Friday, November 6, 2026
Elections produce heroes and villains. There’s no doubt that President Trump, post-election, will be at the top of the enemies list, but it will take some time for the Democratic Party to develop a plan to allow the president to qualify for official lame duck status. A few female cabinet members have been shown the door, so it’s time to single out the most disliked male member of the White House team.
While there are a lot of people upset with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his anti-vaccine philosophy, the leading candidate for impeachment or other procedural torture is the so-called secretary of war, Pete Hegseth. Our country has had lots of secretaries of defense, but none has created such a negative aura as Hegseth. Calling generals “fatties” and other demeaning names, he has undermined the country’s respect for an agency that makes life-or-death decisions about our national survival.
The first step in trying to reshape the Department of Defense was Hegseth’s decision to rename it the War Department. Maybe he plays a lot of video games in his spare time, but considering the fact that Trump ran on a platform promising no more foreign wars, remaking the agency into a war department was just a silly diversion that has cost taxpayers millions of dollars in printing costs and changed the agency’s image.
That misjudgment was followed by Signalgate. Hegseth shared sensitive information on possible U.S. strikes on Yemen’s Houthis with his wife, brother and personal lawyer. That mistake alone could have cost him his job, but he got a pass from the White House. His management of the Ukraine war has been a disaster, as he has mismanaged the volume of arms designated for that conflict. He has made poor allocations of weapons and, in some cases, held back information about arms from Secretary of State Marco Rubio or the White House.
Hegseth has just as questionably managed Caribbean boat strikes, approving numerous follow-up killings that appear to fit the definition of war crimes. His handling of military personnel has been borderline cruel. Over a period of two years he has ousted or lost to retirement a wave of senior officials who have countless years of priceless military experience. He dismissed the Army chief of staff, Randy George, with no explanation. He has fired numerous female and minority officers, manifesting what seems to be a mean streak.
Hegseth has been called a number of unflattering names by Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Susan Collins, as well as a few House members with extensive military experience. A resolution calling for his impeachment is pending, and it’s possible that bipartisan members will advance it when the House reconvenes. And then there’s the crazy proposed defense budget, which totals $1.5 trillion.
Hegseth has appeared before a number of legislative committees, and has not provided their members with any breakdown of needed allocations. A few times he has jousted with members on both sides of the aisle. They have frequently asked him how much the war on Iran has cost, and what is needed to finish it. Reporters have asked about shortages of arms and drones needed to stop potential attacks. Hegseth claims our military has all the arms it needs, but his responses have been questionable, to say the least.
There is little doubt that not long after Election Day, the U.S. will accelerate its war effort in Iran. No one has a clear idea, but it’s likely that our military will attack Iran’s nuclear sites as a way of giving Trump an off-ramp to declare the conflict over. If the next round of aggression fails, it’s possible that the president will point a finger at his secretary of war. There are targets on the backs of RFK Jr. and Education Secretary Linda McMahon as well, but because what’s happening with Iran is so unpopular, Hegseth may be the first to go.
Jerry Kremer was a state assemblyman for 23 years, and chaired the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee for 12 years. He currently chairs the Capitol Insight Group, a government relations firm. Comments? jkremer@liherald.com.
