Democrats thought they could corner Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during his first major hearing.
But they picked the wrong fight with the wrong man.
And Pete Hegseth delivered one brutal history lesson that left this Democrat scrambling for cover.
Democrat tries to lecture Hegseth on riot response
Minnesota Democrat Representative Betty McCollum thought she had Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth right where she wanted him during a House Appropriations Committee hearing.
McCollum launched into a lecture about President Donald Trump’s "premature and escalatory" decision to deploy National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles after riots broke out following ICE arrests of illegal alien criminals.
The Democrat congresswoman tried to make Trump look bad by comparing his swift response to the 2020 riots that devastated Minneapolis under Democrat Governor Tim Walz’s watch.
"Governor Walz made the decision to call up the Minnesota National Guard [in 2020]," McCollum said. "At no point did we need, of the citizens of Minnesota, to request that the Marines be deployed. Our state and local law enforcement, along with our National Guard, who have worked on crowd control, they were more than enough."
McCollum claimed that Minnesota’s response proved "law enforcement and the National Guard are more than capable of handling situations more volatile than what happened this weekend."
It was a classic Democrat move—trying to rewrite history to make their failures look like successes.
But McCollum picked the wrong person to try that trick on.
Hegseth drops the hammer with devastating facts
Hegseth wasn’t about to let McCollum get away with whitewashing the disaster that was Tim Walz’s response to the 2020 riots.
The Defense Secretary reminded the congresswoman about what really happened when Minneapolis burned under Walz’s leadership.
"Well congresswoman, thank you for the question. You are right, we are both originally from Minnesota and that’s why I recall 2020 quite well when Governor Walz abandoned a police precinct and allowed it to be burned to the ground," Hegseth fired back.
"And [he] also allowed five days of chaos to occur inside the streets of Minneapolis. The police precinct, ma’am, was abandoned and burned to the ground and because of that, the National Guard, was eventually, far too late, mobilized."
Hegseth wasn’t done delivering his devastating history lesson.
He explained exactly why Trump’s swift action in Los Angeles was the right call compared to Walz’s delayed response that cost Minnesota dearly.
"And President Trump recognizes a situation like that, improperly hindered by a governor, like it was by Governor Walz, if it gets out of control, it is bad a situation for the citizens of any location," Hegseth continued.
"So in Los Angeles, we believe that ICE, which is a federal law enforcement agency, has the right to safely conduct operations in any state and any jurisdiction in the country."
McCollum quickly changed the subject after getting schooled by Hegseth.
The real story Democrats don’t want you to remember
The facts Hegseth laid out paint a devastating picture of Democrat leadership during the 2020 riots.
Rioters breached and set the Third Precinct in Minneapolis on fire after police abandoned the area on May 28, 2020.
The riots left Minnesota with an estimated $500 million in damages as rioters looted, burned, and destroyed property across the Twin Cities area.
According to FactCheck.org, Walz activated the National Guard at 11:41 p.m. on May 28, but this was after the Third Precinct had already been overrun and set ablaze.
Even Walz himself later took responsibility for the delayed deployment, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called the city’s response an "abject failure."
Compare that to Trump’s response in Los Angeles, where he deployed at least 2,000 National Guard troops and around 700 U.S. Marines when rioters started setting cars on fire, throwing fireworks and Molotov cocktails, and looting businesses.
While CNN showed live footage of the chaos, Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass incredibly claimed her city was "calm."
The contrast couldn’t be clearer—Trump acts swiftly to protect Americans while Democrats let cities burn and then try to gaslight everyone about what really happened.
Democrats still can’t handle the truth about their failures
McCollum’s attempt to lecture Hegseth backfired spectacularly because she tried to rewrite history that’s still fresh in everyone’s memory.
The 2020 riots weren’t some distant historical event—they happened just five years ago, and Americans remember exactly how Democrats handled them.
They remember the abandoned police stations, the burning buildings, the looted stores, and the complete breakdown of law and order that Democrats allowed to continue for days.
Most importantly, they remember how Democrats tried to minimize the violence and even celebrated the "mostly peaceful protests" while American cities burned.
Hegseth’s response was a perfect reminder of why voters chose Trump—they want a president who will act decisively to protect Americans instead of letting criminals run wild.
The Defense Secretary showed exactly the kind of leadership Americans can expect from the Trump administration.
When Democrats try to gaslight the public about their record, they’ll get the facts thrown right back in their faces.