We are living through what is likely the single biggest catastrophic vetting failure in recent memory.

The United States is currently in an active conflict with Iran; the Strait of Hormuz, thank God, has just opened up, but only moments ago it was fully closed. Yet, in the midst of this, the Secretary of War – a title that already sounds like it’s been ripped from the Pulp Fiction newsreels of the ’40s – is delivering a battlefield prayer that comes from a Tarantino movie.

In crisis communications, the rule is simple: if you’re explaining, you’re losing. When you have people talking about this on the radio and across the internet, you’ve really stepped in it. This administration is trying to explain the nuance of unit lore to a global audience that just sees Samuel L. Jackson. They’ve managed to turn a solemn moment for the troops into a Pulp Fiction press nightmare.

To understand how we got here, one has to look at CSAR 25:17. CSAR stands for Combat Search and Rescue, and this is a prayer reportedly used during the actual rescue of two airmen shot down recently in Iran. To the guys in the cockpit, CSAR 25:17 is an appropriated version of Ezekiel 25:17, which talks about how the Lord has vengeance. While it is an actual dark, gritty, and morale-effective prayer for troops on the battlefield, Pete Hegseth is not a pilot in a cockpit; he’s a cabinet official at a Pentagon pulpit delivering this with religious solemnity.

By calling it Ezekiel 25:17 – or at least not making clear what it was – he blurred the lines between sacred scripture and Pulp Fiction. If he had just credited the movie, it’s a non-story. Instead, he tried to pass it off as if it was the Word of God. The question now is: was this guy duped, or is he just playing a role in this Binger-in-Chief’s administration?

Regardless of whether he’s in on the joke, it’s a strategic loss. Russian State TV is already running the Secretary of War footage with a victory-lap style logo in the top right. They handed the Kremlin a shovel to bury American credibility. But I really don’t think they care. This is the memification of the Pentagon. They want the media to hyperventilate over movie quotes so they can point to out-of-touch media elites and say we hate the soldiers. This is more political theatre designed for a dopamine hit of domestic spite while the actual world is splintering.

This is a total pressure cooker failure of confirmation bias. Half the internet believes Hegseth is a clown; the other half thinks he’s trolling the liberals. It is an indictment of the shared reality that we all lived in. People don’t want the truth; they want the meme that fits their priors. Nobody’s digging in to find out if this is tactical unit lore. It’s 2026; the scoreboard’s a lie, the points don’t matter, and dopamine-fueled spite has taken the wheel.

For Canada, the anxiety has to be going through the roof. We need a strong, stable United States as the de facto leader of NATO, NORAD, and quite frankly, the world. When the Pentagon starts looking like a Tarantino film set, allies start asking who’s handling the nuke codes, not just the guy who authorizes to use them. We’re not used to our military strategy being meshed with televised sermons. From a Canadian perspective, this isn’t looking like strength; it’s looking like it’s completely unhinged.

If I were advising our Defense Minister in Ottawa, my advice would be simple: Steer clear. Do not engage. There is no upside for us to get stuck in a geopolitical fan-fiction fight with the President or his Secretary of War. We’ve got enough trade friction and border worries without commenting on movie quotes.

It is possible they did this on purpose to show they’re standing up to Iran – to show they’re willing to push past all known barriers and guardrails. But I do not advise picking fights with nuclear powers just for domestic polling bumps. That’s bad strategy, and it’s a dangerous game to play.