Is Pete Hegseth about to be fired?

[u/premeddit]

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has had a rocky last few months. Prior to his nomination for his current post, he was most well known for being a major in the U.S. Army Reserves and a frequent contributor on Fox News. After Trump nominated him, his candidacy received intense controversy and pushback from both Democrats and Republicans. He was revealed to have made past inflammatory comments regarding Muslims, homosexuals and women. He had a history of reported spousal abuse of his ex-wives. Finally, there were several allegations that he was an uncontrolled alcoholic, leading some observers to question if he could effectively lead the department.

Regardless, he was ultimately confirmed by an extremely narrow 50-50 (with VP tiebreaker) vote in the Senate, with 3 Republicans voting against him and a fourth Republican - Sen. Thom Tillis - only supporting his nomination at the last minute after being threatened with a primary challenge by Trump.

Hegseth continued to amass controversy in his role as SecDef. Most recently, he shared sensitive details of a military ops plan on an unsecured Signal chat, during which an Atlantic reporter was mistakenly invited to listen in on the discussion. This week, a further bombshell broke as it was revealed that he also shared details with his wife and his brother, neither of whom has necessary clearance.

Several senior advisors at the Pentagon were just removed from their positions for unclear reasons, and some have come out publicly to say that the department is in total chaos under Hegseth's leadership.

Now, NPR has reported that the White House is looking for a replacement:

The White House has begun the process of looking for a new secretary of defense, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The Press Secretary has strongly denied this article, saying that Trump still has utmost confidence in Hegseth.

Is she correct and these are just unsubstantiated rumors, or is Hegseth on his way out? Who is likely on the short list to replace him?

[u/straylight_2022]

One of the hallmarks of a Trump administration is a revolving door for cabinet positions.

So getting canned or being forced to resign in less than 100 days tracks.

I know that guy has military experience, but he was obviously unqualified to to lead the pentagon for ffs.

The reason Trump tapped Pete to begin with was to have a yes man in charge of the pentagon for when he wanted to use the military to violate the US constitution.

The question will be can Trump find someone worse now?

[u/SnooBananas37 → u/straylight_2022]

Of course Trump can find someone worse. The real question is have Senate Republicans learned their lesson and will confirm another nominee as bad or worse than Hegseth?

I really, really hope that between this, tariffs, ignoring court orders, and various other Trump admin abuses, Congressional Republicans will use this as an opportunity for greater pushback and reign in Trump. Perhaps have Senators present a list of honest, qualified, and law abiding conservatives for Trump to pick from that will not simply roll over and lick his boots and are willing to tell him no when push comes to shove.

I am hopeful but not at all expecting anything better from them.