In the public's eye, Pentagon Pete can't drop to his knees and beg for "More war, daddy!" fast enough. But behind closed doors, Mr. Testosterone is dropping to his knees, begging lawmakers for some spare change as Daddy Donald's war of choice drains his department's coffers down to dust.

Donald Trump, of course, swore to the heavens that his illegal, senseless, and elective war with Iran would barely last a "few weeks" before he claimed victory and left the Iranian people singing the Star-Spangled Banner with a Big Mac and a smile. Yet, here we are, 6 months into this godforsaken mess with no end in sight and a massive hole blown in the Defense Department's boat that no one seems eager to help Hegseth fill.

Already, the Pentagon has been putting the squeeze on Congress for a whopping $67 billion to help replace the stockpiles they've burned through in the course of fighting Iran for half a year and counting.

But Hegseth and his team met with Republican senators in a closed-door briefing this week where Defense Department officials reportedly showed "candor" as they let Congress know lawmakers know ahead of time that they would soon be asking for more, on top of the $67B they've already asked for, to try to staunch the bleeding that's resulted from Donald Trump trying to play George Bush.

Hegseth has routinely neglected to invite Democratic lawmakers to these little secret meetings and failed to extend an invitation to this one, as well.

Officials within Hegseth's department already anonymously sounded the alarm earlier this week, telling Reuters that Trump's cosmetic war has used up "virtually all" of the US military's "highly accurate long-range missiles," leaving America vulnerable and potentially open to other attacks from foreign enemies such as China or Russia as the depleted stockpile has greatly affected the military's "readiness for future conflicts."

According to reporting on the closed-door meeting, Hegseth's team essentially reiterated the same concerns, with Axios reporting that Defense Department officials "gave an around-the-world threat analysis, laying out for senators how the U.S. stacks up against key adversaries—with an emphasis on China."

Donald Trump has repeatedly tried and failed to bring an end to the conflict he never should have started in the first place, going so far as to officially declare his war with Iran "over" several times, only to turn around and warn that it could last "forever" after Iran makes a fool of him again and again. The Trump Administration has grown so desperate to figure a way out of this mess that a top defense official has recently begun to crowdsource ideas to "pressure and punish Iran" from US troops.