Pete Hegseth’s infatuation with masculinity may be an instrument of his own broader ambitions, argues President Donald Trump’s longtime biographer.
Author Michael Wolff claimed on the Inside Trump’s Head podcast that the self-styled “Secretary of War” obsessively hypes up his own machismo as a tactical move to posture himself for a future presidential run.
While discussing Hegseth’s bizarre announcement on Wednesday to screen military service members for their testosterone levels, Wolff told co-host Joanna Coles that the defense secretary’s manhood measure could be part of a greater scheme to promote himself among a particular voter base.
“I think, actually, the Heggers is running for president,” Wolff said. “There’s sort of a fundamental political strategy or view in the MAGAsphere, or in the Trump... world, which is that culture is politics. And it is always better to hit the cultural note rather than the political or the policy note.”
“So he is speaking with this directly to the ‘Trump bro’ base, because if he wants to run for president, that’s where he has to begin,” he continued. “He has to... appeal in some kind of identity, charismatic fashion to those kinds of people.”
The Pentagon did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
Reached for comment, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told the Daily Beast in a statement: “After Joe Biden’s Pentagon prioritized DEI and woke ideology, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth quickly reversed course and restored a Department of War that is focused on readiness, lethality, and supporting our warfighters. Secretary Hegseth is doing an incredible job leading the Pentagon, and his results speak for themselves.”
The author explained that to entice people from the manosphere, one has to swap “traditional politics” with “cultural markers,” and that Hegseth’s “test for testosterone” is a prime example.
Coles questioned whether Hegseth’s move was a way to catch up to the top 2028 Republican prospects, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. Wolff believes the measure was more likely just “a hat in the ring.”
“I mean, how are people gonna respond? I mean... certainly... he is the bottom of the pack of the obvious list that you might make at this point,” Wolff said. “But if this begins to catch on, then... he’s got himself a race.”
Hegseth, 46, has repeatedly tried to emphasize how manly he is throughout his tenure as defense secretary under Trump 2.0—both in his policies and in his public persona.
Aside from Wednesday’s strange measure to periodically monitor the testosterone levels of service members over the age of 30, Hegseth has sought to control service members’ facial hair, eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the armed forces, and block the promotions of female senior Navy officers.
Coles also noted that the former Fox & Friends Weekend host uses the military “as his own personal sort of training camp,” as he frequently posts videos of himself lifting weights alongside U.S. troops.
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