Was Pete Hegseth's nameplate at the December 2, 2025, cabinet meeting misspell his title as "SSECRETARY OF WAR"? Yes, that's true: Photos and video recorded by several media agencies and on the White House website confirmed that an image showing that spelling is real.
The photo appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on December 2, 2025. The caption read:
cmon.
The post shared an image of Pete Hegseth with his title misspelled on his nameplate as:
SSECRETARY OF WAR
This is what the picture looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/samstein)
Social media users questioned the authenticity of the photo. However, it was real.
It was published not only on social media, but also on Getty Images (archived here) stock image photo library under the caption that read:
US-POLITICS-TRUMP-CABINET
The word Secretary is misspelled on the nameplate of US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth during a Cabinet Meeting hosted by President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC on December 2, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of video published by the White House at youtube.com)
