Pete Hegseth Blew Billions on Fruit Basket Stands, Chairs, and Crab

[LetMyPeopleVote]

And the pigs keep gobbling.

Pete Hegseth Blew Billions on Fruit Basket Stands, Chairs, and Crab newrepublic.com/post/207555/... via @newrepublic.com

— Heather Thomas (@heatherthomasaf.bsky.social) 2026-03-10T04:02:01.055Z

https://newrepublic.com/post/207555/pete-hegseth-billions-dollars-fruit-basket-stands-chairs-crab

Some of the frivolous September purchases made under Secretary Pete Hegseth’s stewardship include a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, $5.3 million for Apple devices such as the new iPad, and an astronomical amount of shellfish, including $2 million for Alaskan king crab and $6.9 million worth of lobster tail. (Lobster tail is apparently a favorite of Hegseth’s Pentagon—the department spent more than $7.4 million total on the luxury item in March, May, June, and October.)

In other pricey food purchases, the government decided to drop $15.1 million for ribeye steak (again, just in September), $124,000 for ice cream machines, and $139,224 on 272 orders of doughnuts.

Weeks later, millions of Americans would lose their SNAP benefits amid the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. More still stand to lose eligibility to the food assistance program thanks to a Republican crusade that added stricter work requirements to the program, piling on paperwork and documentation mandates.

One of the largest bulk expenditures was just for furniture, for which the Pentagon decided to shell out $225 million. That included $12,000 for fruit basket stands, and checks totaling more than $60,000 for Herman Miller recliners. All in all, the agency spent more on furniture in 2025 than it had in over a decade.

In the last five days of September alone, the department blew through $50.1 billion on just grants and contracts. For context, only nine other countries spend that much on the entirety of their defense budget per year. It’s also more than the total military budgets of Canada and Mexico combined.

[Emile]

1. How in hell they get away calling themselves conservative?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Hegseth really likes crab and crab legs

[AZJonnie]

3. Dictators love to lavish taxpayer money on their military brass & contractors to keep them loyal to the regime

This is pure corruption, and straight from the time-worn authoritarian playbook

[lame54]

4. There seems to be...

A constant party at Mar a lago

[B.See]

5. All of those

fkrs are partying, living large, and getting over 'like fat RATS' (as the saying goes) on OUR DIME.

Turns out HATING on Black, Brown, gay, and poor people has been quite profitable.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. 1. Billions with a "B"

2. Many people are suffering from lack of medical attention due to the cuts in the ACA.

3. Wish Hegseth had "crabs", and I don't mean culinary delights.

[Turbineguy]

7. "A Public job is a Public Trust!"

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. GOP senator criticizes Pentagon's $93B spending binge on fruit baskets and king crabs

Hegseth is so out of control that a GOP senator is calling him out

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) criticized the Pentagon for wasteful "impulse purchases" totaling billion in September, the highest monthly spending since 2008, as the military risks depleting munitions amid Trump's Iran war.

— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2026-03-10T12:00:13Z

https://www.rawstory.com/pete-hegseth-2675932017

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) criticized the Pentagon for wasteful "impulse purchases" totaling $93 billion in September, the highest monthly spending since 2008, as the military risks depleting munitions amid Trump's Iran war. Government watchdog Open The Books detailed extravagant expenditures including $225 million on furniture alone, with $12,000 spent on fruit basket stands and $60,000 on premium Herman Miller chairs. The Pentagon purchased $2 million in Alaskan king crab and $1.8 million in musical instruments, including a $98,329 Steinway grand piano, $26,000 violin, and $21,750 handmade Japanese flute. Foreign purchases reached $6.6 billion, over $1 billion above the previous record. Ernst accused "binge-buying bureaucrats" of burning through billions on frivolous items while taxpayers fund $1.5 trillion in defense spending. Open The Books CEO urged Secretary Hegseth to refocus on warfighting priorities.

[Goonch]

9. ;-{)......

[NameAlreadyTaken]

10. Sounds like he wants a fancy party at

the Chief of Staff's house. Is Kash bringing the beer or are the taxpayers footing the bill for that?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. HEGSETH BLOWS $93 BILLION IN 1 MONTH-- BIGGEST MONTHLY EXPENSE SINCE 2008

Link to tweet

NEW: HEGSETH BLOWS $93 BILLION IN 1 MONTH— BIGGEST MONTHLY EXPENSE SINCE 2008.

$225M Furniture
$15.1M Ribeyes
$5.3M Apple Devices
$6.9M lobster
$2M Crab Legs
$98K Grand Piano for staffer’s Home
$12K Fruit Basket Stands
$140K Doughnuts
$124k Ice Cream Machines