Trump doesn’t give a f*** what Tillis or Ernst think about Hegseth

Welcome to Wednesday’s Washington Secrets, where we have already eaten our bodyweight in popcorn during Rand Paul’s smackdown with Anthony Fauci (or the probe into the first Trump administration’s handling of the COVID pandemic, if you really must). In the meantime, we wonder whether Pete Hegseth is safe at the Pentagon, and whether Trump voters are completely on board with his claims about Chinese interference in American elections …The rumble of criticism directed at Donald Trump’s Secretary of War has not quieted ever since he swapped a Fox News studio for the top job at the Pentagon.This week a string of senior Republican senators went public with their concerns, warning that they had lost confidence in the Cabinet secretary as the war with Iran dragged on. But Pete Hegseth isn’t going anywhere.When Secrets called around top sources on the Hill and close to the White House, it became clear that there is no successor being talked up and that the luxuriantly-coiffed action man still has the full support of the only person that matters.In fact, he has apparently never been more popular with Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the president’s thinking. Yet this week, Hegseth came under fire for the way he has forced out senior Pentagon figures. And then there is the war with Iran, where the Trump administration apparently failed to foresee the way Tehran could leverage its geographic location by closing the Strait of Hormuz or attack neighbors including Jordan and Iraq.Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told The Hill: “I don’t have any confidence in him anymore. I think he’s all over the place — he’s accelerating the retirement or forcing out some of the most distinguished leaders in the Department of Defense that we have.“I think he’s got a massive insecurity complex, he has a lack of experience in large organizations, he micromanages too much. He’s lost my confidence.”Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) spoke out in April about the way he pushed popular Army chief of staff Randy George to resign,“It was a mistake for Secretary Hegseth to dismiss him.” The departure of Chris Donahue, the top U.S. Army Commander in Europe, has been a similar point of contention.The public comments by members of the YOLO caucus – freed to speak up against Trump’s priorities by impending retirement – reflect a deep unease among Senate Republicans.“Hegseth’s support in the Senate has always been very shallow,” said a former senior staffer, “and nothing he’s done in office has convinced people he’s up to the job.”They worry that his management style and focus on attacking what he sees as woke values has alienated senior Pentagon figures.At the same time, the public has grown weary of a war that was meant to be rapid but is now stretching into its sixth month.And poll after poll suggests that Hegseth, a former National Guard infantry officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan before becoming a Fox News host, has never enjoyed great approval ratings.Still, the embarrassing headlines about heavy drinking or relationship infidelity have dried up, to the relief of allies.So don’t expect Hegseth to be going anywhere … “D.J.T. likes him,” messaged one source close to the White House. “He’s good on T.V. and he’s generally running the Department of War the way Trump wants.“If you think the president gives a f*** about what Thom Tillis or Joni Ernst think about Hegseth, it’s a major misread.”The official line is more polite.“President Trump has full confidence in Secretary Hegseth and appreciates all he has done to restore a focus on readiness, lethality, and support for our warfighters at the Pentagon – and his success with Operation Midnight Hammer, Operation Absolute Resolve, and Operation Epic Fury speaks for itself,” said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly.“America’s military has restored its rightful place as the most powerful in the world thanks to Secretary Hegseth’s leadership.”Where do Trump supporters stand on China election meddling? After Trump delivered his primetime address on voting irregularities, More in Common turned to its panel of 93 Trump voters to see what they thought. The results (posted here) are fascinating and show the power and the limits of the message.Just to recap, our friends at the More in Common nonprofit identified four types of Trump voters in the 2024 election: MAGA Hardliners, Anti-Woke Conservatives, Mainline Republicans, or the Reluctant Right.When asked how much they supported Trump’s concerns around election security, a majority broadly supported his views that the 2020 vote was problematic.Amanda, a 49-year-old white woman, Anti-Woke Conservative from Lisle, Illinois, said: “I have always known that the 2020 election was not right. It has also been obvious that our election system is NOT secure, there is widespread cheating (and attempted cheating), and that countries like China are trying to interfere in our elections.”The president’s call for voter ID checks and the SAVE America Act stood out as a particularly popular idea among the panelists.But there was a limit – Trump’s allegation of Chinese meddling.Stephanie, a 43-year-old white woman, Anti-Woke Conservative from Lamoine, Maine: “I’m not as interested in hearing about [China]. It reminds me of Hilary Clinton talking about Russia.”There was also a divide on Trump’s message that broadcasters should lose their licenses for failing to air the president’s speech.The conclusion? Distrust in the electoral system runs deep, deeper than belief in Trump’s claims. There is a lesson there for Republicans ahead of the midterms, and for Democrats who have space to rebut and refute the wilder allegations.Quote of the day There will be much written about Rand Paul’s Senate hearing today, where Dr. Anthony Fauci was quizzed about COVID-19, its origins, and the pandemic. Of course, nothing much came out of it. But before Fauci swore the Fifth, this comment from Sen. Rand Paul’s opening statement, demanding an apology, cuts to the heart of the whole thing. It will be overlooked by our colleagues, but Secrets will unpack it for you.“Instead of an apology, you have for years avoided responsibility regarding the lockdowns, you argue that you did not personally issue every lockdown order, close every school, or impose every mandate.”At the heart of this is a debate about where science stands in public policy responses. The convention, is that scientists feed evidence, data, and yes “the science” into the decision-making process. Elected officials make the decisions. It means decisionmakers are accountable and reflects the fact that decisions are ultimately political.Whether schools should shut, who should be vaccinated first, and the spacing between the population are all inherently political questions, not scientific, decisions. What will people tolerate? What is the most workable solution? How do we weight the pros versus the cons? How do we decide between economic impacts and health impacts?That is why the place of scientists has always behind the decisionmakers, supplying numbers and recommendations but not answers. Yet at some point in 2020 Fauci became the public face of the response, no longer a mere adviser. He, as we know, was not an innocent patsy. He reveled in the fame.The result is a surge in anti-science sentiment and a further erosion of trust in science. That is the legacy of the pandemic. And it is a worthy subject of scrutiny in the Senate as we try to learn lessons for the next pandemic.Instead we have a million stories about Fauci taking the Fifth Amendment. Over and over and over again.WATCH LIVE: Anthony Fauci testifies before the SenateLunchtime reading How the Big Beautiful Bill became law: Bannon, Vance push back on GOP tax norms: How Bannon and Vance pushed for tax increases on the rich, should have been the headline.Mary de Rachewiltz, daughter of Ezra Pound who fought to redeem his reputation: Secrets is a big fan of obituaries in the British newspapers. This is a fine one.You are reading Washington Secrets, a guide to power and politics in D.C. and beyond. It is written by Rob Crilly, who you can reach at [email protected] with your comments, story tips, and suggestions. If a friend sent you this and you’d like to sign up, click here.