Hegseth's blunders have him fighting a war on two fronts

Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary faced numerous metaphorical javelins his way on Easter Sunday — all by his apparent own doing. The first came in the form of a story in The New York Times that revealled that Pete Hegseth shared details of military strikes in a separate chat outside the one with top national security officials that leaked last month. That alone would be a headache because it shows that the Trump administration’s cabinet has a habit of treating national security information with incredible carelessness. Last month, when The Atlantic broke the story, most of the attention fell on National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. The new story shows a pattern on Hegseth’s behalf. Hegseth earned additional heat for adding his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, a former Fox News journalist, to the chat.

But then another shoe dropped for Hegseth the same day. John Ullyot, the former top spokesman, published an op-ed in Politico saying that the Pentagon is in a “full-blown meltdown.” the president has long disliked Politico, so to have this op-ed about his secretary is less than ideal. “The president deserves better than the current mishegoss at the Pentagon,” Ullyot wrote. “Given his record of holding prior Cabinet leaders accountable, many in the secretary’s own inner circle will applaud quietly if Trump chooses to do the same in short order at the top of the Defense Department.” Hegseth, for his part, has resorted to the same kind of tactics that helped him survive his confirmation hearing, which he learned from Trump: punch back as viciously as possible.

But it’s unclear if it will work this time as he faces questions over his role given the latest two alleged lapses. “What a big surprise that a bunch of... a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax (and) won’t give back their Pulitzers — they got Pulitzers for a bunch of lies,” Hegseth said in his defense. Trump seems to be sticking by his secretary. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered the same message on Fox News, saying “This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement.” Leavitt also called a report in NPR that the White House was searching for a new press secretary “total FAKE NEWS based on one anonymous source who clearly has no idea what they are talking about.”

Trump 2.0 bears a stark contrast to Trump 1.0. In the first term, he easily disposed of top cabinet officials such as Rex Tillerson at the State Department. Michael Flynn left within a month of the first administration. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned after Trump expressed dissatisfaction about Price’s use of private jets to travel. He also regularly disagreed with his defense secretaries James Mattis and Mark Esper, both of whom were more establishment-minded officials, than the anchor-turned-Pentagon leader. No such dismissals have come to fruition in 2025. Part of this stems from the fact that Trump installed more MAGA-style loyalists in the administration, with Hegseth being the archetypal steadfast Trump supporter.

It comes despite the fact that the Senate narrowly confirmed Hegseth, given that Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky all voted against confirming him. That required Vice President JD Vance to break the tie to get Hegseth across the finish line. In addition, numerous Republican senators staked their credibility on voting to confirm him, including Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, who has at times broken with Hegseth, and Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Joni Ernst of Iowa, both of whom are up for re-election. Some of the loudest voices on the right pressured Ernst, a combat veteran and a sexual assault survivor, to confirm Hegseth despite his previous comments about female service members and the allegations of sexual misconduct, which Hegseth firmly denies.