CNN anchor Dana Bash seemed to treat her majority female panel to some eye candy at the conclusion of Thursday’s Inside Politics by highlighting a recent workout session Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had with the troops (and a competition against HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.). But while the females largely gushed, male White House & foreign affairs correspondent for Politico, Eli Stokols whined about Hegseth posting “thirst traps” instead of focusing on Ukraine.
“Pete Hegseth got physical,” Bash quipped as she returned from a commercial break. “The Defense Secretary is on a public mission to convince everyone watching that he's the most pumped up cabinet secretary in the history of cabinet secretaries.”
After poking a little fun at Kennedy for working out in jeans, Bash looked to Wall Street Journal congressional reporter Olivia Beavers who stated the obvious that the video wouldn’t hurt Hegseth or the Trump administration at all.
“Well, I feel like this feeds exactly into what Hegseth and some of the MAGA world was talking about, bringing back masculinity. I don't think this video plays poorly for them. Of him working out with troops. I think that's Hegseth’s shtick,” she said.
She did bring up the texting scandal from early in President Trump’s second term, but ended in something of giggle when circling back the workout:
But I do think that he's just had a series of different issues that have piled up since he became defense secretary that are far bigger than this. We all remember the texting scandal when Jeffrey Goldberg was on it, which raised questions about his how he's handling security and sensitive information. Yeah. But I think that this is just – [Giggles].
That was followed up by Bash and Bloomberg columnist Nia-Malika Henderson gushing about how the work out video was good for military recruitment, noting how “telegenic” and “masculine” Hegseth was:
BASH: I want to see Tulsi Gabbard in this because she's very strong.
HENDERSON: Yeah, she is! All of these people are stronger and more fit than I am. You know, this is great for recruiting.
BASH: Yeah.
HENDERSON: This is great for in terms of enticing young men, young women into wanting to join the ranks, it's very sort of TikTokable as well. And so this is why Donald Trump wanted him to be the secretary of defense, because he was telegenic. He was masculine. He was all the things that Donald Trump thinks he is as well.
Cue Stokols, who opened by whining about Hegseth putting out the video at all and Democratic Congressman Jason Crow (CO) for putting out a counter pull-up video.
“It does line up with the sort of the appeals they made during the campaign to young men. But, you know, posting thirst traps if you're the defense secretary is one thing. Or if you're Jason Crow. Like, I guess everyone's doing this now. This is what social media has wrought,” he griped.
He then proceeded to decry how Hegseth was not leading the diplomatic negotiations to get security guarantees for Ukraine:
But the defense secretary is not running point right now on what's happening with the conversations around security guarantees for Ukraine. He is not playing a main role in that conversation. Secretary Rubio is far more involved in a lot of that. So I think, you know it. It's for an audience of one, but it's also telling what he's doing and what he's not doing.
As the secretary of state, Rubio was the country’s chief diplomat. Thus, it was his job to lead those negotiations. Hegseth also had made it a point to get the military back in fighting shape and boost recruitment.
Stokols also appeared to have not raised such bitter opposition to former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin when he went AWOL.
Bash ended the show by bringing things back to the workout. “You know how many pull ups I can do?” she asked. “Goose egg. I'll admit it.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Inside Politics
August 21, 2025
12:54:29 p.m. EasternDANA BASH: Pete Hegseth got physical. The Defense Secretary is on a public mission to convince everyone watching that he's the most pumped up cabinet secretary in the history of cabinet secretaries. By the way, we did not put this music in. It was – It was put in by them.
[Laughter]
They did CrossFit, lite physical fitness. And he challenged – as you see there, RFK Jr., probably –
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: Is he wearing jeans?
BASH: Yeah. We're going to get to that. Who probably himself wants to be called the most-fit cabinet member. And he is, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wearing his signature jeans as his workout pants.
But Hegseth’s pull up caught the attention of a Democrat, Congressman Jason Crow, who posted his own video of himself doing pull ups, saying effectively, this is how it's done.
And my panel is back. Olivia.
OLIVIA BEAVERS: Well, I feel like this feeds exactly into what Hegseth and some of the MAGA world was talking about, bringing back masculinity. I don't think this video plays poorly for them. Of him working out with troops. I think that's Hegseth’s shtick
But I do think that he's just had a series of different issues that have piled up since he became defense secretary that are far bigger than this. We all remember the texting scandal when Jeffrey Goldberg was on it, which raised questions about his how he's handling security and sensitive information. Yeah. But I think that this is just – [Giggles]
BASH: I want to see Tulsi Gabbard in this because she's very strong.
HENDERSON: Yeah, she is! All of these people are stronger and more fit than I am. You know, this is great for recruiting.
BASH: Yeah.
HENDERSON: This is great for in terms of enticing young men, young women into wanting to join the ranks, it's very sort of TikTokable as well. And so this is why Donald Trump wanted him to be the secretary of defense, because he was telegenic. He was masculine. He was all the things that Donald Trump thinks he is as well.
ELI STOKOLS: Yeah, central casting as Donald Trump likes to say, and it does make sense. It does line up with the sort of the appeals they made during the campaign to young men. But, you know, posting thirst traps if you're the defense secretary is one thing. Or if you're Jason Crow. Like, I guess everyone's doing this now. This is what social media has wrought.
But the defense secretary is not running point right now on what's happening with the conversations around security guarantees for Ukraine. He is not playing a main role in that conversation. Secretary Rubio is far more involved in a lot of that. So I think, you know it. It's for an audience of one, but it's also telling what he's doing and what he's not doing.
BASH: You know how many pull ups I can do?
HENDERSON: Zero.
BEAVERS: Five!
BASH: Goose egg. I'll admit it. Thanks, everyone. Thank you for joining Inside Politics.
