Pete Hegseth Blew Billions on Fruit Basket Stands, Chairs, and Crab | The New Republic
By: Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling (The New Republic)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Defense Department went on a $93 billion spending spree in 2025.
The Pentagon spent more money in September—the end of the 2025 fiscal year—than it had in any other year since 2008. But a good chunk of the budget wasn't used for anything that could be considered a pertinent military expense.
The Defense Department burned through $93 billion that month alone, signing checks left and right in order to dry up its congressionally allocated budget, according to a recent analysis by the government watchdog Open the Books.
There is pressure to spend: If federal agencies don't use the entirety of their budgets by the end of the fiscal year, then they lose access to that cash forever, potentially putting themselves in a situation where they have to request a reduced budget the following year. But the Pentagon's long list of luxuries is hardly defensible.
Some of the frivolous September purchases made under Secretary Pete Hegseth's stewardship include a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff's home, $5.3 million for Apple devices such as the new iPad, and an astronomical amount of shellfish, including $2 million for Alaskan king crab and $6.9 million worth of lobster tail. (Lobster tail is apparently a favorite of Hegseth's Pentagon—the department spent more than $7.4 million total on the luxury item in March, May, June, and October.)
In other pricey food purchases, the government decided to drop $15.1 million for ribeye steak (again, just in September), $124,000 for ice cream machines, and $139,224 on 272 orders of doughnuts.
Weeks later, millions of Americans would lose their SNAP benefits amid the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. More still stand to lose eligibility to the food assistance program thanks to a Republican crusade that added stricter work requirements to the program, piling on paperwork and documentation mandates.
One of the largest bulk expenditures was just for furniture, for which the Pentagon decided to shell out $225 million. That included $12,000 for fruit basket stands, and checks totaling more than $60,000 for Herman Miller recliners. All in all, the agency spent more on furniture in 2025 than it had in over a decade.
In the last five days of September alone, the department blew through $50.1 billion on just grants and contracts. For context, only nine other countries spend that much on the entirety of their defense budget per year. It's also more than the total military budgets of Canada and Mexico combined.
The federal government had a $1.8 trillion deficit in 2025. Ultimately, the military's massive expenditures offered up more evidence that the Trump administration has not put any meaningful effort into cracking down on needless government spending, a pledge that Donald Trump has wielded on the campaign trail since 2015.
"Under Secretary Hegseth, the Pentagon has consistently said its mission is to refocus on warfighting and lethality," Open the Books CEO John Hart said. "Last year, we highlighted the problem of wasteful use-it-or-lose-it year-end spending. We noted that this reform is fully within the secretary's control and is a historic opportunity to make good on that promise."
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This is what magas voted for. They must love it. Congratulations!
the entire trump administration is rife with corruption. it's a free for all at the gov't trough, all on the taxpayers tab ...
"Nuh Uh!!!"
Hey... Biden... Obama... progressives!!!
The Air Force chief of staff's home needs a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano.
Back when I was serving we had to come up with ways to spend cash. But we couldn't spend it on the noise dosimeters, air sampling equipment, velocimeters, or even computers that we desperately needed. No. We had to spend it on pens, pencils, paper, and binders. Ice cream machine? That would have been great. Would also have been great if we could have fresh donuts every morning.
I would like to know how the hell they got away with spending money on luxury food items. Even the pens we could buy were the cheap government pens that never worked
everything procured by the government is from the lowest bidder ...
I've worked for 3 separate employers in 3 different businesses, and we walked away from all schools and gov't contracts.
Don't blame you.
If they're getting those lobsters from the lowest bidder....keep close to the restrooms
yeah, nobody wants to see shit flying out of both maga access points ...
But we need to cut Medicaid, and give tax breaks to billionaires, right?
It's a good thing Trump and Musk shut down USAID. DOGE!
Its all relative losers. Although 93 billion is two or three times what the US used to spend feeding the worlds hungry poor, it is a mere one percent of the defense budget, /s
My mistake . 93 billion is roughly 10% of the defense budget.
dev's gonna think I'm teaching you math
There is probably no doubt some of that was wasted, as our money is wasted by every administration, however, the lobster, ribeye, and other food items were for troops and sailors serving overseas. When I deployed, we received steak and lobster every couple of weeks, and nary a word in the press about the cost.
The funny thing about this story is it states "Pete Hegseth Department of Defense"
Matter of fact, I found this.... DVIDS - News - Reporter’s Notebook: Eatin’ Good in Afghanistan
Did a search for media scrutiny over the cost of these meals, but nothing came up.
..
