“Trick question:
Which of Donald Trump’s Cabinet secretaries do you think is causing the most chaos right now?”
Sigh.
That was the opening query of this week’s episode of Inside the Hive, hosted by Vanity Fair editor in chief Radhika Jones, alongside executive editor Claire Howorth and Hive editor Michael Calderone. While there are a number of viable options, the group presents a strong case for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. “The consistency of the chaos is really the thing that puts him over the edge,” says Jones.
Another reason Hegseth is up for this banner award? “Well, we have something called Signalgate now,” notes Calderone.
Signalgate, you may recall, started a lot of drama when Hegseth shared military plans for airstrikes in the Middle East to two Signal group chats, which, of course, are not government-secured channels. “Pete Hegseth really is the poster case for what happens when you appoint a Fox News personality to do something as complex as run the Pentagon, which is an $850 billion department,” says VF special correspondent Gabe Sherman.
Sherman joined this week’s episode to discuss some of his deep reporting on Hegseth’s background, his first marriage, and his relationship with the president. Sherman says that Hegseth, whose belief in God and the primacy of the family unit purportedly shaped him, was “this kind of golden boy—the jock, bound for the Ivy League.” His first marriage to Meredith Schwarz had a storybook start as high school sweethearts back in Minnesota. But Sherman notes, “Behind the scenes, there was something much darker.” The sources he spoke to talked about Hegseth’s controlling nature, his verbal abuse, his excessive drinking, and the cheating that led Schwarz to file for divorce about five years after they were married. What was most striking? “This guy’s entire life has been one compromising situation after another. This speaks to his entitlement, that he just doesn’t think that these things will catch up to him.”
The ultimate question is whether President Trump will eventually be put off by Hegseth’s personal and professional messes. Sherman predicts Hegseth won’t last long-term, but that, despite Trump’s ire, Hegseth’s job and glam countertop are likely safe for now, as the president has instituted an unofficial “no scalps” policy. “Even when Trump acknowledges privately that there’s problems, he doesn’t want to give the media a scalp.
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