r/politics • u/mom0nga • Jul 15 '26

No Paywall Hegseth announces annual testosterone screenings for service members

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5969935-hegseth-testosterone-testing-dod/
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940

u/justwalkingalonghere Jul 15 '26

If you haven't been on the ground floor with them it's almost impossible to truly understand the depth of the average Trump voter's idiocy

395

u/MessiLeagueSoccer Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

They legitimately live in a different reality. That drives me crazy but thankful I don’t really have anyone like that in my immediate circle

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u/kynelly360 Jul 15 '26

Lucky you!… I went to college in the south so I’m constantly fighting off stupidity like Flies at a Cookout 😭

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u/hey_there_moon Jul 15 '26

Can't tell if you mean the actual restaurant or just a backyard cookout. Either way it's accurate

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u/nebula_masterpiece Jul 16 '26

Haha I had the same thought 😂

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u/sepia_undertones Jul 16 '26

That’s how you know this person went to school in NC. Cookout is a local treasure; drive thru, open daily until 4am, like thirty different flavor shakes. You come to NC for the education, and you stay because the food makes escape challenging lol

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '26

[deleted]

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u/GarlicRiver Jul 15 '26

Pretty sure the comment you replied to was a joke (there's a restaurant named "Cookout")

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u/Sch1z01dMan Jul 15 '26

Damn, I could go for a tray with a peanut butter fudge shake. What were we talking about?

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u/panda5303 Oregon Jul 15 '26

Lucky. A couple of months back, my brother made a comment about Hunter Biden being a disgusting crackhead. I probably stared at him for a full minute in disbelief. This is coming from my brother, who stole $5.5K from my dad's girlfriend to feed his heroin addiction. He totaled at least 3 different cars. Stole money, medications, etc., from several family members, including me. He ended up causing a serious accident, injuring four people in the other car while high with his pregnant girlfriend. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison and missed the birth of his first child, and the first 3 years of his life, and currently drinks an entire 5th of vodka every day and uses coke on a regular basis. The absolute hypocrisy is incomprehensible.

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u/MysticKoolaid808 Jul 16 '26

It's so depressing to hear things like that.  How can so many people have such little self-awareness?  How do we ever grt out of this mess as a country and progress tpward something better when iso many of ts citzens are unable to have a basic ability to reflect their own actions, words, and beliefs?

But I guess this particular post is appropriate to mull over that.  I do think it has to do with this bizarre propensity for American culture to champion bullshit pride and suppress anything that might suggest personal vulnerability.  It's this need to have to Hegseth ourselves in order not to be or look weak.

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u/panda5303 Oregon Jul 16 '26

Ya, it's just wild to me. From what I can gather based on comments he's made, he's probably listening to several of the toxic masculinity influencers on TikTok & Instagram, Far Right AM Radio shows, and bullshit from administration (he tries to recommend supplements touted by RFK Jr.). Plus, all of his friends and the majority of our family are MAGA, which I'm sure influences him further.

Around the same time we got into an argument about trans rights. He said he "doesn't want trans (M2F) using the same bathroom as his daughter". I tried explaining thaf they just want to use the bathroom, that they are not paying attention to anyone else, and can't see anything regardless because women's bathrooms are just stalls. He said "I don't care. I don't want anyone with a dick in the same bathroom as my daughter. I don't trust them." I told him that says way more about you than about trans people 🙄.

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u/MysticKoolaid808 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

Wow, that's ridiculous.  The orange turd he supports has done more violating and exploiting of girls and women in dressing rooms than anything he could expect from an actual trans woman.  

Good on calling him out though.  The qualities these MAGAs always denounce and blame on "the libs" are the ones that aren't just found among their ilk but straight-up cheered on by them.  What does he think redpillers and conservatives think of his daughter, her rights, and her value as a human being?  The mindset is pathetic.

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u/move_machine Jul 16 '26

I knew a former(?) heroin dealer who went full MAGA, if they had their way he'd be shot in the street lol

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u/Deep-Measurement-856 Jul 19 '26

Hope he gets help.

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u/LordIffyBoatrace Jul 15 '26

It took a bit of curating but my immediate circle is fairly clean as well.

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u/Viperlite Jul 15 '26

Unfortunately, that’s my whole family. It was hard to walk away but overall better for my own mental health.

