At the start of US 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? Defence 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.
Rumours abound that Republican senator 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, Thomas Massie 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 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 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.....
