As President Donald Trump gathered his Cabinet for a high-profile meeting at the White House on Tuesday, the attention wasn’t on policy, strategy, or even the updates from his top defense official. Instead, the spotlight landed on a small white name card sitting in front of Pete Hegseth — an d the mistake that instantly made him the internet’s main character of the morning. Pete Hegseth gets embarrassed after cameras catch the new addition to his title on a name card during a cabinet meeting. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) ‘Wow’: Gavin Newsom’s Latest Shot at Trump Backfires on Pete Hegseth Too, Leaving Fans Zooming In on the Unexpected Twist and Laughing at the Fallout Trump sat beside Hegseth as he praised recent military successes, unfazed by the swirling controversy from earlier in the week. Viewers didn’t need to zoom far to see it: His title, printed for all the cameras to capture, carried an extra letter, rendering him the “SSecretary of War.” The televised meeting had viewers more focused on the typo after a screenshot of his placeholder hit the internet. One person claimed they “fixed it” by photoshopping the card to add “crimes” to Hegseth’s title, a nod to the mounting public scrutiny around Hegseth’s role in the Caribbean operation. Others took the moment as an opportunity to clown him more personally. Whiskey Pete strikes again, this time not off the coast of Venezuela https://t.co/IxlBbFyveF pic.twitter.com/xDnyHmbmzV— Peter Twinklage (@PeterTwinklage) December 2, 2025 “Lol no one checked,” wrote one person about the name card. Another joked, “‘SS’ very appropriate. Hope it was a deliberate mistake by someone.” A different commenter pushed things further with, “The SS is not an accident.” And someone else capped it off by claiming, “If he could read, he would be so embarrassed.” One speculative person who added deeper historical context wrote, “Was it a mistake, though? Hitler had a major paramilitary force called the SS, which began as his bodyguard and grew into a powerful organization. The SS ran internal security, fought as the Waffen SS and carried out many of the regime’s worst crimes.” For many viewers, the misprint fed into a narrative already built around Hegseth — one tied to his long-documented struggles with alcohol. “Constantly SSLURING! #PeteKegbreath,” one person wrote, as another observer said, “Pete looks like Arrow became an alcoholic with an addiction to hair gel.” After returning from Iraq in 2006, he admitted to using drinking as a form of “self-medication,” a vulnerability Hegseth detailed in his 2016 memoir, “In the Arena.” sheesh.— I’m Not That Short (@SheBleedsHipHop) December 2, 2025 Stories from former colleagues, both from Fox News and nonprofit organizations he worked with, have included allegations of excessive drinking at various work events, raising questions about his conduct in settings where the stakes run far higher than a misspelled title card. Hegseth’s team has pushed back, describing the allegations as coordinated attacks, and his attorney has dismissed them altogether, ABC News reported. Still, during his confirmation process in late 2024 and early 2025, Hegseth pledged to stay away from alcohol entirely while serving as secretary of Defense, comparing the role to deployment — a time when drinking isn’t permitted. It was meant to reassure his critics, though he notably avoided making any promises about resigning if he ever broke that commitment. Trump has continued to stand behind him, praising his performance and publicly signaling confidence in his leadership. Because he seems to do no wrong in his eyes, critics joked that even the name spelling was a tool by the Democrats to embarrass his squad. “Guess we know who Trump is going to blame Joe biden on this one too,” one joked. The online jokes about the typo were funny, but they also reflected deeper doubts people have about Hegseth’s judgment and fitness for the job. The moment pushed the retired Army officer into viral territory, and the title printed in front of him felt like more than a typo. It felt like a real message. ‘Not an Accident’: Trump’s Cabinet Meeting Derails After Viewers Zoom In on Pete Hegseth and Catch a Slip the Internet Is Scrambling to Decode ...read more read less