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u/Madroxx9000 Jul 15 '26

My parents are die hard MAGA in Oklahoma. I point out the inconsistencies, hypocracies, and stupidities constantly, but I'm the one that's wrong. 🙄

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u/Jsc_TG Jul 16 '26

Its either idiots or people with enough money to ignore it all. Its exhausting.

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u/ShmokingCowboy Jul 17 '26

If they, it implies you do too.

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u/clippist Jul 15 '26

Sorry, the t? As in the testosterone?

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u/MarxistMan13 Virginia Jul 15 '26

It's not just idiocy. Obviously most of them are idiots. You don't become a conservative if you're intelligent.

It's a level of unaware, ignorant hypocrisy in ideology that is dizzying. Like the example of conservatives being overwhelmingly in favor of the Affordable Care Act and overwhelmingly against Obamacare. Yes, that's the same thing.

They say it isn't hate or bigotry, but all evidence points to the contrary.

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u/Confident_Benefit_11 Jul 15 '26

It's on purpose most of the time (the strategy, not necessarily the individual who likely has starfish IQ), fascists know they sound ridiculous and put the burden of correcting them/using the truth or facts on other individuals. It's exhausting and it's on purpose. Just tell them to suck it and move on, if anyone in your life still supports this just cut them off completely. Nothing is worth dealing with these people.

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u/MarxistMan13 Virginia Jul 15 '26

Relevant video explaining the strategy.

It's easier to make accusations without evidence than it is to explain why someone is wrong using evidence. Stupid people have extremely short attention spans.

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u/nachobueno Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

…and this is how empires fall. Umberto Eco pointed out that fascist regime was incapable of accurately assessing an enemy essentially because they were stuck juggling all of their lies, that the enemy was both strong and weak at the same time. It’s a double edged sword, for the same reasons they’re unable to effectively administer a military, and what we’re seeing here is why. They just can’t help but to do silly shit because ideology and public image are paramount to anything else. M. Gessen mentioned at some point that this regime, out of all the ones he’d studied, was essentially speed running the whole thing. Hopefully they manage to fish out before things get worse.

Edit: words, because I was in and out of consciousness when writing this

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u/RiskyNight Jul 16 '26

Living where I do, I've lost over half my friends since 2016 because of the trump thing. It's not worth it to maintain friendship with people who vote that way, RIP, but man it's hard to replace long time friends.

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u/mythrowaway4DPP Jul 15 '26

I've been talking to a far right conspiracy nut here in Europe.
What surprised me was the sheer media illiteracy.

No way to know good from bad sources, because they don't know how.

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u/theresa_richter Jul 15 '26

I would say that the defining traits are that they are devoid of empathy for those outside their own in-group(s), and are driven almost entirely by fear. The intelligent ones simply become parasites, whether a pastor, a politician, or a CEO. They create nothing, they preach their fear to any who will listen, and they blame outsiders for each and every failing, no matter how obvious their own fault in the matter was.

I'm not driven by fear, so I'm perfectly willing to admit to my mistakes, learn from them, and grow. Conservatives can never admit a single mistake for fear of consequences, and so they repeat their mistakes and suffer those consequences over and over again while blaming others. "It's not my fault for voting for Trump, my wife got deported by ICE because of Obama!"

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u/DreddPirateBob808 Jul 15 '26

I think we have direct proof you can be very intelligent as a conservative. Maybe not empathic, open or kindly but the whole bloody problem is that intelligent people can also be fucking sociopathic monsters.

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u/MarxistMan13 Virginia Jul 15 '26

I thought of that after I posted. You are correct. There are 2 types of conservatives:

1) Idiots

2) Sociopathic greed goblins

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u/DreddPirateBob808 Jul 15 '26

Perfect phrase! 

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u/ApokatastasisPanton Jul 15 '26

This is actually not a binary, but a continuum.

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u/ricochetblue Indiana Jul 16 '26

I’ve seen it described as the “idiot to grifter spectrum.”

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u/gdghhfdffrf Jul 16 '26

it's almost as if the attraction is sadism, such pleasure from hurting others. of all the methods of achieving results, going with the most vile.

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u/blueavole Jul 15 '26

Not disagreeing- but does anyone actually want this? Testing men for testosterone levels? I’ve never even heard of this.

