by Roger Kimball
A media class addicted to anti-Trump theatrics manufactured a “surf-and-turf scandal,” only to reveal its own irrelevance as Trump’s agenda—and America’s leverage—keeps advancing.
At least this week’s faux outrage promised to be tasty. Lobster! Rib eye! King crab! Millions spent lavishing such delicacies on the troops when all that money might have been spent on poor working stiffs like members of Congress. Outrageous!
No sooner was the supposed scandal aired than it was laughed out of court. There were pictures of Michelle Obama shoveling out the surf and turf for troops. There were little history lessons showing that what Pete Hegseth presented as a wasteful innovation has, in fact, been standard operating procedure for the DOD (now the DOW) for many years. But why was the scandal manufactured just now, in mid-March 2026? Here’s an interesting tidbit from a commentator who did a little digging. “It seems the two vendors who had a monopoly on DOD food supply lost their contracts: VAL-PRO, INC. (located in California) and CHICO PRODUCE, INC. (also based in California). The new vendor setup is now open to multiple vendors.” Well, well, well, and you don’t say?
Then there were unflattering charts comparing the amount of money spent on steak dinners for the troops to the amount of money lost to fake Somali daycare centers. In 2025, we spent $210 million on the former and $230 million on the latter, which is to say $16.33 per soldier and $379,537.19 per fake daycare operator. And let’s not forget former Clinton advisor Paul Begala, who went on CNN to claim that Pete Hegseth “spent $15 million in one month for ribeye steak, $6.9 million for lobster tail . . . all for himself.” Scott Jennings asked the obvious question. You don’t think he was eating all that himself, do you, Paul? Begala spluttered a bit, to which Jennings said, “Internet, do your thing.” Which it did.
I almost feel sorry for the anti-Trump propaganda press (mind the adverb). It was so easy back in 2016–20. They had a compliant Washington establishment; Trump was a political neophyte; and even some of Trump’s closest advisors were happy to sell him down the river. Trump 2.0 is another story altogether. He has one of the best cabinets, if not the very best, in history, as names like Rubio, Bessent, Hegseth, Vought, Bondi, Zeldin, and Wright remind us. He is also moving like the Flash to accomplish his agenda and keep his campaign promises to the American people:
- Close the border. Check.
- Identify and deport illegal immigrants. Ongoing.
- Ramp up energy production (“drill, baby, drill”). Done.
- Destroy DEI throughout the federal government and academia: Major operations completed, now mopping up.
- Dismantle the narco-terrorist networks of Latin America. Ask Nicolás Maduro and “El Mencho.”
- Deal with Iran: “Midnight Hammer,” “Epic Fury.” Not quite finished, but on the home stretch.
And so on.
What do you think about this recent post by Trump?
Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe. We have already destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capability, but it’s easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close range missile somewhere along, or in, this Waterway, no matter how badly defeated they are. Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated. In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!
Notice anything? How about the inclusion of China in the list of countries Trump is inviting to send warships to the Persian Gulf to help keep the Strait of Hormuz open? Isn’t China our biggest, baddest adversary? Yes, but deals can still be made, peace can be won, and the world economy can prosper.
The propaganda press is like a pack of crazed chihuahuas yapping and nipping at the ankles of progress because the name “Trump” is stamped all over it. Margot Cleveland is right: “If CNN was around during WWII, it would have been broadcasting in German.” But here’s the thing: it barely matters anymore. A corner has been turned. A narrative has been updated. A vibe shift is far advanced.
Punditry is not prophecy. I know that. But it is not simply backwards-looking, either. When it comes to the penumbras and emanations flowing out from the destruction of the totalitarian death cult that has been ruling Iran since the Ayatollah Khomeini rode into town in 1979, the commentator Bill Mitchell has it just right. “Iran is going to lose this war,” he wrote. Among other things, that means that
Their ability to terrorize the region will be over. This will usher in a new era of peace and prosperity in the Middle East. Hezbollah and Hamas will be eliminated.
Once the war ends, which should be within the next month or so, gas prices will fall to their lowest levels in years.
All of the recent stock market losses will recover and more.
Once Hamas is gone, places like Gaza will be rebuilt to rival the beauty of Dubai.
The Republicans will win the House and the Senate in the midterms.
MAGA will dominate D.C. for a generation.
CNN may not like that. The New York Times will sulk and act out. So will Politico, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and similar repositories of anti-Trump animus. They will carp. They will sniff. They will twist. They will fume. It doesn’t matter. Within a few months, they will once again be shown to have been both ridiculous and wrong. There won’t be enough lobster and rib-eye to concoct even a faux scandal out of. For the rest of us, their humiliation will be almost as gratifying as Trump’s world-changing victory.
Roger Kimball is editor and publisher of The New Criterion and the president and publisher of Encounter Books. He is the author and editor of many books, including The Fortunes of Permanence: Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia (St. Augustine's Press), The Rape of the Masters (Encounter), Lives of the Mind: The Use and Abuse of Intelligence from Hegel to Wodehouse (Ivan R. Dee), and Art's Prospect: The Challenge of Tradition in an Age of Celebrity (Ivan R. Dee). Most recently, he edited and contributed to Where Next? Western Civilization at the Crossroads (Encounter) and contributed to Against the Great Reset: Eighteen Theses Contra the New World Order (Bombardier).
Source: https://amgreatness.com/2026/03/15/surf-turf-and-another-media-meltdown/
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