Hegseth firing people because he is insecure

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Secretary of the Navy John Phelan is out. This is kind of a wild story. As I talked about this on the show today, the Secretary of Defense—who I’ve long kind of defended and been protective of, given the hate towards him—it’s becoming increasingly clear to people inside the Pentagon and the White House that he’s trying to push out anyone who has a direct relationship with the president who can bypass the Secretary of Defense. Phelan is one. He’s mentioned before. He lives down the street from the president in Palm Beach. They have a texting relationship.

Well, Pete Hegseth has apparently been poisoning the well for some time. It led up to a meeting at the White House yesterday where Hegseth brought up the problems with building new ships and put the blame squarely on Phelan. The president blessed Phelan’s ouster. Phelan did not believe he had been ousted and didn’t believe that the Secretary of Defense could oust him, which also goes to some underlying currents in the Pentagon where the Secretary of Defense doesn’t necessarily have the power to fire everybody there. Some of them are protected by the president. Not in this case.

Phelan showed up at the White House. The president himself confirmed to him that he was out. This comes as we’re escalating the naval situation in the Persian Gulf and the blockade. It’s just curious timing. And it all apparently comes down to the president’s golden fleet. Hegseth apparently has been insisting to the president for months that all the problems related thereto were Phelan’s problems. The president ultimately lost confidence in Phelan because of Hegseth’s sabotage.

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When I was in college, I would go back to Louisiana in the summer to work for the public school from which I had graduated. The school was in a building that combined K-12, but elementary, middle, and high schools were separate entities until after I graduated. Then, a headmaster was hired and the schools consolidated under her. I worked for her.

The elementary school principal was, in my mind, the sharpest person in the building. He had it together. He wore well tailored suits. His office was spotless. He kept things organized. The headmaster asked me one day what I thought of each of the principals and I told her that guy seemed to be the best. She laughed and said, “Sometimes people dress up as competent to mask incompetence or insecurity.” That lesson stuck with me and, as it turned out, that elementary school principal’s management style was one of deep insecurity. He worked hard to push out the door anyone who was actually competent.

Mr. Hegseth is like that elementary school principal. Like Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi, he performs for the camera. MAGA loves Hegseth. He runs with the enlisted. He cusses on camera. He is boisterous and full of swagger and bravado. He wants to be known as the Secretary of War and rebranded his department in defiance of federal law that designates it the Department of Defense. Who cares about the law and Congress. Department of War is very bro and he is a bro’s bro.

More and more it seems, just like that elementary school principal, Hegseth is pushing out anyone who might have a relationship with the President or shine competently behind the scenes compared to him. According to multiple press outlets, the problems with Secretary Phelan began when Phelan publicly mentioned his personal relationship with President Trump and how they would often talk directly about the President’s fleet he wants built.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has struck many on Capitol Hill as being highly competent. According to the Wall Street Journal, Driscoll, who is a close friend of the Vice President’s, is now on Hegseth’s naughty list for drawing attention to himself and favor from the President and because he seems to have his own power center tied to his Vance friendship. Driscoll supported and defended General George who, contrary to anonymous claims, was not woke, but highly competent. Driscoll refused to fire the Army Chief of Staff and, while Driscoll was on his family vacation, Hegseth did it himself.

In November, again according to the Wall Street Journal, the President sent Driscoll to participate in Ukraine negotiations. But Hegseth complained about it and had Driscoll sidelined.

Multiple other staff close to Hegseth or working for Hegseth have arbitrarily been fired. Some were accused of leaking classified documents, though there has been no proof or prosecutions. Those claims came after Hegseth himself put classified information into a compromised group chat.

The nation is in a state of war with Iran and heads keep rolling at the Pentagon. Some were appropriate. Increasingly, however, the firings reek of an insecure man firing secure men who amplify his insecurities. This is not healthy or good. Some will stand behind Hegseth and insist he is purging bad guys and woke guys. But the internal divisions a the Pentagon and the dysfunction are becoming increasingly public. From dismissing staff after Hegseth’s own mistakes to feuding with Driscoll and ousting senior military officials when others are out of the building, Hegseth seems more and more willing to cast aside anyone whose competence makes him seem incompetent.

Eventually, these sorts of things have a way of sorting themselves out. We just cannot be sure how much damage will be inflicted and how much institutional competence will be lost before the Secretary of Defense’s insecurities catch up to him.

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