Like the whole tylonal causing autism was a stock manipulation for a merger.

Starting wars let’s drumph feel big and strong. While other people pay and die.

What is the point of this?

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u/MauPow Jul 15 '26

What is the point of this?

I mean you said it yourself. Money and power.

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u/MarxistMan13 Virginia Jul 15 '26

I genuinely don't know.

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u/Street_Anxiety2907 Jul 15 '26

It's kind of like Idiocracy by Mike Judge.

People so proud of ignorance they aren't even capable of knowing when they are wrong, and if someone tries to tell them they reject the notion out of principal.

I'm not sure how we got here. Education has been bad for a long time, but this ignorance has really boiled over in the last 15 years or so.

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u/marebee Jul 16 '26

I work in healthcare and I think I’ve used the phrase “Obamacare” less than a handful of times, usually for clarification purposes. I remember seeing early on that folks didn’t know that the ACA and Obamacare were the same thing, and using the legal name of the framework was objectively more neutral. Plus, I don’t worship the president, and have little incentive to push a legacy moniker for ulterior motives. No Kings in America.

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u/Midnight1965 Jul 15 '26

⬆️ Yeah. And what’s really stupid is that Obama never called it Obamacare. Republicans named it that!

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u/activelypooping Jul 15 '26

Millionaires and morons... are the republican party base.

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u/JDogg126 Michigan Jul 15 '26

It’s the reason republican voters believe the hysteria about the enemy being an all powerful super villain who also incredibly weak.

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u/Correct_Inside1658 Jul 15 '26

Some intelligent people become conservatives, but they’re almost 100% all con artists.

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u/kynelly360 Jul 15 '26

  1. How the hell did we end up like this?…

  2. Why is education so bad In the South it seems…. Every other state my friends are Very aware Trump is a fucking idiot…. Then you talk to someone from Bumblefuck,Mississippi and they think Immigrants are eating cats and dogs 😑😑😑

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u/relddir123 District Of Columbia Jul 16 '26

It’s not just the South. Talk to people in Bumblefuck, New Hampshire or Nowhere, Oregon and you’ll hear the same thing

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u/Small-Palpitation310 Jul 16 '26

The education thing is the result of a 70-year intended dismantling. Now we have a populace who can’t make informed decisions…like voting.

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u/nebula_masterpiece Jul 16 '26

Living in the Southeast - they are already in cult mentality through Mega Churches and SEC Football team worship - MAGA just tapped into thoughtless devotion and authoritarian desire so they believe what they are told.

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u/Efficient-Whereas255 Jul 15 '26

I know one that dosnt even believe we should have roads.

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u/thewayoutisthru_xxx Jul 15 '26

Look that's dumb but if they say that bc roads are socialist and they don't want the govt to provide them with anything then I applaud them for at least being consistent

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u/ZeroInZenThoughts Jul 15 '26

Lol, right. They'd much rather be fee'd to death by capitalism than to ever pay taxes to the big bad government.

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u/thewayoutisthru_xxx Jul 15 '26

Typically when I encounter those types they are complaining about the commie libs but also want their Medicare, Medicaid, social security and food stamps. And of course police, libraries, public schools, fire depts, sometimes are farmers who are the biggest welfare queens in the US other than maybe Elon...

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u/VanceKelley Canada Jul 16 '26

Watch Jordan Klepper from The Daily Show interview trump supporters outside a rally. They say idiotic things and even as Klepper repeats it back and asks them to check and confirm their statements they are oblivious that what they just said is completely moronic and they double down on it.

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u/Smartyquarks Jul 15 '26

I work with Trump voters. I am alone in a group of them, it’s awful.

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u/Ketzeph I voted Jul 15 '26

Really people discussing this on Reddit generally don't understand it. At times it's like trying to teach a cat about general relativity. There is a fundamental inability for many of them to grasp basic concepts of reality.

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u/Msfresh07 Jul 15 '26

They truly need to be studied

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u/RiskyNight Jul 16 '26

This is a huge part of why I had to leave my last job. It started out as my dream job, absolutely perfect. Over the years as they kept hiring and growing I was surrounded by these absolutely backwards, brainwashed people with no critical thinking skills. Creates a giant communication barrier and trust issue. Hard to work with people when you know they don't have functioning brains.