When accused of ordering the execution of survivors clinging to wreckage, Hegseth’s response was to attempt toddler humor by posting a childish meme.

Mass killing as content.

War crimes as punchlines.

Accountability as something that happens to other people.

Notice what Hegseth has not done.

He hasn’t denied ordering the second strike to kill survivors. He hasn’t denied the “kill everybody” directive. He hasn’t denied that two people were clinging to the burning wreckage before Admiral Bradley ordered them executed.

Hegseth later Friday exploded in rage calling reporters “fake news” without directly refuting the “kill everybody” order.

When asked specifically about the order, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she “would reject” that Hegseth “ever said” those words and then did the opposite and confirmed “Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.”

So the White House’s position is: Hegseth authorized the strikes and Bradley followed orders with the second strike on survivors. But Hegseth never said the words “kill everybody”, he just… authorized and gloated over the operation to kill everybody, including the survivors in the water.

That’s not a denial. That’s a confession with extra steps.

Trump declared that Hegseth, like out of a bad 1960s Nixon repeat, definitely “did not say that, and I believe him, 100 percent.”

But then Trump also slipped and said “I wouldn’t have wanted that, not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal, it was fine.”

Even Trump is distancing himself from the obviously unlawful second strike the one that killed survivors in the water. The one that Rep. Don Bacon, a retired Air Force general, said would be “a clear violation of the law of war” if it happened as reported.

And Hegseth’s response to all of this?

A cartoonish meme, a toddler rant, captioned “For your Christmas wish list.”

The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell asked:

Are we going to be a country that lets a person meme and shitpost his way out of accountability for alleged war crimes, or do some things still matter?

Senator Mark Kelly said:

He is in the national command authority for nuclear weapons, and last night he’s putting out, on the internet, turtles with rocket-propelled grenades. I mean, have you seen this? This is the secretary of defense.

Mens rea – Latin for “guilty mind” – is the mental element prosecutors must prove to establish criminal responsibility. It demonstrates the defendant knew their actions were wrong or illegal, and proceeded anyway.

Hegseth has been publicly informed by his own JAG officers, by Georgetown Law’s national security law director, by allied intelligence services cutting ties, by bipartisan members of Congress, by former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta who said the reported second strike constitutes a war crime “because these individuals were injured” that ordering the execution of hors de combat survivors is a war crime.

His response to serious war crime charges is mockery. “We have only just begun to kill…” he shitposted.

He knows.

He doesn’t care.

He thinks war crimes are funny.

The publisher of the Franklin books, Kids Can Press, responded to abuse of their book:

Franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy, and inclusivity. We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent, or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image.

The Pentagon in response, digging themselves a deeper hole, tried to attack and malign the Canadian publisher:

We doubt Franklin the Turtle wants to be inclusive of drug cartels… or laud the kindness and empathy of narco-terrorists.

That’s the official Pentagon spokesman, attacking a children’s book publisher for objecting to war crimes being turned into memes.

The prosecutors who eventually try Hegseth will enter these posts into evidence.

The Franklin meme. The taunts. The “we have only just begun to kill” follow-up. The conspicuous absence of any denial of the specific order. Every lawyer who has warned him, every expert who has explained the law, every ally who has distanced themselves… all of it establishes that he was informed and chose contempt.

That’s not a defense.

That’s a confession.