Jon Liedtke joined The Gene Valaitis Show on Niagara’s 610 CKTB to discuss the bizarre “memification” of the Pentagon following Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s recent public prayer. Hegseth ostensibly cited Ezekiel 25:17 to honor a rescue mission in Iran, but listeners and internet sleuths quickly pointed out that the text used was actually a famous, fictionalized quote from the movie Pulp Fiction.
Liedtke and Valaitis explore the breakdown of shared reality in 2026, where political theater and movie quotes often overshadow military sobriety. They discuss the international fallout, including how Russian state media is capitalizing on the blunder and the growing anxiety in Ottawa as Canadian officials navigate an increasingly “unhinged” diplomatic landscape with their closest ally.
Transcript (Gemini Generated):
Gene Valaitis: I want you to close your eyes and imagine a solemn, serious, Christian worship service at the United States Pentagon. Now, as we know, the US is currently in an active, tense military conflict with Iran. The Secretary of Defense in the US, Pete Hegseth, steps up to the microphone to read a battlefield prayer meant to honor a recent rescue mission. He says it’s from the Bible, and it’s Ezekiel 25:17. But hang on, Pete—he got it wrong. It’s actually from Pulp Fiction, and it’s what Samuel L. Jackson would read before he kills somebody, claiming it was from Ezekiel 25:17. Well, in fact, it’s not from the Good Book; it’s from the book of Quentin Tarantino. Oh, ya-ya-ya-ya-ya. How do you make sense of this? We’re going to ask broadcaster, political commentator, and host of the Kvetch and Release podcast, our good friend Jon Liedtke is here. Good morning, Jon.
Jon Liedtke: Good morning, Gene. You know, the single biggest catastrophic vetting failure in recent memory is probably this right now. We’re in an active conflict with Iran; the Strait of Hormuz, thank God, has just opened up, but when we talked about this yesterday, it was still fully closed. And the Secretary of War—a title that already sounds like it’s been ripped from the Pulp Fiction newsreels already of the ’40s, quite frankly—is delivering a prayer that comes from Pulp Fiction? Let’s get real. In crisis comms, the rule is simple: if you’re explaining, you’re losing. And if you have people like you and me, Gene, talking about it on the radio, you’ve really stepped in it right now. 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.
Gene Valaitis: Okay, so for civilians, and I don’t know exactly what this phrase is, you’re going to have to tell us all. What is CSAR 25:17? And why is the Defense Secretary reading that during an active conflict?
Jon Liedtke: Okay, so CSAR 25:17—CSAR is Combat Search and Rescue. And this is a prayer that’s reportedly was used during the actual rescue of two airmen shot down recently in Iran. So 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 and He comes to do it. I’m—I’m not Christian; I’m not going to read it all out in full, and there’s multiple versions now from what Hegseth said, to what CSAR says, to what was said in the flick, to what Ezekiel 25:17 is. But the fact of the matter is, while it’s an actual dark, gritty, and morale-effective prayer for troops on the battlefield going into it, Hegseth is not a pilot in a cockpit; he’s a cabinet official at a Pentagon pulpit delivering this with religious solemnity and calling it Ezekiel 25:17—or at least not making clear of what it was. He blurred the lines between sacred scripture and Pulp Fiction. So, if he just credited the movie, it’s a non-story, but he’s trying to pass it off as if it was the Word of God and stronger than it is actually written on the paper that was professed. So, the question that people are asking is: was this guy duped, or is he just playing a role in this Binger-in-Chief’s administration?
Gene Valaitis: Well, you know, I saw something online the other day. Russian State TV is—like, I mean, they’re having a laugh with this. They’re doing a victory lap about how silly and stupid Petey is. Now, do you think he just got duped by this, or—or does he just not know?
Jon Liedtke: Well, this is the thing. I mean, regardless of if he’s in or out of the joke right now, it’s the ultimate strategic loss. RT is running the Secretary of War footage with a logo in the top right, victory-lap style. You handed the Kremlin a shovel to bury American credibility right now. 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 that we just hate the soldiers and their traditions. This is just more political theater being laid out for an audience that’s designed for a dopamine hit of domestic spite while the actual world is still splintering right now.
