Joe Battenfeld: Bumbling Hegseth a huge liability for Trump

Joe Battenfeld, Boston Herald on Apr 23, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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Donald Trump can’t get rid of Pete Hegseth fast enough as the tough talking former Fox News host looks more and more like a huge liability and a soft target for Democrats.

The White House has already begun looking to replace the Pentagon chief, according to AP, after the latest scandal involving him sharing classified information in a Signal chat with his wife and brother.

In his brief time at Defense and before he was even confirmed, Hegseth has spent more time defending himself than defending the country.

He came into the Pentagon battling allegations of womanizing and drinking and now facing more serious charges of sharing intelligence information inappropriately and risking U.S. military lives.

What seemed like an out of the box choice for President Trump to lead the Pentagon – a tough talking, tattooed weekend news host – now just seems like a routine blunder – nothing new for the president. Hegseth is a two-bit amateur who has projected weakness to our allies and enemies.

Trump can only stand by these liabilities for so long before he needs to cut bait.

Hanging on to Hegseth only risks a major political disaster in the mid-term elections. After slowly cutting ties with Elon Musk, Trump now has to get rid of his second biggest problem in Hegseth.

Hegseth used the Signal messaging app on his personal phone to detail information about airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen with his wife and brother around the same time he shared classified information on another group chat with a journalist, according to reports.

Before the reports of Hegseth being replaced, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied the Defense Secretary was being pushed out and said concerns about the group chats were a “waste of time.”

Even Trump had come to Hegseth’s defense in the last few days, saying “He’s doing a great job – ask the Houithis how he’s doing,” Trump said at the annual Easter Egg Roll.

Hegseth on Monday portrayed the effort to get rid of him as a media slash and burn job.

“It’s not going to work with me,” he said.

Apparently it did.

The Pentagon actually dismissed three senior advisers last week after they were accused of leaking information about Hegseth to the press.

The Hegseth disaster has provided fodder for Democrats like Elizabeth Warren who have been flailing around looking for something to attack Trump on.

It’s bound to become a major issue for Trump in the days and weeks ahead and could lead to long-term damage to the Republican president.

He may stand by Hegseth publicly, but the longer it goes on the more it becomes a liability.

“We must not forget that ultimate responsibility here lies with President Trump for selecting a former weekend TV host, without any experience leading a large and complex organization, to run our government’s biggest department and make life and death decisions for our military and country,” New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said.

Time to move on.