Not right now. President Trump says he’s keeping Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, even as Republicans blame him for the Iran war that helped sink them in Tuesday’s midterms. Asked Wednesday if he’d replace Hegseth, Trump said, “No, I think he’s doing a very good job,” Newsweek reported. On Thursday he told ABC’s Jonathan Karl he has “every intention to keep him,” adding: “I get these calls, you know, about him. I don’t understand why.”
Hegseth isn’t backing down either. “We don’t back down and that especially applies now,” he said in a video Thursday. “The next few months and years are critical for our department and our republic,” USA Today reported.
Why do Republicans want Pete Hegseth gone?
They’re looking for someone to blame, and the war is the obvious place to start. Vice President JD Vance said flatly that “the reason we lost is the war.” Behind the scenes, Republicans argue Hegseth helped talk Trump into attacking Iran with no exit plan. “If the president is serious about anyone taking responsibility for it, it’s Pete Hegseth,” a Republican close to the White House told CNN, as quoted by The Daily Beast. Another said Hegseth has been “either dishonest or incorrect” about the war’s timelines and goals.
The war has a human cost here at home. It has raised gas prices and killed American service members, and families are asking who’s accountable. In October, a soldier’s widower asked Vance that question to his face.
Could Hegseth actually be impeached?
He could be impeached. Being removed is much harder. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who filed eight articles of impeachment in September, says he’ll bring them back when Congress returns Nov. 9 unless Hegseth resigns. Impeachment only takes a simple majority of the House, and some outgoing Republicans may be in a mood to blame him. Democrats like Rep. James Walkinshaw of Virginia have said they’d vote yes. But conviction and removal takes two-thirds of the Senate, 67 votes, and the Senate has never removed a Cabinet member.
The Pentagon’s answer is defiance. Spokesman Sean Parnell said Hegseth is “100 percent committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump’s term in office.”
Why might Trump fire Hegseth before January?
Confirmation math. Hegseth barely got confirmed in January 2025, with Vance breaking a 50-50 tie. Once Democrats take the Senate in January, any new defense secretary Trump picks would have to get through them. So if Trump ever wanted a replacement, now is the easy window. He acknowledged as much to Karl, according to The Daily Beast, but said he isn’t planning a change.
The BeezLoop Take
Hegseth owns his part of a war that voters clearly rejected, and “we don’t back down” isn’t an answer to the families paying for it at the pump and at funerals. A defense secretary should be able to explain the goal and the exit. He hasn’t.
But firing him wouldn’t settle anything on its own. The war was the president’s decision. If Republicans make Hegseth the only one who pays, they’ll have found a scapegoat, not a lesson.
The open question: does the House vote to impeach Hegseth next week, and do any Republicans besides Massie join in?
More on BeezLoop: What the Democratic Congress changes, and what it doesn’t.
Sources: Newsweek · The Daily Beast · USA Today · USA Today (video)
