Turns out confirming a Fox News host to run the Pentagon has consequences. Senate Republicans — including the ones who voted for him — are reportedly losing patience with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as the Iran war rolls on with no exit in sight and his purge of military leadership keeps raising eyebrows.
The gripes: nobody in the administration seems to have seen the Strait of Hormuz shutdown coming, gas prices have spiked as a result, and Iran’s strikes on Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia — plus Houthi attacks in the Red Sea — apparently caught the Pentagon flat-footed, too, The Hill reports.
Sen. Thom Tillis, who was the deciding vote to confirm Hegseth and clearly regrets it, didn’t hold back: he’s lost confidence entirely, calling Hegseth erratic and accusing him of forcing out some of the department’s most experienced leaders. He piled on further, describing Hegseth as insecure, out of his depth running a large organization, and a compulsive micromanager — and says that sentiment is spreading fast through the Senate GOP conference.
An anonymous Republican senator backed that up, saying the loss of confidence is coming straight from inside the Pentagon and trickling up to the Hill.