crowd, which is to say it went over like a lead balloon at a birthday party.
Bacon earned the distinction of becoming the very first House Republican to publicly suggest that Trump remove Hegseth from his Pentagon role. Instead of, you know, letting the president make his own personnel decisions, Bacon decided to announce that the defense secretary "should go" and questioned whether Hegseth was fit for the job. Bold strategy from a guy who's already on his way out the door.
The internet, naturally, showed zero mercy. One commenter on X summed up the general consensus in just three words: "He's a Democrat." Another quipped that Bacon had just "promoted himself to former congressman from Nebraska." The pork puns flowed freely, with one person declaring him "The only Bacon that nobody wants!" while another wrote, "Normally I like bacon, but not in this case." A fourth offered a similar take: "The only Bacon I don't like." Comedy gold, folks.
Other users went straight for the political jugular, calling him an "Extreme RINO" and asking what the guy even stands for at this point. Perhaps the most devastating response came from someone who simply replied, "Who?" Nothing quite stings like total irrelevance.
Here's the thing that makes this whole spectacle so entertaining. Bacon is already retiring. He even reportedly considered leaving before his term was up because he was so upset about Trump's proposed peace plan. So this is basically a guy cleaning out his desk while screaming complaints about the company CEO. Trump supporters have apparently viewed his departure less as losing a Republican seat and more as finally getting a chance to send someone who won't constantly attack their own party's president.
This Hegseth episode fits a well established pattern for Bacon. He previously went after Trump for backing MAGA candidates over establishment Republicans. When Trump supported Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a critical election, Bacon lost it. He argued that Cornyn was a reliable fundraiser who could have held the seat easily, while Paxton's nomination would force Republicans to spend more money defending it. In other words, Bacon was mad that Republican voters chose the candidate they actually wanted.
For the MAGA faithful, these latest remarks about Hegseth are simply another chapter in a book they've been reading for years. The retiring congressman consistently sides with the establishment in every political fight, and his supporters in the conservative base number somewhere between zero and "let me check again, still zero." His retirement from Congress might genuinely be the most popular thing he's ever done with Republican primary voters.
Read more American news stories at: The American Tribune
