Hegseth is a propaganda flop. Don’t let Congress throw him a lifeline

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is obsessed with controlling the narrative. His censorship and propaganda efforts are myriad: lashing out over photographs of himself he doesn’t like, barring reporters from the Pentagon who don’t sign away their First Amendment rights, forcing suspected leakers to take ineffective polygraph tests, undermining the independence of military newspaper Stars and Stripes, and secretly compensating social media influencers who praise him. But as Guardian columnist Margaret Sullivan recently noted , Hegseth is failing as a propagandist. The Iran war is deeply unpopular , and his approval numbers are far lower than whatever testosterone level he and his insecurities deem unworthy of military service. Still, Hegseth’s inability to sell the public on alternative facts…