This Is Laughable Truth About Trump’s ‘Tough Guy’
A top biographer believes Pete Hegseth’s over-the-top war on woke is just posturing to land an even bigger job.
Pete Hegseth is a “lackey” at the expense of the U.S. military and the American people, the long-time Trump biographer Michael Wolff says.
“He is unfit for this job, inexperienced for this job, not to mention all of the personal baggage he brings to this job,” Wolff told co-host Joanna Coles on the Inside Trump’s Head podcast. “That’s the nature of the crisis here.”
Wolff says Hegseth has eschewed the traditional role of the Defense Secretary, which he feels is to help the president avoid warfare. Instead, Wolff says that Hegseth has done President Donald Trump’s bidding at every turn, even if that means launching a war like the one with Iran that has tanked his approval rating.
“The job as the Secretary of Defense would be to offer the President of the United States—the Commander-in-Chief—all of the reasons we shouldn’t go to war. All of the reasons that it might be an unwinnable war, or a difficult war to win, or a costly war. And clearly he didn’t do that in any way,” Wolff said.
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The Iran war, which Hegseth has enthusiastically endorsed, is now in its eighth month.
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“He is possibly the least equipped, least experienced, least appropriate person to lead the American military,” Coles said of Hegseth. “He nevertheless has the presidency also in his sights.”
She said Hegseth’s second “State of the Force” speech last week was the one-time Fox News host “laying out his platform” for a presidential run “to attract the MAGA base post-Trump.”
At the Pentagon, Hegseth has gone to war against what he claims are “DEI” promotions, has fired senior top military brass who do not enthusiastically back him, and has introduced new physical standards and medical screenings.
He has also pushed prayer and Christian faith on the service, slashing the list of “approved” religions, and erasing ‘atheist’ as an option for serving members to identify as.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Graeme Sloan/Getty Images
These moves, which Hegseth highlighted in his ‘State of the Force’ speech, are part of his push to appeal to both Trump and the MAGA faithful, Wolff says.
Wolff said, “This is not really about the military. It’s not really about running the Pentagon. It’s not really about the war. This is a positioning speech to the MAGA base. Will the MAGA base like this?”
Wolff says the trick for Hegseth will be to balance his ambition with his relationship to Trump.
“At the same time, realize he’s running for president, but he’s also struggling not to be fired by the current president,” Wolff said. “So he wants to hold on to his job, and then he wants the bigger job. So I mean, which is what sort of defines every lackey in the world.”
The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Find and subscribe to Inside Trump’s Head with Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes of incomparable insight into the psyche of the world’s most talked-about man drop every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evening on YouTube and Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday mornings on other podcast platforms.
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