Sheila Gunn Reid: Pete Hegseth's cadet camp post isn't what critics say it is
On Tuesday’s Rebel Roundup livestream, Sheila Gunn Reid and Lise Merle tackled 'the elephant in the room,' arguing that it’s far more likely Hegseth was targeting the training officer for appearing to be unfit than disparaging the cadet.
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has drawn criticism this week for a controversial repost mocking an image from the Canadian Cadets’ 2026 Vernon cadet training camp.
“(This is real),” Hegseth captioned the image, which depicted two young women in uniform: one a cadet receiving an award and the other a training officer in a Canadian military uniform.
On Tuesday’s Rebel Roundup livestream, Sheila Gunn Reid and Lise Merle tackled “the elephant in the room,” arguing that it’s far more likely Hegseth was targeting the training officer for appearing to be unfit than disparaging the cadet.
“Everyone is pretending like Pete Hegseth was talking about the youngster. Why? Everybody knows he’s not,” said Sheila.
Among the other political figures weighing in was former Alberta premier Jason Kenney.
“In the midst of a hot war against a mortal enemy of the United States, the Secretary of War of the world’s only super power finds time to troll folks at a cadet camp for teenagers,” said Kenney. “To our many friends in the great United States of America: what is going on?”
In the midst of a hot war against a mortal enemy of the United States, the Secretary of War of the world’s only super power finds time to troll folks at a cadet camp for teenagers in Vernon, British Columbia.
— Jason Kenney 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@jkenney) September 1, 2026
To our many friends in the great United States of America: what’s… https://t.co/1RaPMlGYs3
In Sheila’s view, painting the tweet as evidence that Hegseth is a time waster is reaching.
“I think… he is perfectly capable of sending a three-word tweet in a 24-hour period,” she said.
“Nothing Pete Hegseth said wasn’t true,” added Lise. “He said ‘this is real’... and he let people’s eyeballs tell the story so that they could form their own opinions.”
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COMMENTS
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Fran g commented 2026-09-03 19:11:27 -0400carnage knows exactly what is going on, he is part of it. Totally guilty on many counts. I was speaking to a lady on the weekend, nice lady, but she supported carnage, hated Trump, and believed Alberta separation was horrible. Her daughter is in the military, it sounds like middle management. Of course she is proud of her daughter, but I had to bite my tongue, as she was going on about how strong and great Chanadian military is!!! She is so ill informed and will not listen to real news. -
Bruce Atchison commented 2026-09-02 19:59:06 -0400China loves a weak Canada. It gives their spies a back door into America. And Carney is too blinded by ideology to see the peril he’s putting us in.
