A misspelling in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s name placard got the internet buzzing on Tuesday as people debated whether it was more than just a typo.
During a White House Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, reporters noticed that Hegseth’s job title was written out on a placard as “SSecretary of War” — in line with President Donald Trump’s rebranding of the Defense Department, but not in line with the English language.
Although it could have theoretically just been a spelling error, critics on social media cracked that the “SS” in Hegseth’s title might not have been an accident, since it shares the initials of the Nazi Schutzstaffel — the paramilitary group also known as the “SS.”
You can see the misspelled placard in the bottom right corner of this photo with Donald Trump.
The typo probably couldn’t have come at a worse time for Hegseth, who is facing scrutiny for an attack at sea that may amount to a war crime, and who has raised eyebrows in the past for his Jerusalem Cross tattoo, which some consider a signifier of right-wing extremism.
HuffPost reached out to the White House for clarity on whether the “SS” in Hegseth’s placard was intentional or just a sloppy spelling error, but no one immediately responded.
However, many people on social media did — and, boy, did they have thoughts.