This story from RCP does show a large amount of money on food items during the 2024 year, but for some reason, neither of those stories mentioned "Robert Gates Department of Defense", or "Lloyd Austin's defense department."
I wonder what was the difference in administrations? s/
This is simply a hit piece on Hegseth. Nothing more. Therefore, it deserves little to no attention.
And yet here you are...
That's what we think of your comment.
Don’t care. The comment stands
that's an easy fix, but no need to rush the inevitable ...
That's what we think of your comment.
Your comment flopped. Sorry.
tsk, tsk, tsk, some people struggle with reality ...
They do, but in the on-line world that's to be expected. It's pretty laughable.
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"The triggered" is interesting propaganda rhetoric originally devised by the right wing lunatic fringe to describe normal people they consider their ideological enemies. It has since come to more common use among many right wingers seeking to assuage their feelings of inferiority and low self-worth, and as a means to express misguided contempt for those they feel are their intellectual superiors. No matter how you look at it, it's a trite, supercilious and, as stated above in a slightly different context, laughable invective.
the guilt of treason is causing the maga helmet polishers to lash out, because they can't admit they were fooled. I don't expect him to respond after LE turns off the power in the michigan synagogue he's probably barricaded himself in ...
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I think it's time we leave them to their own devices and not give them any more attention. They thrive on it and ruin seeds with their hateful, inane rhetoric
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All the usual right wing blather. Hysterical, within both definitions.
That's a good word. It certainly accurately describes the right wingers' penchant for repeating the same tired old propaganda over and over ad nauseum.
Yes, ma'am. I agree. That was fun, though.
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WTF? Not once during any of my deployments did we get lobster and the steaks we did occasionally get were not ribeye
On another note we did receive our two beer a month allotment but it was always cheap horse piss like Coors Light, mostly lime flavoured (blehh). I'm pretty sure the Supply techs kept the good stuff for themselves.
You had to be on carriers to get the best chow. Especially when you make E7 and the chief’s mess caterer gets all the food separate than what the rest of the crew gets, even the officers.
Ah that explains that, there were no carriers where I was in Afghanistan
*Nods in agreement* Yep, LOL
We did get our beer days but I believe that was after 90 days consecutive underway. I think I got three in my whole 20 years. Much of it was in the Persian Gulf area.
Remember the beer vending machines on stateside bases?
what?
I had to go to the Class 6 to get my beer
I don't remember those, but I do remember the ones on base in Japan, specifically outside the laundromat at the exchange.
The beer vending machines off base were much better. A cold Asahi or Sapporo was much better than a Bud.
I do! LOL So awful!
Maybe it didn’t cost $93 Billion a month.
To be certain, the "Use it or Lose it" mentality was for a different era when we were downsizing.
Hamilton AFB Novato CA was on and off BRACC lists several times in the early 90s.
While the area suffered through years long droughts Hamilton' office buildings stood mostly empty while the sprinkler systems ran 3 days a week per an agreement with the locals
to keep the water usage the same as when the base was fully operational instead of just a joint housing facility.
All day almost every day staff cut the grass around support building and athletic fields and between the runways,
just in case the base would be needed in the future.
The same mentality was applied to excess jet fuels at Willow Grove Joint Reserve base as it fought being eventually BRACCed.
Air shows used thousands of gallons of fuel for pyrotechnics rather than lose future allotments and the air show participants usage counted towards readiness also.
In this current atmosphere where the budget is but a memory and Trump is basically handing out blank checks, it only makes sense to people like Hegseth
to replace perfectly good furniture from the 60's just because of some budget threat.
When I worked for a state highway department they would last minute spend the unspent on flowers to plant all over the interior on interchanges. While it’s a questionable use of transportation dollars it’s no where near as egregious as tons of fucking king crab for military elites. I haven’t had king crab in decades because it’s one of the most expensive meals on earth.
I have no problem with planting flowers as long as it's a native species
Texas does it with Bluebonnets.
Excellent idea! I've seen poppies in Tennessee. Four o'clocks would be good in Arkansas
I loved seeing the wild flowers blooming in the texas highway medians in the spring, the invasion of a billion fuck-bugs crossing the highways at windshield height not so much ...
You don't want to drive thru the Arkansas Delta in summer. Bug guts all over the windshield and the only thing that gets them off is acid rain
For whatever reason, it seems alot of progressives really hate spending millions on the troops and will fight to make sure billions in tax payer money fraudulently goes to illegal foreigners.
You’re probably pissed that they have skimped on the caviar and Dom.
a fraction of what is lost by the gov't in subsidizing organized religions ...