Gene Valaitis: Well, you know, because of the show, I do a lot of work in the afternoon, and a lot of the—you know, I spend a lot of time online on things like the various social media platforms and especially Twitter, or X, or whatever you want to call it. Now, the internet is losing its mind over this. I mean, on—on the left-hand side of the screen, they have Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction, you know, with his handgun out, and then on the right-hand side of the screen, they’ve got Pete, and they’re reading things—they’re reading this practically in sync. So, what—what is all of this and the reaction? I mean, you’re—you’re in the communications business. What’s it looking like on your end?
Jon Liedtke: This is a total pressure cooker failure of confirmation bias here. I mean, half the—the internet believes it’s one thing, half believe it’s the other and that Hegseth is a clown. This is an indictment of the shared reality that we all lived in more than anything. People don’t want the truth—you know that more than anyone talking through the media—they want the meme that fits their priors. So if they think Hegseth is a fool, he was duped. If they love Trump, well then it’s trolling the liberals. Nobody’s digging in to actually find out if this is tactical unit lore. No one’s doing the research that you and I had to do to figure out this segment. It’s 2026, Gene; the scoreboard’s a lie, the points don’t matter, and the dopamine-fueled spite has taken the wheel.
Gene Valaitis: You know, the next thing you know, the President of the United States will be going after the Pope. Oh, hang on, he already did that.
Jon Liedtke: Yeah.
Gene Valaitis: I want to bring this back to Canada. Militarily, the US and Canada are—are tied at the hip: things like NORAD and NATO, trade, culture. So when some official in Ottawa, who’s got a lot more brainpower than Petey, sees something like this, how does it get played out for our country here?
Jon Liedtke: I would imagine that the—the Apple Watches and Android watches’ heart rate monitors start to go up onto high right now. The massive anxiety has to be going through the roof. We need a strong, stable United States as the de facto leader of NATO, of NORAD, of the world, period. When the Pentagon starts looking like a Tarantino film set, the allies start asking who’s handling the nuke codes—beyond the man who gets to decide to use them. So, you know, we’ve got the memes, we’ve got the heavy religious infusion of theater into government, and that’s really off-putting to Canadians as well. We’re not used to our military strategy being—meshed with televised sermons. So from a Canadian perspective, this isn’t looking like strength; it’s looking like it’s completely unhinged.
Gene Valaitis: Okay, so imagine you’re a strategist up in Ottawa. How are you advising our Defense Minister on handling questions about what Pete said and got it all wrong? What’s your advice?
Jon Liedtke: Steer clear. Do not engage, Minister. 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 to worry about right now without commenting on movie quotes. And if the media tries to bait you into it, deflect away from it.
Gene Valaitis: You know, it’s been quite a week. First we have Ezekiel 25:17, we have the President of the United States portraying himself as Jesus, then he goes after the Pope, and then there’s another photo of Jesus hugging Trump, and now we’re going through this. I mean, it’s—it’s such a crazy time. And, you know, I’ve been thinking about this story a lot this morning because I know that I was going to be talking to you. There’s a little bit of me who’s actually thinking they did this Pulp Fiction thing on purpose to show they’re standing up to Iran.
Jon Liedtke: You know, it’s—it’s quite possible; that could be the only caveat that’s here. If you are the—you know, if—if you want to show that you’re standing up to Iran and that you’re strong and that you’re forceful and you’re willing to push past all known barriers and guardrails, you would do something like this. But, you know, if you’re the Canadian administration here and you’re looking at polling, you might still see that a Trump shield is the only path moving forward. And I just saw recent polling saying that the Liberal camp is primarily comprised of those who are anti-Trump. So if they’re thinking picking a fight over American absurdity will park more voters in their camp, that’s what they’re going to be doing. But Gene, let me just tell you, here’s some free advice.
Gene Valaitis: All right.
Jon Liedtke: I—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.
Gene Valaitis: Well, Jon, we tried to reach Samuel L. Jackson for comment on this story, but he didn’t get back to us in time for the broadcast.
Jon Liedtke: Well, maybe he will for next week.
Gene Valaitis: All right. Great story, Jon. I sure do appreciate you. Have a great weekend; we’ll talk to you next Tuesday.
Jon Liedtke: Cheers, Gene. Bye.
Gene Valaitis: There he goes. Jon Liedtke, great storyteller. What an incredible story. Have you seen this online, with Samuel L. Jackson on one side and Pete on the other? Try to look it up. I mean, it’s hysterical, but the guy is the Defense Minister. Yikes.
This aired on 610 CKTB
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