AUDIENCE OF ONE

Pentagon Pete Sucks Up to Trump in Crazed Bid to Save His Skin

Hegseth launched into an erratic monologue defending the Iran war and singing Trump’s praises as rumors of his ouster swirl.

Pete Hegseth resorted to sucking up to President Donald Trump and singing his own praises in an unhinged video appeal as whispers grow louder that his job is in jeopardy.

“It’s all about the politics of personal destruction. Didn’t work against President Trump, and it won’t work with me. You can rest assured of that,” the defense secretary, 46, declared in a 5-minute video he posted on X Thursday afternoon.

The Fox host-turned-defense secretary appeared to be assuring himself most of all as he defended the war with Iran as a “historic effort” and declared “patriot extremism” is “not a thing” in his much-mocked spoken-word delivery.

Republican lawmakers and allies are reportedly eager to line Hegseth up as the fall guy for voters turning against Trump over his war on Iran, according to CNN, as the GOP reels from historic losses in Tuesday’s elections.

Trump, 80, admitted Thursday he has received a flurry of angry phone calls about Hegseth in the wake of the rout, saying, “I get these calls, you know, about him.” He continued to insist he has no plans to fire Hegseth, even as sources close to the president say he is weighing exactly that.

Just hours after Trump spoke about the calls to oust Hegseth, the defense secretary, who would like to be called “secretary of war,” posted a video of himself delivering a rambling monologue next to a sign emblazoned “Department of War.”

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One of the most revealing moments came when Hegseth appeared to directly challenge Vice President JD Vance and other Republicans who have blamed the Iran war for the GOP’s midterm disaster.

“You see, because regardless of how people feel about the war, which I believe is a courageous and historic effort that will ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon, we need to continue, as President Trump did in his first term, to rebuild our military,” he said, before imploring Republicans in Congress to pass a massive Pentagon budget proposal.

Hegseth kept returning to Trump throughout the speech, even comparing himself to the president after pointing out that Democrats want to impeach him.

“As always, President Trump leads the way. In service of our nation, he has endured more than anyone can fathom. He literally took a bullet for this nation. He shook his fist and said, fight, fight, fight,” Hegseth said.

He appeared to avoid addressing the GOP’s election-night drubbing, instead ranting about his favorite culture-war grievances.

“DEI is a Marxist ideology built to destroy us, so we crushed it. Diversity is not our strength, our unity is. Men and women, they’re not the same thing but in the military they must be held to the same standard,” he rambled at one point. “The press is free in America, but not free to roam our classified spaces here at the Pentagon. Narco-terrorists should die, not be caught and released.”

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Trump had begun sounding out a circle of close allies about whether to keep Hegseth in his job even before Election Day, according to a report in The Atlantic, citing two outside advisers close to the president.

The defense secretary has few fans inside the White House, The Atlantic reported. Many are frustrated that Hegseth has been sugarcoating the state of the war to Trump.

“Hegseth is good at telling the president what he wants to hear,” one of the outside advisers said.

When reached for comment, the White House referred the Daily Beast to remarks Trump made in the Oval Office on Thursday.

“Pete Hegseth has done a fantastic job,” the president said, later adding that he had no plans to make any staffing changes.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Pentagon Pete Hit With Brutal Verdict From Own Side

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