Pete Hegseth’s problems are getting harder to ignore

Eric Lee/Reuters/File

When GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell voted against Pete Hegseth for defense secretary last year, he bypassed the big-ticket controversies over Hegseth’s personal life and instead focused on his lack of experience.

The former Republican Senate leader cast the job leading the Pentagon as a “daily test with staggering consequences for the security of the American people and our global interests.” He said Hegseth had “ failed, as yet, to demonstrate that he will pass this test .”

Those words loom increasingly large over Hegseth’s rocky tenure. A growing series of controversies have tested Republicans’ willingness to stand by him and may leave them wondering what’s next.

And it increasingly seems that Hegseth could be a political problem for the Trump administration, too.

The big news recently was another shakeup in the Pentagon — this time the resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, which focused attention on Hegseth’s leadership and culture war fixation. That even led a couple of prominent retiring Republicans to call for Hegseth’s job.

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who was a crucial vote to confirm the defense secretary last year, said he had “never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country.” He also said Hegseth was “intimidated by competence.”

Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska agreed with Tillis, saying in an interview on CNN’s “AC360” on Wednesday night that Hegseth had “not been a very good leader in many ways.”

Other Republicans didn’t call for Hegseth’s exit but did raise concerns about what’s happening at the Pentagon .

House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers said he was “tired of all the churn” at the Defense Department and added, “I want to see some stability over there.”

And House Defense Appropriations Chairman Ken Calvert bemoaned “a number of disruptions in the department” and suggested they need to stop.

While the GOP backlash over Driscoll’s departure has yet to expand, it’s merely the latest example of Republicans raising concerns about Hegseth.

And those concerns have often come from high places, including chairmen of both the Senate and House Armed Services Committees and other committees, the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and several senators who voted to confirm Hegseth:

Just weeks into Hegseth’s tenure, Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker decried Hegseth’s comments about concessions Ukraine would have to make as a “rookie mistake.” Hegseth backed off the comments.

Wicker has also said it was inappropriate for Hegseth to try and discipline Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona for participating in a video telling service members to disobey illegal orders.

Ex-House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner has questioned the administration’s boat strikes killing alleged drug traffickers without due process and raised concerns about the information the Pentagon is sharing about the Iran war.

Sen. Rand Paul, who chairs the homeland security committee, has said Hegseth’s handling of questions about the boat strikes shows he’s either “lying to us … or he’s incompetent.”

Other GOP senators have recently raised concerns about the Pentagon excluding Democrats from briefings, including classified ones. “The Democrat members need to be brought up to speed,” Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said last month.

That’s a lot. And it doesn’t even include Hegseth’s sharing of highly sensitive information about impending military strikes on the unclassified app, Signal. An inspector general’s report last year found that Hegseth could have jeopardized both the mission in Yemen and risked harm to US troops .

The Pentagon, for its part, has defended his leadership in previous comments to CNN as ushering in a new era for the department at the president’s direction.

But it seems the drip-drip-drip of controversy has registered with the American people, too.

Polls in recent months from Quinnipiac University and Marquette Law School show Hegseth about 20 points underwater. Registered voters disapproved of him 56%-34% in the former, and Americans viewed him unfavorably 46%-27% in the latter.

Both polls suggest he’s one of the most unpopular Trump Cabinet members – and possibly the most unpopular.

His -22 approval rating was worse than Vice President JD Vance (-17), Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (-9) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (-8) in recent polling from Quinnipiac and Fox News .

The Marquette poll in May also showed Hegseth’s support among the GOP is soft.

While 46% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents had very favorable opinions of Rubio and 43% had the same with Vance, Hegseth’s number was just 29%.

Nearly 1 in 5 GOP-leaning Americans disliked Hegseth.

What’s more, just 1% of independents had a strongly favorable opinion of Hegseth, compared to 35% who had a strongly unfavorable one.

For now, President Donald Trump doesn’t want to hear it. He said this week that Hegseth is “doing a fantastic job.”

But amid a series of controversies and an unpopular Iran war that doesn’t look like it’s ending anytime soon, Hegseth is certainly trending toward embattled status.

