After years of ignoring — and often enabling — fraud, waste, and abuse, many Democrat officials and left-wing pundits have finally found what they consider to be a financial “scandal” worth caring about: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s end-of-fiscal-year spending included just over $20 million in ribeye steaks, lobster tails, and crab legs.
Assuming these expenses must have been for lavish nonsense, Democrats from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to California Governor Gavin Newsom sprang to social media, mocking Hegseth, heaping scorn on the Trump administration, and promising a full-scale congressional investigation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
In addition to billions of taxpayer dollars being burned in this war in Iran, reports are showing that Sec. Pete Hegseth blew $93 billion in federal DOD funding at the end of last year on:
$3.5 billion for cable TV 
$225 million for furniture 
$15.1 million for ribeye steaks 
$6.9…
— Rep. Melanie Stansbury (@Rep_Stansbury) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rep_Stansbury/status/2031500011700367429?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
Source: @Rep_Stansbury/X.com
None of them stopped to ask why the Department of War might spend this money on “surf and turf.” Longtime Democrat consultant Paul Begala, former chief strategist for Bill Clinton, even insisted in a ridiculous cable news display that Secretary Hegseth was eating all the steak and lobster himself.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
CNN&#8217;s Paul Begala falsely claims Pete Hegseth purchased ribeye steaks and lobster tails for himself, not the troops.
Scott Jennings, &#8220;Internet do something.&#8221;
Here are the receipts: <a href="https://t.co/VZ6j4j2sn2">pic.twitter.com/VZ6j4j2sn2</a>
— Thomas Hern (@ThomasMHern) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThomasMHern/status/2031911892109721777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
Source: @ThomasMHern/X.com
In their desperation to dunk on the Trump administration, Democrats humiliated themselves, insulted America’s servicemen, and reminded the general public of previous “waste, fraud, and abuse” they had endorsed, hid, and protected themselves – while illustrating just how little they understand the American military.
A <a href="https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/pentagon-should-focus-on-defense">March 9 opinion piece</a> by Open the Books, a government spending and campaign finance watchdog group, criticized spending reports from the Department of War near the end of September 2025 — near the end of the fiscal year — which listed several purchases in the millions of dollars for fine foods, technology, and furniture. These included $2 million on Alaskan king crabs, $6.9 million on lobster tails, $15.1 million on ribeye steaks, $1 million on salmon, and several hundreds of thousands of dollars on desserts.
To the average American, this is meant to sound bizarre and corrupt. Are generals, admirals, and Pentagon bureaucrats feasting on surf-and-turf nightly? That’s what Open the Books’ report, subsequent legacy media meltdowns, and Democrat officials’ craven pearl clutching is intending to convey. Just look at Newsom’s “Press Office” account on X, picturing AI slop of Hegseth reclining amid piles of lobster tail.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
HEGSETH BLOWING $93 BILLION OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS IN 1 MONTH !! <a href="https://t.co/L8GmyWQ2bt">pic.twitter.com/L8GmyWQ2bt</a>
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovPressOffice/status/2031441496801529864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
Source: @GovPressOffice/X.com
Even the libertarians got in on the lie, with Reason’s Eric Boehm <a href="https://reason.com/2026/03/11/war-rations/?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=reason_brand&amp;utm_content=autoshare&amp;utm_term=post">fabricating a thumbnail</a> showing the Secretary of War at a table with a bright red lobster in front of him using Midjourney AI.
Far-left outlets like The New Republic attempted to whip this assertion into a frenzy, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/207555/pete-hegseth-billions-dollars-fruit-basket-stands-chairs-crab">claiming</a> “a good chunk of the budget wasn’t used for anything that could be considered a pertinent military expense,” thereby implying soldiers are left with MREs while the brass enjoys Hunger Games-in-the-Capital-style feasting.
But if this was all true, it wouldn’t just be liberal Karens and Democrat officials shouting about it — it would include the voices of angry former servicemen, veterans outraged over such frivolous spending.
It didn’t, because they know this is all a lie.
Serving surf-and-turf to troops — <a href="https://x.com/EODHappyCaptain/status/2031519972447465799?s=20">lobster tail</a>, <a href="https://x.com/infantrydort/status/2031495562072060271?s=20">crab legs</a>, ribeye steaks — right before deployment or after a stressful mission is a tried and true tradition of the United States military, not to mention a few American civilian and military contracting groups, too. With many units, <a href="https://x.com/MostlyPeaceful/status/2031800839455613332?s=20">surf-and-turf Fridays</a> are a common and well-deserved expense for our men and women in uniform.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
To all the idiots criticizing the pentagon for surf and turf here’s a story for you <a href="https://t.co/ZsC7JYI4dI">pic.twitter.com/ZsC7JYI4dI</a>
— Joey Jones (@Johnny_Joey) <a href="https://twitter.com/Johnny_Joey/status/2032120815781564850?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
It has long been an inside joke, a meme among America’s troops, to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNi_o4uy1WZ/?hl=en">beware being served the surf-and-turf</a> before a long briefing with battalion staff. Similar memes, videos, and jokes have long <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFjEAlNuq82/">celebrated camaraderie</a> over surf-and-turf following a large operation.
And this is just what our nation’s veterans ruthlessly mocked Democrats with all over social media.
The lack of self-respect in most of this reporting is simply pathetic. Eric’s Reason was comfortable enough with the deliberately misleading assertion to AI generate a picture for it (strange we couldn’t get photo after photo from Getty Images or Reuters of Hegseth chowing down on lobster tail, considering how much of it he apparently devours!), but had to cover his tracks later in the article.
All of this consternation about government spending is part of Democrats’ absurd pivot away from all the waste and fraud in the welfare programs they have favored for years. Where was their objection to the USAID revelations showing the millions upon millions the Biden administration had spent on transgender theater in South America, “Iraqi Sesame Street” for the Middle East, or spreading atheism in Nepal? Where was <a href="https://x.com/MollyJongFast/status/2031402915731034131?s=20">Molly Jong Fast’s criticism</a> of Pete Buttigieg spending almost $7.5 billion on just eight charging stations at random interstate rest stops?
All of the sudden, I’m supposed to be outraged because Hegseth’s Department of War spent money on giving our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, guardians, and coastguardsmen a decent meal? Do these weeping masses of outrage buying ice cream machines not remember that the United States had multiple Navy craft dedicated to delivering ice cream to our troops during the Second World War?
When billions in grants go to NGOs, fraudulent programs, and silly social adventures, the Department of War can afford to spend a drop in the bucket to give our troops a decent meal, replace old phones, computers, and furniture, or (God forbid) replace a piano.
Our troops deserve better than a nothingburger. Give them a good steak and some lobster. They deserve it.
* * *
Tony Kinnett is the host of The Tony Kinnett Cast at The Daily Signal. Connect with him on X: <a href="http://twitter.com/thetonus">@TheTonus</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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Surf-And-Turfgate: Democrats Melt Down Over Steak And Lobster For Our Heroes