Pete Hegseth's downfall begins: 'Stubborn' defense secretary believes God wants him to run the Pentagon... but insiders holding a lethal dossier of secrets are 'giddy' with excitement as his path to destruction is revealed

As Republicans blame their midterm trouncing on the war in Iran, the political future of the man who is the face of the conflict now hangs in the balance.

And, according to high-level sources, there is certainly no chance that Pete Hegseth, perhaps the most polarizing defense secretary in modern US history, falls on his sword and resigns.

'That would be deeply out of character,' said a top Pentagon insider. 'Dude's stubborn, very stubborn, and 100% (out) for himself. 

'He thinks it's God's mission that he run this department. No way he'll step down unless he's forced out, pushed.'

That is not to say, however, that Hegseth looks likely to continue running the Defense Department - despite President Trump having supported him so far, at least in public.

After all, Hegseth faces the threat of impeachment by a Democratic-run Congress in 2027, or even sooner during this lame-duck session as fellow Republicans turn against him for driving an unpopular war that has jacked up US energy prices.

After GOP congressman Thomas Massie announced plans on Monday to force an impeach vote in the House this week, Hegseth told reporters that he is not afraid.

'If you want to litigate our success, I'm happy to do it all day long,' he said.

Nonetheless, Hegseth could, as reported by some news outlets, be offered a parachute to avoid impeachment with an appointment to the US Senate seat that Republican Marsha Blackburn is leaving to become Tennessee's governor.

Or he could yet still be fired should the notoriously fickle Donald Trump decide that, after ousting his Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, he needs another scapegoat to take the fall after the GOP's walloping, or decide that the Iran war isn't worth pursuing any longer. 

Firing would certainly be the fastest route to Hegseth's departure and the option preferred by four Pentagon insiders the Daily Mail spoke with who fear the defense secretary will prod the administration toward another round of major attacks against Iran, as the president has been threatening.

Pete Hegseth's future hangs in the balance after Republicans suffered devastating midterm losses amid mounting backlash over the Iran War

Trump has defended him publicly but he could yet still be fired should the notoriously fickle president decide that, after ousting his Chief of Staff Susie Wiles (right), he needs another scapegoat to take the fall after the GOP's walloping

'This isn't about hoping to see Pete's downfall or wanting retribution,' said one high-level civilian defense staffer who admitted the poor prospects for Hegseth's future 'are enticing.'

'It's about not losing our personnel to a stage–2 Iran scenario that would be much more deadly than stage 1.'

In an email statement last Thursday, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell wrote that: 'Secretary Hegseth is 100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump's term in office.

'Secretary Hegseth will not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points or launch phony investigations where no wrongdoing exists. 

'The Department of War has followed the law and our Secretary will continue to stand and fight every single day to support and defend the Constitution, lead our troops, and protect America.'

Long before last week's midterm drubbing, many of Hegseth's fiercest critics were non-political, military and civilian Pentagon officials who see the 46-year-old former Fox News host as unserious, unqualified, disinterested in the expertise offered him and prioritizing sucking up to Trump over understanding military intelligence, tactics or strategy. 

'A classic showhorse rather than a workhorse,' said one Army official who described a secretary who, soon after his appointment, had a makeup studio built for himself at the Pentagon.

Trump has remained loyal to his war chief despite a blunder in 2025 when Hegseth shared sensitive classified information about an imminent US military strike on Yemen with his wife and a journalist. 

Trump has continued to praise his war chief despite the Republican Party's election defeat, insisting that Hegseth is doing a 'very good job' 

The former Fox News host has emerged as one of the most divisive figures in Trump's administrations, with insiders describing him as a stubborn leader whose voluntary resignation is unlikely 

The commander in chief stood by him despite Hegseth's legally questionable boat strikes in the Caribbean and decisions to fire several top military commanders, leaving a leadership vacuum at the Pentagon. 

And he has defended him despite overriding his decision to livestream the execution of the wheelchair-bound Fort Hood shooter and despite frustrations that Hegseth downplayed the extent to which American bases were damaged and munitions stockpiles were depleted during the height of Operation Epic Fury last winter. 

Trump is said to personally like the defense chief who embodies a bare-knuckled machismo and, some insiders say, a ruthlessness that the president admires. 

While the testosterone-obsessed secretary who has called for 'no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos' in the armed forces strikes many in the Pentagon as petty and mean, the president is reported to enjoy his swagger.

'Pete Hegseth understood the job well in terms of the administration. He was performing for an audience of one and was able to tailor his message to the sense of bravado his boss wants to convey,' said Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow focusing on defense policy at the Stimson Center, a DC-based thinktank. 

'The problem is, at a certain point, images aren't enough while the costs are piling up. As many times Pete Hegseth said we're winning the war, people's prices at the gas pumps were telling the truth.' 

The Daily Mail reported last month that some Pentagon insiders have spent much of the last 22 months compiling emails, memos and meeting notes detailing times Hegseth and his inner circle have allegedly ignored strategic and legal advice, berated the experts who gave it, withheld information from Congress and the public, and threatened the careers of subordinates who either challenged his decisions or irked him for what he perceived as being too woke, fat, queer or disloyal. 

They figured the paper trail – plus a list of potential witnesses from inside the department and a series of recent secret, away-from-the-Pentagon meetings with Congress members and their staffers – might come in handy if Democrats retook the House and launched an impeachment investigation in 2027. 

Tuesday's election results surprised them – along with much of the country – by bringing not just strong Democratic control of the House, but also of the Senate. 

By Wednesday, not just Dems, but also Republicans were openly dissing Hegseth for having been overly optimistic about the war, underestimating its risks and complications and promising, wrongly, that it would be short and decisive like the capture of ousted Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.

