Pete Hegseth Mocked for 'Sucking' Up to Trump by Comparing Him to Abraham Lincoln and George Washington: 'The Arrogance Is Unparalleled'

Pete Hegseth was slammed after comparing Donald Trump to former presidents such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln amid the ongoing conflict in Iran, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

On Wednesday, May 27, during a televised cabinet meeting, the Secretary of Defense, 45, heaped praise on the POTUS, 79, as they discussed his efforts to turn the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool "American flag blue."

"Over the years, I built hundreds of pools," Trump said, referring to his business ventures in real estate development in the '70s and '80s. "I always like to build Olympic-sized swimming pools."

As he's been overseeing the renovation of the Reflecting Pool, the president claimed he's had workers take out "more than 10 dumpsters of garbage" from the historical landmark.

Hegseth eventually cut in to praise Trump for his leadership, not with the pool, but with the Iran war.

"Your efforts on the reflecting pool are actually a great segue. If you look at (George) Washington and (Abraham) Lincoln, these are two men that faced monumental tasks and stood up in historic fashion and delivered for the American people," he said. "And when you step back and look at 47 years of what Iran waged war against us and our people – there's only one man over the course of both presidency who has stood up and said they will never get a nuclear weapon."

As his remarks circulated online, critics called Hegseth out for his flattering words, accusing him of "sucking" up to Trump by comparing him to past presidents.

One X user joked, "Making sure to compliment Grandpa at the dinner table," and another jabbed, "What I hear is an incompetent weekend news anchor debasing himself to an aging reality tv host."

A third person asked, "Is he really comparing Trump's presidency to Washington (who just won the Rev War and was starting the nation) and Lincoln (who was freeing slaves and keeping the nation intact through the Civil War) ???"

A fourth critic added, "These people think they have been successful on the scale of Washington and Lincoln. The arrogance is unparalleled."

A final user quipped, "This is going to look even more pathetic after Hegseth is fired and blamed for losing the Iran War."

This comes after Trump failed to provide a firm timeline for the end of the conflict with Iran.

"The problem is, every time I mention a time frame — for instance… we’ve been doing this for a few months. Vietnam lasted 19 years. Korea lasted eight years. Afghanistan lasted many years. They were all many, many years," he explained to a reporter on Wednesday. "And we’re into it for a few months. And I read about you, people like you, [saying] ‘What’s taking so long?'"

However, he appeared to issue a chilling warning to Iran if an agreement wasn't made quickly.

"They are starting to give us the things that they have to give us, and if they do, that’s great," he said. "If they won’t, then the man on my left (Hegseth) is going to finish them off."