Eric Lee/路透社/档案照片

去年，共和党参议员米奇·麦康奈尔投票反对皮特·赫格塞斯担任国防部长时，他避开了赫格塞斯个人生活中的重大争议，而是将重点放在他缺乏经验上。

这位前共和党参议院领袖将领导五角大楼的工作描述为“一项每天都在考验美国人民的安全和全球利益，其后果极其严重”。他说，赫格塞斯“迄今为止未能证明他能够通过这项考验”。

这些话在赫格塞斯坎坷的任期内显得愈发重要。一系列争议事件考验着共和党人对他的支持意愿，也可能让他们对未来走向感到迷茫。

而且，赫格塞斯似乎也越来越有可能成为特朗普政府的政治难题。

最近最大的新闻是五角大楼的又一次人事变动——这次是陆军部长丹·德里斯科尔的辞职，这使得人们的注意力集中在赫格塞斯的领导能力和他对文化战争的执着上。这甚至导致几位即将退休的知名共和党人呼吁赫格塞斯辞职。

去年在国防部长任命确认过程中投下关键一票的北卡罗来纳州参议员汤姆·蒂利斯表示，他“从未见过如此无能地管理那些为国效力的勇敢男女军人”。他还说，赫格塞斯“被能力吓倒了”。

内布拉斯加州众议员唐·培根同意蒂利斯的观点，他在周三晚上接受 CNN“AC360”节目采访时表示，赫格塞斯“在很多方面都不是一个好领导”。

其他共和党人虽然没有要求赫格塞斯下台，但确实对五角大楼正在发生的事情表示担忧。

众议院军事委员会主席迈克·罗杰斯表示，他对国防部的“所有变动”感到“厌倦”，并补充说，“我希望看到那里出现一些稳定”。

众议院国防拨款委员会主席肯·卡尔弗特对“该部门的诸多混乱局面”表示遗憾，并建议停止这些混乱局面。

尽管共和党对德里斯科尔离职的强烈反对尚未扩大，但这仅仅是共和党人对赫格塞斯表示担忧的最新例证。

这些担忧往往来自高层，包括参议院和众议院军事委员会及其他委员会的主席、众议院情报委员会前主席以及几位投票确认赫格塞斯任命的参议员：

赫格塞斯上任仅几周后，参议院军事委员会主席罗杰·威克就谴责赫格塞斯关于乌克兰必须做出让步的言论是“新手才会犯的错误”。赫格塞斯随后收回了这些言论。

威克尔还表示，赫格塞斯试图惩处亚利桑那州民主党参议员马克·凯利，因为他参与了一段视频，视频中他告诉军人不服从非法命令，这是不恰当的。

前众议院情报委员会主席迈克·特纳质疑政府在没有正当程序的情况下，通过船只袭击杀害涉嫌贩毒分子的做法，并对五角大楼分享的有关伊朗战争的信息表示担忧。

国土安全委员会主席兰德·保罗参议员表示，赫格塞斯对有关船只袭击问题的处理方式表明，他要么“在对我们撒谎……要么就是无能”。

其他共和党参议员最近也对五角大楼将民主党人排除在简报之外（包括机密简报）表示担忧。“民主党成员需要尽快了解情况，”南达科他州参议员迈克·朗兹上个月表示。

这可不是小事。而且这还不包括赫格塞斯通过非机密应用程序Signal分享有关即将进行的军事打击的高度敏感信息。去年的一份监察长报告发现，赫格塞斯的行为可能危及也门军事行动，并危及美军士兵的安全。

五角大楼方面此前在接受 CNN 采访时曾为他的领导辩护，称这是在总统的指示下，为国防部开启了一个新时代。

但似乎这场持续不断的争议也引起了美国民众的关注。

昆尼皮亚克大学和马凯特大学法学院近几个月的民调显示，赫格塞斯的支持率比反对率低约20个百分点。在前一项民调中，登记选民对他的不认可度为56%，支持率为34%；在后一项民调中，美国民众对他的负面评价为46%，支持率为27%。

两项民调均显示，他是特朗普内阁成员中最不受欢迎的成员之一，甚至可能是最不受欢迎的成员。

根据昆尼皮亚克大学和福克斯新闻最近的民意调查，他的支持率为-22，比副总统JD·万斯（-17）、卫生与公众服务部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪（-9）和国务卿马可·卢比奥（-8）还要差。

5 月份马凯特大学的民调也显示，赫格塞斯在共和党人中的支持率并不高。

虽然 46% 的共和党人和倾向于共和党的独立人士对卢比奥有非常好的看法，43% 的人对万斯也有同样的看法，但赫格塞斯的支持率仅为 29%。

近五分之一倾向于共和党的美国人不喜欢赫格塞斯。

此外，只有 1% 的独立选民对赫格塞斯持强烈好感，而持强烈负面看法的独立选民则高达 35%。

目前，唐纳德·特朗普总统并不想听到这些。他本周表示，赫格塞斯“做得非常出色”。

但在一系列争议和一场似乎不会很快结束的不得人心的伊朗战争中，赫格塞斯无疑正朝着四面楚歌的状态发展。