The Great Lobster Hoax of 2026—and Other Fake News Headlines of the Week
People who can afford to eat lobster every night of the week cannot stand to see our troops enjoying a good meal. It's disgusting.
The liberal media desperately wants you to think that the war in Iran is going badly. You’ll hear nothing about how isolated the Islamic Regime of Iran is, how China and Russia have sent nothing but thoughts and prayers after vowing to defend their ally. You won’t hear how much of Iran’s ballistic capabilities we’ve eliminated, how much of its navy we’ve sunk, or how much closer the war has brought Israel and its Muslim Gulf neighbors—the chief victims of Iran’s aggression.
The war has brought us the kind of soft power money can’t buy. Yet the liberal media cannot bear to let you know.
Then there have been the outright hoaxes.
This week gave us the Great Lobster Hoax of 2026. Headline after headline blasted Secretary of War Pete Hegseth for spending billions of dollars on lobster, ice cream machines, fruit, and crab.
“Pete Hegseth blew billions on fruit baskets, lobster,” read a TMZ headline, with an image of Hegseth holding the goods.
“Pete Hegseth’s Defense Department Blew $22M On Steak and Lobster in a Single Month,” read the Mediaite headline. “Per the analysis by Open the Books, in September, the Pentagon spent $2 million on Alaskan king crab, $6.9 million on lobster tail, $15.1 million on ribeye steak, and $1 million on salmon. Dessert included 272 orders of doughnuts for $139,224 and ice cream machines for $124,000.”
And wouldn’t you know it but Pete Hegseth is eating all that lobster himself!
That’s what CNN’s Paul Begala would have you believe. “He has spent $15 million in one month for ribeye steak, $6.9 million for lobster tail . . . all for himself,” he told Scott Jennings.
Newsmedian Seth Meyers joined the pile-on: “They spent $15 million on steak in one month,” he told his audience. “Who are you? Sterling Cooper Draper and Pryce? If you're gonna eat that much steak, you better have come up with a new campaign for lucky strike. No wonder Hegseth always looks miserable. He's 24/7 meat constipated. That's the face of a man war fighting with his colon.”
Of course, this is total nonsense: The lobster, fruit, ice, cream and steak are for the troops.
It’s a longstanding tradition to boost morale to give the troops a great meal every now and again—something Democrats and the media don’t know because they don’t know anyone in the military. It’s known as “The Surf and Turf Before the Storm,” as Military.com explains:
Across branches and generations, service members have circulated a widely recognized belief: when steak and lobster appear in the dining facility, something significant may be coming. Often described as a “surf and turf” meal, the combination has become embedded in military culture as a symbolic precursor to deployments, combat operations, or extended missions.
To thank the military in times of great sacrifice, they get a great meal.
Honestly, who deserves it more?
Social media filled with delightful videos of our men and women in uniform enjoying the lobster and steak.
Naturally, the Democrats and their media allies cannot stand to see such joy from those sacrificing everything to protect our privileged lives here at home.
People who can afford to eat lobster every night of the week, who never risked a goddamn thing to defend this country, are out here begrudging our troops—who make so much less than them—a great meal while risking their lives to protect our freedoms.
It’s disgusting.
But it’s hardly the only media hoax of the war.
We also got the Great MAGA split that wasn’t. The media has insisted that the strikes on Iran are “dividing MAGA” and “splitting the President’s base.” Yet poll after poll after poll revealed 90% support for the war effort by MAGA.
We’re told daily that the President has no clear objectives in Iran, that he hasn’t conveyed them to the American people, that they contradict each other. But he and his administration have laid the objectives out repeatedly, and it’s always the same three: destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, annihilate their navy, and ensure that the world’s #1 sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon.
Even the oil market fluctuations seem more driven by negative media vibes than an actual shortage of oil. All in all, it was a banner week for fake news.
The war could still go bad. It could drag on beyond when even MAGA would support. We could see more U.S. casualties, more civilian casualties. But for now, it’s going extremely well for us—not that you would know it from the liberal mainstream media.
This episode also illustrates the vast gulf in experiences between political/media elites and regular Americans.
It’s not that these elites never served; that is totally fine. It’s that they don’t even KNOW anyone who served. If they did, that person could have explained “surf and turf” in twenty seconds. Instead, they all rush onto cable news and X to demonstrate their obliviousness to the sacrifices borne by- and occasional nice meals served to- the brave men and women who defend our way of life.
I spend 26+ years in an Army uniform. In that time, I ate more surf and turf in Iraq and the former Yugoslavia than I did stateside.
To resent our overseas troops eating well every Friday, while giving EBT cards to illegals and lazy native born Americans, is beyond gross.
This whole controversy is incredibly disrespectful of our troops.