By Matt Lamb | AMAC
In the latest manufactured outrage directed at Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, elected Democrats and the left-wing media are apoplectic at supposedly “wasteful” spending that went toward providing a good meal for enlisted troops.
But those same liberal voices applauded the Biden administration for actually wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on woke “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) initiatives in the military that sowed division amongst the ranks and were disastrous for morale and recruiting.
Earlier this month, The New Republic reported that the Pentagon under Hegseth “blew billions on fruit basket stands, chairs, and crab” in September 2025 – a headline that was quickly picked up and parroted by other media outlets eager to bash the Trump administration.
Given that President Trump has made combatting government waste, fraud, and abuse one of the top priorities of his second term, it seemed like the perfect “gotcha” moment for the media to portray the administration as hypocritical.
“In other pricey food purchases, the government decided to drop $15.1 million for ribeye steak (again, just in September), $124,000 for ice cream machines, and $139,224 on 272 orders of doughnuts,” the news outlet reported, based on analysis by Open the Books. The Pentagon also reportedly spent “$2 million for Alaskan king crab and $6.9 million worth of lobster tail.”
The media quickly dubbed the supposed scandal “Lobstergate,” and the pile-on began. “Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon faces backlash over $7 million lobster spree,” a local Fox affiliate reported. “The Pentagon Went on a $90 Billion Spending Bender – with Lobster and Pianos,” The National Interest smugly relayed, while Newsweek similarly stated that “Pete Hegseth Spent Millions on Steak, Crab Legs and Lobster.”
Elected Democrats soon joined in the fray as well. “Hegseth spent $93 billion in one month – roughly the cost of extending the [Obamacare] tax credits for THREE YEARS,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer whined. “Hegseth is wasting millions of your tax dollars,” Democrats on the House Oversight Committee complained.
But as military experts soon explained, the narrative of Hegseth’s supposedly wasteful spending was yet another media hoax designed to impugn top Trump officials.
As Navy veteran Luther Abel wrote for National Review, “The steak and lobster meal is a tradition in the armed forces” that usually precedes an extended deployment. In other words, the seemingly “wasteful” spending spree was really a morale boost for enlisted troops – many of whom barely make enough to make ends meet.
As Abel also explained regarding Democrat complaints about a piano purchased by the Air Force, “a $100,000 piano is a concert-grade instrument to be played by professionals for galas, ceremonies, and other events that Air Force brass host.”
Open the Books has also pointed out that officials are encouraged to boost spending at the end of the fiscal year in September due to a “use it or lose it” policy which penalizes them for not spending all of their budget.
Still, it is fair and necessary to criticize wasteful government spending – which is exactly why liberal complaints about steak and lobster for the troops ring so hollow following what occurred for four years under the Biden administration.
An initial 2025 investigation by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) found the Biden Pentagon spent
- “$1.9 million for holistic diversity, equity and inclusion transformation and training,”
- “$3.5 million by the Defense Human Resources Activity to support DEI groups,” and
- $1.6 million so the University of Florida could study the climate in Africa.
But even those absurd line-items are drops in the bucket compared to what the Biden Pentagon wanted to indoctrinate the ranks into woke ideology.
“In 2022, it asked for $66 million for such spending, followed by $86 million in 2023,” The National Desk reported in 2023.
The same Pentagon leaders also wasted millions of our troops’ hours teaching them about left-wing ideology, which no doubt contributed to a drop in morale and recruitment.
Within just the first year of the Biden presidency, “U.S. service members… spent a total of 5,889,082 man-hours” on “extremism” and DEI training, according to a report from Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS). Instead of actual military training, troops were instead being forced to listen to presentations on Critical Race Theory and “white rage.”
All this browbeating and guilt-tripping comes with its own cost which is much higher than some lobster and steak. It is no coincidence that every branch of the military saw historic recruiting shortfalls during Biden’s tenure – shortfalls that were quickly reversed once Trump took office and ended DEI in the military and throughout the federal government.
In Washington, priorities tell the story. Under Biden, the Pentagon poured time and money into divisive, anti-American ideologies that distracted from the military’s core mission.
Under Trump and Hegseth, the priority has been pay raises for enlisted men and women, ensuring they are equipped with the most advanced warfighting technology, and treating them to a good meal every now and then.
The fact that liberals are losing their minds over this shift in focus is just another reminder why voters re-elected Trump in the first place.
AMAC Newsline contributor Matt Lamb is an associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
First published on AMAC (conservative alternative to AARP)
DOGE initial findings on Defense Department DEI spending could save $80M, agency says
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