It’s hard to determine who is more under siege today – the mullahs of Iran or the U.S. secretary of defense who is prosecuting the war against them.
For months, negative stories about Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have peppered major newspapers. These include everything from his seeming “war on DEI” within the department, to combative engagements with members of Congress, to shade being thrown even by President Donald Trump himself on the lack of success in the (second) Iran War. As the midterms loom, one wonders if the president is ready to pull the plug on Hegseth in an attempt to distance himself from the failure of the Iran war.
President Trump should have pulled the plug long ago.
On November 12, 2024, I went on NBC News when Hegseth had been announced as Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense and argued that Hegseth might be just what we need, instead of another standard military-industrial-complex ‘veteran’ who never met a war he didn’t like. But I included two key caveats in my support. ....
Please read in full on Responsible Statecraft: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-hegseth/