Outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Monday delivered a brutal forecast of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s expected “rebuttal” to his efforts to impeach him — and his roast has gone viral on social media.
Massie — who introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth over the Trump administration’s Iran war — pointed to the ex-Fox News host’s plans to hold a rare press conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday morning, adding that he suspected it would come before a House vote that’s expected sometime this week.
“And to that point, I hope he addresses the eight articles and doesn’t get up and misquote the Bible in Quentin Tarantino fashion and do some pullups and call everybody fat and gay for being for this impeachment —,” said Massie before cracking a smile at his own press conference on Capitol Hill.
“I may have just given you half his speech.”
Massie — a MAGA defector who fell to a Trump-backed opponent in the primaries earlier this year after he pushed the administration to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein — touches on quite a bit in his mic drop.
In April, Hegseth quoted lines from Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” that riffed on the Bible, which some observers viewed as the secretary mistaking them for an actual Bible verse.
He’s also gone hard in the paint toward bringing a “warrior ethos” to the military by body-shaming troops, putting on them “impeccable grooming and uniform standards,” and firing or blocking the promotions of military officials in an apparent effort to flex his disgust with diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Hegseth’s so-called Department of War has also rolled out videos that experts have described as “masculinity theater,” showing him exercising with service members, attempting pullups, working out with a kettlebell, and jogging with Marines.
Hegseth ultimately used his Pentagon presser on Tuesday to defend himself. He slammed Massie and the lawmaker’s impeachment efforts, claiming that Massie was doing so for “political spectacle” and was “driven by ego and resentment.”
The comments from Massie — a clip of which garnered 3.8 million views and over 112,000 reposts on X — was met with praise from several users, including @Angry_Staffer, who simply described it as “top notch trolling” from the outgoing congressman.
Another user, @WuTangKids, referred to the Republican’s transformation since his controversial gun-laden family photo from 2021, writing, “Hate to say it but Massie has gotten really good at this….came a long way from the days of those batshit crazy Christmas card days.”
And one user described it as the “perfect answer” from the congressman alongside a GIF of former President Barack Obama dropping a mic.
Massie himself highlighted his roast on the platform, too, writing alongside the clip, “Oops, now he needs to rewrite his speech.”