Will Pete Hegseth take the fall for the GOP’s devastating midterm defeat? Donald Trump is reportedly quizzing aides about swapping out his war guy.
You know things are looking bad for you when
multiplenewsoutletspublish stories about your career with headlines that all use the phrase, “knives out.” That’s what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth woke up to this morning, amid feverish speculation in Washington, D.C. that he might become the scapegoat for the GOP’s disastrous showing in the midterms.
As Republicans process their election night smackdown — which cost them control of both the House and the Senate — many GOP lawmakers and officials have settled on a culprit: the Iran war. Trumpworld is now
searchingfor the guy who did this, so long as it turns out to be anyonebutthe guy actually responsible for starting the conflict: Trump himself.
Hegseth has emerged as an obvious fall guy. He has served as the Iran war’s chief salesman ever since reportedly
pushing the president to strikein February. In the following months, the former Fox News personality bashed journalists who scrutinized the war’s ever-changing objectives, sparred with lawmakers who inquired how much the campaign was costing taxpayers, and blatantly lied that Iran’s military was “nearing complete destruction.” In April, Hegseth declared a “decisive military victory.” In November, peace remains elusive.
The president has
reportedly polledadvisers on whether Hegseth should keep his job. “Hegseth is definitely on thin ice,” a Trump advisertold Axios. “It doesn’t mean the president forces him out. But there are complications.” Another persontold the: “When the word ‘war’ is in your title then you might be the person in the crosshairs.”New York Post
Hegseth’s future remains uncertain, even if Trump doesn’t fire him.
One reason Trump might not give Hegseth the boot: Senate Democrats likely wouldn’t confirm his preferred replacements — and they certainly wouldn’t usher in another washed up Fox News bozo. “I have every intention to keep him,” Trump
𝕏told ABC News. The president could target other Iran war architects instead, like Gen. Dan Caine or Central Command’s Adm. Brad Cooper.
So Hegseth might not be fired. That doesn’t mean he’s in the clear. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) plans to introduce articles of impeachment against Hegseth as soon as next week, when the House returns. “There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns,” Massie
𝕏tweeted.
“They probably have the votes” to impeach Hegseth in the House, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) told a small group of reporters on election night. “I think there will be a lot of Republicans that’ll be just really pissed off [that they] fell for this bullshit from this president and Pete Hegseth.”
**Trump knows that the war hurt the GOP’s election odds. **“If we never went into Iran, what do you think would happen in the midterms?” he once privately asked someone. The question is what he does next.
** Harmeet Dhillon, a top Department of Justice official, resigned** from her post today. She earned a reputation as one of the Trump administration’s most aggressive attack dogs, spending much of her time battling so-called “woke ideology” while leading the DOJ’s civil rights division.
** First Lady Melania Trump hosted Russian and Ukrainian** diplomats at the White House today, praising them for coordinating a temporary ceasefire in a small Russian-controlled Ukrainian town. Melania said she hopes the truce will lead to something “more enduring than a temporary ceasefire.”
** The 2028 chatter has begun. **Allies of Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA)
** A top Iranian official mocked Vance, **after the veep blamed Trump’s war in Iran for causing Republicans’ to lose the midterms. “Losing gambler energy, can’t walk away from the table,” tweeted Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament. “Skip the TED talk. Why not say this to your boss?”
** A key panel is expected to approve Trump’s massive arch** project today, a crucial step to begin construction. A federal judge could block or allow the construction as soon as today.
** Justice Samuel Alito told his friends that he doesn’t plan **to immediately retire, even as Republicans have a narrow window to replace him before Democrats officially take control of the Senate in January, the
** Gov Gavin Newsom (D-CA) spared the lives** of all 548 inmates on death row in California, marking the largest commutation of prisoners facing death sentences in U.S. history. “State-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system and diminishes each of us,” Newsom wrote in an open letter. “I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency.”
** Tech broligarch Elon Musk was arguably the biggest loser** of the midterm elections. He spent nearly half-a-billion dollars on races, and only three of the 37 Republican candidates he backed have won. Six of the seven Senate candidates he backed also lost — and it’s too close to call the final race involving Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK). Shares of Tesla and SpaceX also fell on Wednesday, as investors fear that Democrats will launch investigations into Musk and his businesses. Lol.
** Lady Gaga, Shakira, Pink, Jack White, Sia, Ne-Yo and other musicians **were named as this year’s nominees for the 2027 Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. Members of Blondie, America, and ZZ Top also made the cut.
** The kids are into bluegrass music these days, apparently. **“In the increasingly digital world, I think that young people appreciate the raw, acoustic and vintage feel of these older tunes,” Sam Wilson, the upright-bassist of Mountain Grass Unit (which is exclusively composed of twentysomethings) told the
** Chihuahuas might be descendants of coyotes,** which were domesticated “by the Toltec civilization around the turn of the first millennium,” according to a new study written up in the
** A web designer made a game where you can guess **U.S. state fish. This is very fun, even though I got every single one wrong.
