At the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, there was a spirited debate over who would turn out to be the worst pick in a historically awful Cabinet. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem? Attorney General Pam Bondi? Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.? Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard? Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth? It’s been a close race, but I’ve seen enough. I’m calling it: Pete Hegseth is the most damaging Trump appointee.
Hegseth is good at one thing and one thing only: consolidating power in the Pentagon. He has not only ousted rivals such as Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, but has managed to maintain his standing with the notoriously mercurial Trump. Hegseth is still around, while Noem, Bondi and Gabbard are gone. Of course, it helps that Hegseth is a man; Trump fires women more readily.
To hold on to office, Hegseth has launched Queeg-like hunts to shut down unflattering leaks; he has even, for the first time in memory, ordered the polygraphing of dozens of senior officers. He also constantly posts videos showing him working out with the troops — as if his job were to be a personal trainer. He knows that in this administration image counts more than substance. Thus, he calls himself the “secretary of war” because he thinks that sounds cooler than his actual title.
But reality is starting to catch up with Hegseth. There is speculation in Washington that he could be fired after the midterm elections. The Iran war has turned into a fiasco, and Trump could use a fall guy, since he will never accept any blame himself. Rumors abound that Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who is likely to be elected Tennessee’s governor this week, could appoint Hegseth to her Senate seat.
If that doesn’t happen, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) is planning to reintroduce a resolution to impeach Hegseth, which he says has a good chance of picking up enough Republican votes to pass the House. When he first introduced the resolution in September, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) adjourned the House early rather than risk a vote.
Democrats, while shying away from impeaching Trump for a third time, are more willing to go after Hegseth. “One of the first things we’re going to do in the majority, we’re going to run Pete Hegseth out of town,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said last month.
Of course, it’s still unlikely that 67 senators would vote to convict, but, if anyone deserves to be impeached, it’s Hegseth. The eight articles of impeachmentin Massie’s resolution only scratch the surface.
Articles 1, 2, 3 and 8 involve Hegseth waging wars in Yemen and Iran that have not been authorized by Congress. Article 4 accuses him of “ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties”: It draws a link between Hegseth’s contempt for “stupid rules of engagement” and a suspected U.S. cruise missile strike that Iranian officials say killed more than 100 schoolchildren.
Article 5 charges Hegseth with “extrajudicial killings”: U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats have killed at least 240 noncombatants. Articles 6 and 7 accuse Hegseth, respectively, of “suppressing free speech” (his attempt to prosecute Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) for warning troops not to obey unlawful orders) and the “kidnapping of a sovereign foreign leader” — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
I would dissent on the Maduro operation, which was as legal as President George H.W. Bush’s arrest of Panamanian leader Manuel Antonio Noriega in 1990. But there are numerous other charges that could be added to an impeachment resolution.
The Pentagon inspector general concluded last December that, as The Post reported, “Hegseth violated security protocols and endangered U.S. troops and objectives by using a personal device to share sensitive operational details on the unclassified messaging app Signal.” The secretary of defense, who by tradition is nonpartisan, also may have violated the Hatch Act by campaigning for Republican candidates.
Keep in mind that the “high crimes and misdemeanors” that justify impeachment don’t necessarily have to be actual crimes. Blunders qualify, and Hegseth has far too many of those.
Trump said in March that Hegseth was “the first one to speak up” in favor of attacking Iran, yet the U.S. military was not prepared for Iranian drone and missile strikes on its bases in the Middle East or Iranian attempts to shut the Strait of Hormuz. Now the U.S. military has run critically short of munitions, endangering U.S. interests and allies around the world. That’s on Hegseth.
Perhaps Hegseth’s most dangerous and destabilizing actions have been his mass firings of respected officers. He has presided over the departure of at least 26 generals and admirals and blocked the promotion of at least 45 other officers, more than half of them female or Black. Just last week, he dismissed Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, making him the second director of plans for the Joint Staff to be replaced within a year.
Normally Hegseth doesn’t explain why he fires anyone, but in Sylvia’s case the secretary’s aides leaked accusations that Sylvia had leaked classified information to reporters. Yes, Hegseth’s office is leaking about leaks.
Sylvia deserves a presumption of innocence, but Hegseth and his henchmen have earned a presumption of mendacity and malevolence. Hegseth earlier used accusations of leaking as justification to fire three top aides. None was charged with any crime, and one was subsequently hired by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Hegseth richly deserves to be fired or impeached before he does any more damage to the armed forces. The damage he has already done will take years to repair.
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