The White House has more or less acknowledged the link between the election outcome and Iran. 

Vice President JD Vance posted a blunt midterm post-mortem reading: 'The reason we lost is the war.'

Vice President JD Vance addressed the crushing midterms defeat saying: 'The reason we lost is the war'

'If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest,' the Vice President went on. 

'But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.' 

Trump, for his part, has been more tempered. 'Iran was a piece of it,' he told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday night, although he defended his decision to wage the war. 

Trump reiterated his backing of Hegseth last Wednesday, saying: 'I think he's doing a very good job.' 

Still, the president is reported to be privately asking aides and congressional allies whether he should boot Hegseth much the way former president George W Bush fired Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the morning after the 2006 midterm elections when voter discontent over the war in Iraq helped Democrats win control of Congress. 

Peter Feaver, a civil-military relations scholar at Duke University, warns against reading too much into those reports, noting that Trump has a pattern of second-guessing everyone in his cabinet. 'It's not a sure–fire indication that you're getting fired,' he said. 

'Every couple months, there has been a spike of stories that say Secretary Hegseth is on the way out, but those stories have always been wrong because he has always maintained the confidence of the president.' 

CBS News reported that Ron DeSantis, whose term as Florida's governor expires in January, is being floated as a possible replacement for Hegseth. 

Our sources dismissed that prospect partly because DeSantis in recent days has harshly rebuked Trump and fellow Republicans and because his presidential ambitions might make him unlikely to join the unpopular administration. 

Hegseth may have political ambitions of his own. He ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012 and withdrew without winning the nomination.

He campaigned in August for a Republican in Iowa, a must-stop for politicians considering presidential campaigns, and NBC News reported that he and his wife Jennifer Hegseth have floated the possibility of a presidential bid with close advisors. 

The couple has established residency in Tennessee, where Blackburn, one of Trump's closest allies in the Senate, will be vacating her Senate seat for that state's governor's mansion and picking her successor. 

The apparent mockery of Hegseth also now extends to his wife Jennifer, the sources say

Republican Marsha Blackburn is set to vacate her Senate seat for the governor's mansion and has been floated as a possible successor 

Appointing Hegseth would give a soft landing, conveniently allowing him to escape the threat of being impeached or the discomfort of Trump firing him. 

He last month attended a University of Tennessee football game with Blackburn, whose office has not responded to an inquiry about who she will appoint. 

The Pentagon has dismissed such questions as 'Beltway gossip.' Trump, when asked about a possible Senate appointment this week, said: 'I actually think he'd be very popular if he did that.' 

Meanwhile, an aide for a top elected Tennessee Republican told the Daily Mail on Thursday that GOP brass in that state 'aren't keen on being dumped with' what he called a 'Hegseth hot potato.' 

At the Pentagon, insiders described the post-election mood as 'giddy,' less for partisan reasons because many in the building are Republican than because Hegseth's many critics are realizing the overwhelming backlash against the administration and its Iran war could bring Hegseth's ouster sooner than they hoped. Outgoing Republican Rep. 

Thomas Massie, an outspoken critic of the war in general and Trump and Hegseth in particular, renewed his vow to force a vote to impeach Hegseth next week. 

'There is one contingency in which I won't reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns,' he posted on X Wednesday. 

'Not only is he incompetent and corrupt, he's undermining our national security and the safety of our troops,' Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, posted Wednesday afternoon.

Military experts have warned that another major round of strikes against Iran could leave American forces dangerously exposed

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries joined the chorus of critics questioning Hegseth's future, bluntly asking Thursday: 'Why is Pete Hegseth still around?'

'Every day that he's in the Pentagon… is a day that our service members, our men and women, our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters are at greater risk.' 

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries piled on Thursday morning, posting: 'Why is Pete Hegseth still around?' 

Still, impeachment is far from inevitable. 

No cabinet member has ever been successfully forced from office. 

Both William Belknap, Ulysses Grant's Secretary of War, and Alejandro Mayorkas, Joe Biden's Homeland Security Secretary, were impeached by the House, but saved by the Senate. 

If there's enough bipartisan support for Congress to impeach and kick Hegseth from office, and even if the process is fast-tracked, aides say the process still could take weeks or months to work through both chambers. 

Pentagon insiders fear that would give Hegseth, other advisors, Israel and Saudi Arabia too much time to convince Trump to launch another massive attack on Iran in hopes of militarily, rather than diplomatically, ending the war he started. 

Such a move, they and military scholars told us, would put American troops at unprecedented risk. 

Grieco estimates that, if the US at this point had to intercept Iranian missiles at a rate similar to last winter, severely depleted munitions would cause it to run out of the Patriot interceptors it needs to protect our armed forces 'in about three weeks.' 

'We'll see more Iranian drones get through and we'll see their missiles get through,' she told us. 

'The question we should be asking ourselves is whether it is worth it. What will be achieved by another round of strikes that was not achieved the last time we had a round of strikes. 

'There's no evidence that another round of strikes will approve the US objectives.' 

'At some point, the US is going to have to accept a strategic loss,' she added. 

Three of the Pentagon insiders we spoke with fear the administration is too hellbent on somehow defeating Iran to back off. 

'It could be a bloodbath,' said Army insiders who deem Hegseth 'reckless enough' and Trump 'so desperate to win something, anything' that a massive round two with Iran is plausible. 

Another Army official riffed on the monthly evangelical worship services Hegseth has been holding during work hours in the Pentagon. 

Although those services are supposed to be voluntary, many high-level Defense Department personnel, including non-Christians, begrudgingly have felt obligated to either attend in person or watch live on their internal TV network for fear of retribution by Hegseth. 

'If we could hold a prayer meeting for him to be sent packing, most of us would be delighted to show up.'