Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) unleashed a blistering broadside against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday, ripping a series of Pentagon moves as “amateur hour at best and deadly at worst” — and triggering immediate calls from former officials for Hegseth’s outright removal.
In a lengthy post on X, Tillis condemned what he called the “careless decision to reduce our force posture in Europe” and accused Hegseth and his “political henchmen” of trying to force out some of the military’s most accomplished general officers.
“Hegseth continues to surprise and disrespect our greatest allies and some of our best military professionals with impulsive decisions not grounded in reality or good judgment,” Tillis wrote.
The senator zeroed in on reports that Hegseth is trying to sideline Gen. Chris Donahue — a decorated combat veteran with more than 20 deployments — by downgrading U.S. Army Europe-Africa to a three-star command. Tillis called Donahue “one of our nation’s finest warfighters” and said Hegseth’s aides “are not qualified to carry Donahue’s bag.”
“Keep your word, Mr. Secretary: choose meritocracy over your mediocre yes-men,” Tillis wrote.
The response was swift from military experts. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger reminded Tillis that he had voted to confirm Hegseth in the first place. “You confirmed him. This was completely foreseeable,” Kinzinger wrote. “That said keep speaking loudly and get more people to do it. Then ask for his removal.”
Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos echoed the rebuke: “Are we forgetting a certain confirmation vote?”
Former U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace also weighed in, calling Donahue “one of the finest Generals of his generation” and warning that sidelining him would “help our adversaries.”
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