Senate Republicans are reportedly deeply unhappy with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The Hill has detailed that “growing tensions” between him and senior Republican lawmakers may soon boil over, with some already expressing deep frustrations about perceived failures in national defense.
Those failures range from anger over the costly war with Iran that shows no sign of concluding anytime soon, questions over the departure of multiple senior military figures (just this week, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll resigned), and Hegseth’s own basic competence for the job.
They quote Republican Senator for North Carolina Thom Tillis and a former member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, who didn’t hold back when it came to his opinion on Hegseth. Speaking on Wednesday, Tillis noted Driscoll’s commitment and negatively contrasted Hegseth against him.
“I urge the President to find a new leader”
He said: “If we had a @SecWar who maintained the same priorities and forward-thinking, he would be fighting to retain talented leaders like Dan and the many flag officers he has forced into retirement. Instead, he is creating a leadership void at the top of our military ranks.”
Then Tillis gave Hegseth both barrels: “I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country. He is intimidated by competence and retreats to ginning up culture wars instead of soberly attending to the vital work of our national defense and the health and well-being of our fighting force”, before adding, “I urge the President to find a new leader at the Pentagon who will retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it.”
It should be noted that it was Tillis who cast the deciding vote to confirm Hegseth as Defense Secretary in 2025, breaking the Senate 50-50 tie after three Republicans refused to back him. Regardless, Tillis’ anger has been echoed by other Republican senators.
South Dakota’s Mike Rounds, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was also “disappointed” at Driscoll’s resignation, saying, “I think that points to questions we’re going to be asking when we get back in terms of where’s the leadership at.”
An anonymous former senior Republican Armed Services staffer told The Hill that the party is beginning to consider Hegseth remaining in office as contributing to a possible midterms disaster, saying he’s “an absolute train wreck for Republicans headed into the midterms but they are too scared to do anything about it.”
The source said: “If they had a spine, instead of wringing their hands and holding closed-door hearings, the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees would say on the record what just about every voter knows, which is that Hegseth is unqualified for the job and never should have accepted the position when President Trump offered it to him.”
Ultimately, the decision on whether Pete Hegseth remains in his job or not rests with Donald Trump. At least in public, Trump is still very much in his corner, saying earlier this week that “he’s doing a fantastic job”, calling him a “very good guy”, and dismissing reports of Hegseth mounting a 2028 presidential run: “Right now, all he loves is and all he cares about is the military and taking care of the military.”
Published: Sep 4, 2026 07:57 am