'Broken boy in a costume': Trump official hit with scorching attack from ex-GOP strategist

Political commentator Steve Schmidt unleashed another blistering attack on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Trump administration, accusing the military leader of treating warfare as entertainment and characterizing the current government as a threat to American democracy.

Schmidt, who built his career as a Republican political strategist and campaign operative, working for figures like George W. Bush, and the late Sen. John McCain, penned a scathing essay on his Substack titled "Killing for sport." Schmidt described Hegseth as "an unfit disgrace" lacking integrity and decency, calling him "a broken boy in a costume" and "a degenerate poseur who is consumed by the idea of violence as a virtue."

Schmidt's fiery takedown focused heavily on the sinking of an Iranian frigate, which he characterizes as a deliberate killing without purpose.

"Pete Hegseth wanted death, and he killed to get what he wished for. War is terrible, and the life and death orders from a secretary of defense should have purpose. Killing for sport is an evil, and Pete Hegseth is yet another sinister angel of death let loose by MAGA fascists at the edge of an abyss," Schmidt wrote, noting the vessel was unarmed and 2,500 miles from Iranian shores.

He escalated his condemnation of Trump, describing him as "deranged and incompetent" and "a true American Nero" who has "lit the world on fire." Trump promised peace and "delivered war," Schmidt noted.

Schmidt argued the Trump administration represents a fundamental threat to constitutional governance, accusing officials of being "constitutional miscreants" implementing "an unconstitutional obscenity." He calls for active opposition to what he describes as "a catastrophe unfolding in real-time."