Storia
settembre 2, 2026
Left-wing says Hegseth crossed a line by mocking Canadian cadets
Canadian leaders and critics say a post by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth targeted young cadets rather than active troops, while the Pentagon has declined to retract it and says the message stands on its own.
Canadian officials and critics portrayed Pete Hegseth’s post as an inappropriate attack on young people in a civilian cadet program, while the Pentagon offered no apology and said the post needed no further explanation.
The dispute has sharpened already strained cross-border rhetoric, turning a single image into a broader argument over official conduct and the tone of US-Canada relations.
Hegseth, the US defense secretary, shared a photograph of two uniformed people with a Canadian flag and the caption “this is real.” Critics said the image was taken from a summer program at British Columbia’s Vernon Cadet Training Centre, not from a Canadian front-line military unit. The person receiving a medal was described as a teenager, while the other person was believed to be a volunteer instructor.1
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the post “beneath the office” of the defense secretary and urged Washington to move past online taunts in its trade dispute with Canada. “When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious,” he said, “we can have those discussions.”1
British Columbia Premier David Eby similarly cast the episode as evidence of distracted US leadership. The civilian Army Cadet League of Canada took a more specific view, saying that “directing derogatory commentary toward youth who are actively working to better themselves and serve their communities is unacceptable.”1
US criticism also came from across party lines. Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger, a military veteran, stressed that the people pictured were “literally … kids,” while Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego called the post “stupid” and “disrespectful.”1
The Pentagon did not directly address the cadets’ status or the allegations of body-shaming. Deputy press secretary Jacob Bliss said only: “The X post speaks for itself.”1
The contrasting responses leave the central disagreement unresolved: critics see an official targeting a youth program, while the Defense Department has stood by the post without elaborating on its intent.