Donald Trump’s Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth would not be able to pass a congressional confirmation process today, some Senate Republicans have said and now want the president to “move on.”
Several members of the chamber spoke to The Hill on the promise of anonymity to trash the former Fox News anchor now serving as the civilian chief of America’s military. Those senators said that they hoped Trump would “move on” from Hegseth’s efforts to transform his agency, while noting that the decision was ultimately the president’s call.
They pointed to Hegseth’s firing of top military leadership, including Navy Secretary John Phelan and the chief of staff of the U.S. Army, Gen. Randy George, for apparently being unwilling to follow (or seen as insufficiently following) Donald Trump and Hegseth’s “vision” for the armed forces. That vision appears to be an image-focused warfighting machine that leans heavily on themes of ultimate authority, might, and has dipped openly into values of Christian nationalism. Phelan was reportedly fired last week for refusing to ignore a court ruling.
“The hollowing out of incredible leadership at the Pentagon has been a big concern,” one GOP senator told The Hill. “It really came to a tipping point when Gen. George was dismissed.”
It’s a stunning knife in the side of the administration, which typically enjoys near-unity among Republicans on Capitol Hill when it comes to matters of personnel and military policy.
Still others were willing to criticize the administration on the record, an indication of the sheer size of the divide between the administration and congressional Republicans over the effort to reform and transform America’s military into a Trump-ified version of itself.
Those comments, however, were limited to Republicans retiring from the chamber this election cycle.
“I have the greatest admiration and respect for Gen. Randy George. He’s probably one of the finest officers the United States Army has ever produced. It was a mistake for Secretary Hegseth to dismiss him,” said Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst.
North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, another Republican retiring from the chamber, told The Hill that “there’s no question [Hegseth’s] got a failing grade.” He pointed to the secretary’s “less-than-ideal” personnel moves as a reason and warned that he was displaying the same characteristics as a leader who got now-fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem into “trouble”.
Tillis’s willingness to criticize Hegseth publicly is little surprise given his impending retirement and his record of speaking out on other issues of difference with the administration, including his opposition to the GOP reconciliation package last year. But it’s clear from the number of senators who spoke to The Hill that concerns about leadership turnover in the armed forces, in the middle of a war, has reached a serious level in the chamber.
Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota said he was taken by “surprise” by the firing of Navy Secretary John Phelan last week, and was waiting to hear an explanation from the administration. Another senator pointed to Hegseth as feuding with yet another top Pentagon official, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, and called it “unhelpful.”
With the 2026 election cycle in full swing, a Cabinet shakeup appears to be underway as the president and his team seek to spurn a malaise that has fallen over the White House amid plunging poll numbers and the impending prospect of a Democratic House and/or Senate taking power after elections this year.
Noem’s departure was followed by Attorney General Pam Bondi. She was unceremoniously shown the door this month as her leadership of the DOJ came to be known for a largely unsuccessful but persistent effort to punish Trump’s critics via the levers of the federal justice system.
Targets of criminal probes have included a list of Trump’s personal beefs: James Comey, Letitia James, Adam Schiff and Mark Kelly.
Now, many White House observers are wondering who could be next on the chopping block as rumors continue to swirl around a number of top officials and whether Trump is satisfied with the results reaching his desk every day. Among those facing whispers about their political futures is Hegseth as well as FBI Director Kash Patel and the director of the U.S. Secret Service, who was reported by Real Clear Politics on Sunday to be on rocky ground with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles after a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Patel faces his own allegations of bad behavior as chief of the FBI; numerous reports have exposed how he has used FBI jets to travel around the country with his famous country music star girlfriend and allegedly assigned her a security detail. He was then seen earlier this year partying in the locker room with the U.S. men’s hockey team and The Atlantic would go on to report that Patel is known to drink to excess at clubs and bars in D.C. and other cities, including Las Vegas, alarming officials at the nation’s top law enforcement agency. Patel fiercely denied the claims made in the story and sued The Atlantic last week for defamation.
Hegseth’s own drinking habits were reported to concern his colleagues at Fox News in late 2024 before he joined the administration.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon defended the clearing out of America’s top brass in a statement to The Hill.
“Out of respect for uniformed officers, the Secretary does not comment on the nature of their departure. But we all serve at the pleasure of the President — and the President and the Secretary deserve officers who fully and expeditiously embrace the priorities, policies, and objectives of this Administration,” said Sean Parnell.
“It is extremely difficult to reform a department — particularly a department the size of DoW — with the same personnel who were a part of previous priorities. Necessary changes have been made and will continue to be made,” he said.
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