‘Even Newsmax Refused. Brutal!’: The Daily Show Trolls Pete Hegseth After Fox News Won’t Sign Pentagon Press Policy

Comedy Central’s The Daily Show made fun of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday after his new press rules at the Pentagon got rejected by major news organizations. The comedy show posted a message on X saying it had agreed to the Pentagon’s new rules for press access. “After serious consideration, The Daily Show has agreed to the Pentagon’s new demands regarding press access,” the show said in a graphic. But the whole thing was a joke meant to embarrass Hegseth.

As per The Hill, the show said it was joining in just so One America would not be the only one to sign the policy. “We were going to refuse, but everyone else rejected it so hard that it honestly made us feel kinda bad for Pete Hegseth,” the statement said. It pointed out that “the poor guy couldn’t even get Fox News to sign on and he worked for them a few months ago.” The Daily Show then added the final blow: “Even Newsmax refused. Brutal!”

Everyone’s Saying No To Hegseth’s New Rules

Hegseth and the Department of Defense have been getting hit hard with criticism after rolling out a new policy this week. The policy makes it much harder for journalists to get access to the Pentagon. It also tries to control what information gets out of the building.

All of the big news organizations in the country have said no to the new policy. Many major broadcast and cable news networks even put out a joint statement this week attacking the restrictions.

The networks called the policy “without precedent” and said it “threatens core journalistic protections.” The backlash shows just how worried the media industry is about the government trying to limit press freedom and control what information gets shared. The whole situation comes as Hegseth has been working to boost military readiness while dealing with concerns about threats from other countries.

Even with almost everyone in the news media saying no, President Trump backed Hegseth earlier this week. Trump said he “finds the press to be very disruptive in terms of world peace,” supporting the controversial policy. The Daily Show’s fake agreement to the policy is basically making fun of how alone the Pentagon is in trying to restrict press access.