The essential takeaway about the secretary of defense is that in under a month, with the United States engaged in combat against the planet’s most perilous Islamist regime, he’s sparked not one but two news cycles revolving around Kid Rock.
The initial episode emerged late last month when two Apache helicopters carried out an unauthorized pass over the home of the Trump-supporting musician in Tennessee. The Army promptly opened a disciplinary inquiry, and Pete Hegseth promptly shut it down. “No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots,” he boasted. It turns out Donald Trump’s military operates similarly to the rest of his administration: rule-breaking is acceptable as long as a MAGA ally reaps the rewards.
Hegseth doubled his defense Monday. As the confrontation in the Strait of Hormuz continued, aggravating an oil crisis that is set to grow significantly worse, word spread that Kid Rock had arrived at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. The reason? To pilot Apaches with Hegseth, naturally. “Apaches typically have two pilots,” DropSite News’ Ryan Grim noted in his coverage of the joyride, “but they took off with one so the two men could each ride shotgun.”
Those helicopters aren’t usually based at Fort Belvoir, Grim added. Apparently the Army shuffled air assets during a time of war so the defense secretary could give a low-tier right-wing celebrity a thrill.
Still, turning the U.S. military into a personal Make-a-Wish Foundation for Robert “Kid Rock” Ritchie isn’t the reason Pete Hegseth will eventually lose his job. From the West Wing to the Capitol to the Army itself, many people inside Trump’s government have far stronger reasons to want him gone.
And indeed they want him gone, apparently. The knives are out.
Vance’s Position.
The vice president and his circle have two incentives to want to get rid of the defense secretary.
One is political, as J.D. Vance is desperate for ways to atone to “America First-ers” who are disappointed in him for failing to prevent war with Iran. Pitting himself against Hegseth, the face of the conflict and the most smugly bellicose member of the Cabinet, is a small way to do that.
The other incentive is less obvious. Hegseth has it in for Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who happens to be an old law-school buddy of Vance’s. That friendship probably explains why Driscoll has survived numerous purges inside the Pentagon over the last 15 months, the most recent of which saw Army chief of staff (and close Driscoll ally) Gen. Randy George sent packing. Vance may have prevailed upon Trump to stick with Driscoll over Hegseth’s objections—so far.
