Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., teamed up to announce a challenge to America on Monday. Banking off President Trump's executive order reestablishing the President's Council on Sports and reinstating the Presidential Fitness Test for children (‘Usually Not My Thing’: President Trump Cracks Up Sports All-Stars With Comment About NFL Player – RedState), the two secretaries announced the "Pete and Bobby Challenge:" Complete 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups within ten minutes.
As my colleague Katie Jekovich reported, one cabinet secretary, Transportation Secretary and NASA Administrator Sean Duffy, picked up the gauntlet (see: Hilarious: Secretary Sean Duffy Accepts Hegseth, RFK Jr.’s MAHA Fitness Challenge - RedState).President Trump set the example by putting forth efforts to make America healthy again.
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) August 18, 2025
That’s why we are introducing the Pete and Bobby challenge.
100 push-ups. 50 pull-ups. 10 minutes. pic.twitter.com/ppRrwqSUm0
Kennedy is 71 and Hegseth is 45. Knocking out 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups is no joke. When I was 25 years old, weighed 155 pounds, cranked out a mile in 5:30, had a full head of hair, and thought beer was food, I could do 70 push-ups in two minutes (max score on the Army's physical fitness test at the time). Even then, I would have struggled mightily to add another 30 push-ups and 50 pull-ups to the score.
American politics being what it is, the same people on the left who leapt to lambaste ICE arresting a child molester (see Press, Fox News' Jessica Tarlov, Run With Another 'Cruel ICE' Story, End Up With Egg All Over Their Faces) immediately jumped on Pete Hegseth for meeting their immensely high standards.
First up, Colorado Representative Jason Crow (D). Crow epitomizes the difference between a Ranger and a tab-wearer. Responding to a cut of the last of Hegseth's pull-ups, which is, admittedly, ugly.
Hegseth and RFK Jr. doing a pullup 🤣 pic.twitter.com/UZMkTQWYm6
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) August 18, 2025
Crow can't congratulate Hegseth; he has to show him how it is really done.
This is how you do pull-ups @PeteHegseth
— Rep. Jason Crow (@RepJasonCrow) August 21, 2025
All the way up. All the way down. Slow and controlled.
Good luck finding your warrior ethos… https://t.co/bLwwzg5RSK pic.twitter.com/4cWQmqndYu
You'll note that Crow stopped at 10 and did not take part in the challenge. This is peak Jason Crow. On January 6, we had the opportunity to see Crow in his natural environment. Notice that nearly everyone in the room is standing, and many are recording the events. Not our boy Jason, nope, he had his warrior on.
“Warrior Ethos” lol pic.twitter.com/shL87hXEzH
— Cowboy Wayne Pest Removal (@CowboyWayne3) August 21, 2025
The studly former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) took to that motherlode of alpha males, The Bulwark, to make the point that Hegseth is a fake alpha.
"In the military, underhand pull-ups, that's what the girls are allowed to do. The guys do overhand. Pete is doing underhand. In an environment where alpha males rule and your image is everything, that was a pretty big violation." @AdamKinzinger joins @Timodc: pic.twitter.com/TDjAstZAP3
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) August 20, 2025
"In the military, underhand pull-ups, that's what the girls are allowed to do. The guys do overhand. Pete is doing underhand. In an environment where alpha males rule and your image is everything, that was a pretty big violation."
I guess Kinzinger read that in an Andrew Tate tweet or something. Without a lot of outside coaching, there is no way he'd understand the rules of being an alpha male.
One of the most degrading comments came from Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of the terminally TDS MeidasTouch Network. Again, using the clip of Hegseth's 50th pull-up, he comments on style, not the fact that it happened.
The Pete Hegseth pull-up is a bit different than the ones we did at Parris Island. Maybe it’s an Army thing. pic.twitter.com/4k8rkzopqh
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 18, 2025
Readers noticed something.
And the last time did a pull-up was……? pic.twitter.com/aEMg3JDK2v
— Achilles DVR (@AchillesDVR) August 19, 2025
The bottom line is we have two men, past their physical prime, participating in a competition that most high school kids and virtually no one in Congress could complete. They are doing it, not for internet clout, but to publicize Trump Administration goals.
Even acknowledging that their style stinks at the end, they still completed a pretty impressive endeavor. And yet, the same people who lied about former President Joe Biden's mental and physical decrepitude are compelled to nitpick men trying to set an example on a task that their critics can't complete.
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