George Clooney Brands US a ‘Kakistocracy’ with Jab at Hegseth: ‘What’s Wrong with You?’

(Screengrab via X) (Photo via AP)

George Clooney branded the United States a “kakistocracy” run by the “least qualified people” before singling out Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as an example for his mockery of female Canadian military cadets.

The actor and prominent Democratic activist delivered the blistering assessment at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday, where he is receiving the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, after being asked how he viewed the current state of his country.

“Look, I’m always very optimistic about things, and I do believe that there are… We’re at a moment in time that’s unfortunate. I think that’s an understatement,” Clooney said.

The 65-year-old actor argued the country had endured similarly turbulent periods before, pointing to the political assassinations and widespread unrest of 1968.

“We lost Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy in the same year. There was tons of violence. The Capitol was surrounded with tanks,” he said. “We’ve had some other difficult times, but this is one of them.”

Clooney then reached for a less familiar term to describe the current political moment: “There’s a great word, kakistocracy, which is a country run by the least qualified people. I think maybe we have a kakistocracy right now, but we’ll get through it.”

He went on to predict November’s midterm elections would provide “a check and balance” and said that “with any luck” the 2028 presidential election would bring “some restoration into some normalcy.”

Clooney then turned directly to Hegseth as he condemned what he described as a broader embrace of “cruelty” in public life: “You see what the Secretary of Defense just tweeted out a picture about women from the military in Canada and you’re going, what’s wrong with you?

“There’s the sense of decency in all of these and I’m ashamed of all that, but we will get through it and we will come out better on the other side,” he added.

Clooney was referring to a Monday night post in which Hegseth shared an image from the Vernon Cadet Training Centre showing a smiling female Canadian cadet receiving a medal from an instructor.

“(This is real,)” Hegseth wrote alongside a Canadian flag emoji, a swipe that came amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war with Ottawa.

The post was met with backlash online and came as Hegseth continued overseeing major leadership changes at the Pentagon and on the same day his Army secretary departed his post.

Watch above via X.

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