Right-wing pundit claims that Americans don’t care about Hegseth’s possible ‘war crimes’

Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro asserted Thursday evening that Americans do not care about the “double tap” boat strike controversy embroiling Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth – arguing that they’re more focused on the cost of living.

Appearing on NewsNation’s CUOMO, Shapiro brushed aside any concern about the legality of the September boat strikes in which the U.S. reportedly killed shipwrecked survivors of the first strike.

“I don’t. I frankly don’t think that Americans care very much about what is being reported with regard to Secretary Hegseth,” Shapiro told host Chris Cuomo and guest Stephen A. Smith.

“The thing people actually care about, obviously, is the cost of living,” Shapiro added.

Over the last week, Hegseth and the Trump administration have fiercely denied allegations that the defense secretary ordered a second strike on an alleged Venezuelan “drug boat” in the Caribbean that killed survivors – potentially amounting to a war crime – but said the admiral who they say ordered it was acting within the law.

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While the “double-tap” boat strike story has engulfed the news, Shapiro said that not only is the average person not paying attention, but recent news reports assert Hegseth did not even order the second strike.

“I’m not even sure what we’re arguing about at this point; it does feel like a distraction from other things,” Shapiro added, mimicking language used by the president and his allies.

Shapiro, who co-founded the online right-wing media company The Daily Wire, insinuated Democrats had raised the “war crime” concerns to elevate Senator Mark Kelly’s public notability or justify a recent video made by Kelly and five other Democrats.

The video, which has become subject to investigation by the Trump administration, featured six Democrats – all of whom are veterans or former members of the intelligence community – reminding active military service members they are not required to obey illegal orders.

Although the Democrats did not name a specific order that defied the Constitution, the video enraged Trump, who accused them of sedition and claimed their behavior was punishable by death.

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Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin later said the video was made after hearing concerns from service members over the administration’s repeated strikes on boats accused of trafficking narcotics to the U.S.

Even after the reports of the “double tap” strike raised concerns about the legality of the attacks, the administration and Trump allies have remained steady in claiming they are justified and legal.

On Thursday, those claims were backed by Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, the officer in charge of the September 2 strike against the alleged drug boat, who showed some lawmakers in the House and Senate the video of the strike and said Hegseth had not ordered the second strike.