Senate Republican Toadies Won’t Quit Hegseth

Willful indifference to our national security

Donald Trump is responsible for nominating the single most disastrous, obviously unfit secretary of defense in history, Pete Hegseth. His myriad faults—from a widely discussed drinking problem to lack of executive management to affinity for White Christian nationalism to serial adultery to disparagement of women in the military—were widely discussed during the confirmation process. Hegseth denied, evaded, or brushed aside concerns, any one of which would surely have sunk a nominee facing a minimally responsible Senate.

The fifty Republican Senators plus Vice President JD Vance who voted to confirm him, therefore, are very much responsible for the unfolding debacle. These Republicans voted to entrust to him the lives of our service people, the vast civilian workforce, and the national security of the United States (those who, as of now, are running for re-election in 2026 are bolded):

Banks (R-IN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Blackburn (R-TN)
Boozman (R-AR)
Britt (R-AL)
Budd (R-NC)
Capito (R-WV)
Cassidy (R-LA)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Cotton (R-AR)
Cramer (R-ND)
Crapo (R-ID)
Cruz (R-TX)
Curtis (R-UT)
Daines (R-MT)
Ernst (R-IA)
Fischer (R-NE)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hagerty (R-TN)
Hawley (R-MO)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Husted (R-OH)
Hyde-Smith (R-MS)
Johnson (R-WI)
Justice (R-WV)
Kennedy (R-LA)
Lankford (R-OK)
Lee (R-UT)
Lummis (R-WY)
Marshall (R-KS)
McCormick (R-PA)
Moody (R-FL)
Moran (R-KS)
Moreno (R-OH)
Mullin (R-OK)
Paul (R-KY)
Ricketts (R-NE)
Risch (R-ID)
Rounds (R-SD)
Schmitt (R-MO)
Scott (R-FL)
Scott (R-SC)
Sheehy (R-MT)
Sullivan (R-AK)
Thune (R-SD)
Tillis (R-NC)
Tuberville (R-AL)
Wicker (R-MS)
Young (R-IN)

A select group up for re-election in 2026 who have served in the military and constantly tout their own expertise (Cotton, Ernst, Sullivan, Young, Marshall, and Graham) have lost whatever shred of credibility they ever had by sticking with a catastrophically horrible Pentagon chief, who endangers us all with his incompetence.

When word of Signalgate broke, not one Senate Republican demanded his resignation. When we got further reports of a second signal chain that included specific battle information, no one spoke out. (Even Nebraska Republican congressman Don Bacon managed to pipe up, albeit in timid terms: “I’m not in the White House, and I’m not going to tell the White House how to manage this … but I find it unacceptable, and I wouldn’t tolerate it if I was in charge.”)

Democrats, by contrast, were livid after discovery of a second Signal chain. “If true, this incident is another troubling example of Secretary Hegseth’s reckless disregard for the laws and protocols that every other military servicemember is required to follow,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee declared upon learning Hegseth “reportedly texted classified information that could endanger American servicemembers’ lives on a commercial app that included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.” Unlike his irresponsible and docile Republican colleagues, Reed reminded us, “Since he was nominated, I have warned that Mr. Hegseth lacks the experience, competence, and character to run the Department of Defense.

And the Senate Republican scaredy-cats who rubber-stamped Hegseth’s nomination even remained mute when several of his closest aides were fired and went to social media with this blistering message:

We are incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended. Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door. All three of us served our country honorably in uniform—for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it. At this time, we still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of “leaks” to begin with. While this experience has been unconscionable, we remain supportive of the Trump-Vance Administration’s mission to make the Pentagon great again and achieve peace through strength. We hope in the future to support those efforts in different capacities.

The vow of silence and complicity even continued after John Ullyot, Trump’s chief Pentagon spokesman, resigned and wrote a damning op-ed for Politico, including this:

It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon. From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership.

President Donald Trump has a strong record of holding his top officials to account. Given that, it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer.

He all but cast Hegseth as a dissembler and bumbler for attempting to deny anyone was texting “war plans.” Even then, the MAGA lapdogs could not bring themselves to denounce Hegseth

That came from someone who vouched for Hegseth to get the job. If someone with an insider’s knowledge of the goings on can attest that there has been “a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon—and it’s becoming a real problem for the administration,” what is preventing Republicans, who tout their devotion to the troops, from doing the same?

What more it will take—a true military disaster, a horrific and preventable accident, a grotesque corruption scandal?—before Senate Republicans prove they are willing to separate themselves from this fiasco? One thing is for certain: No one who voted for Hegseth and has stubbornly refused to denounce his predictable incompetence, buffoonery, and lack of candor should ever hold a top national security post—or, for that matter, be re-elected to their current jobs.