Following the midterm wipeout for Republicans, which appears to have been a referendum on Donald Trump’s second term, change at the White House is now on the table.
Axios reported that the first head on the chopping block may be Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as Trump insiders look for someone to blame for Tuesday night’s losses.
“Somebody’s gotta take the fall, and Pete is moving to the top of the list,” a U.S. official told the outlet.
Another Trump adviser put it this way, telling Axios: “Hegseth is definitely on thin ice. It doesn’t mean the president forces him out. But there are complications.”
Chief among those "complications" is Iran. The war Trump launched on Feb. 28 has become deeply unpopular, especially after Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent gas prices soaring. Sources said Hegseth was the war’s biggest cheerleader inside the administration, promising it would be quick and easy.
“Tonight would have looked very different without the Iran war,” one administration official said on election night, predicting that Trump will “hold Pete Hegseth accountable” during the lame-duck session.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has introduced articles of impeachment accusing Hegseth of defying Congress and illegally continuing the war, and a House vote could come as soon as next week. With Democrats taking over the House in January, the pressure is likely to grow.
The calendar is also working against him. A Democratic Senate is unlikely to confirm any Trump nominee, so if Trump wants a new Pentagon chief, he has only until January to get one through.
“No one’s getting confirmed” in the new Congress, a senior White House official told the outlet.
Trump wouldn’t be the first president to sacrifice a defense secretary after a midterm drubbing. George W. Bush showed Donald Rumsfeld the door after Republicans lost Congress in 2006.
Hegseth could also have an exit ramp, according to the report. Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn is set to become governor and will name her own Senate replacement. Hegseth, who owns a home in Tennessee, would be a possible pick, and Trump called the idea one that would be “very popular.”
