Trump gets a much-needed victory with Pete Hegseth’s impeachment stymied

President Donald Trump secured a much-need victory Tuesday when he gleefully celebrated Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s escaped impeachment – for now – after the House of Representatives effectively voted to shelve a resolution seeking his removal. Rebel Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie had filed articles of impeachment against Hegseth Monday, accusing him of “high crimes and misdemeanors” for waging the war with Iran without first securing congressional approval and of carrying out extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean by bombing alleged drug boats.However, with the chamber’s GOP majority still in place until January, the House voted 211-204 to pass the matter onto the Republican-led Judiciary Committee, where it is all but certain to languish.Trump has repeatedly expressed his support for Hegseth in recent days, saying it was “very unfair” to persecute him given the “success” of his tenure at the Pentagon and was quick to crow about the outcome.“The Democrats’ attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has miserably FAILED!” the president wrote joyfully on Truth Social. President Donald Trump’s endorsement rallies House Republicans around embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saving him from impeachment and giving the commander-in-chief a much-needed win (Getty)“Every single Republican, except Thomas Massie, a major LOSER, voted in favor of Pete. Again, Victories in Venezuela and Iran, the Best Recruitment Numbers in the History of the Military (Long waiting lists to get in!), and Spirit like rarely seen before led to the EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot. “The Democrats continue to weaponize and abuse the United States of America. They must be stopped!”A day earlier, Trump had called on Republicans to “Stand up for Pete!” via the same platform and, as it turned out, they did – leaving Democrats to seethe over the 11 members of their caucus who failed to show up and make the difference. The Hegseth vote was also a win for outgoing House speaker Mike Johnson, who had warned his colleagues that impeaching a defense secretary with the country at war was “a terrible, terrible look” that would only weaken the U.S. in the eyes of its enemies overseas.Hegseth himself was clearly encouraged by their support and filmed a six-minute video last week instructing members of the military to “ignore the noise” and dismissing events on Capitol Hill as a “sham” and nothing more than “political theater.” Outgoing Republican rebel congressman Thomas Massie had hoped to remove Hegseth from office by accusing him of prosecuting the Iran war unlawfully (Getty)He followed that with a defiant press briefing at the Department of Defense Tuesday morning at which he called Massie a “disgruntled and defeated congressman,” who was engaging in “a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment.” “It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt, and everybody knows it,” he said of the impeachment push, insisting his actions in office had been lawful and that the resolution only “tells our enemies, Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching, that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership.”The secretary is now safe until January 3 when the new Democratic-led 120th Congress begins, in which the opposition will lead the House and Senate with majorities of at least 255-167 and 54-44 respectively following last week’s stunning “blue wave” of victories, which saw them pick up wins even in states Trump previously won easily like Texas, Georgia and Michigan. Those results were so dire for the president that he barely had the energy to question their validity and was left scrambling for explanations that did not point squarely back to himself. Rather than offer an uncharacteristic mea culpa, Trump blamed his own candidates, his party’s economic messaging and Fox News for the disaster and, perhaps most shockingly, even congratulated Democrats on a well-fought campaign. Trump has cut a bewildered, remote figure since last week’s midterms defeat, reckoning with his newfound lame duck status (Getty)He cut a bewildered, remote figure in the immediate aftermath of Election Day, touring the construction site of his forthcoming White House ballroom – where the East Wing once stood – like a man struggling to come to terms with what had happened, retreating to his comfort zone rather than facing the music. He had done the same on the eve of the midterms, perhaps foreseeing the coming humiliation, when he summoned the press corps to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington to discuss its eventful renovation this summer, rather than deliver the rousing closing argument to undecided voters his candidates desperately hoped to hear. Trump did rally himself sufficiently by Friday to make a major change within his top team, replacing his long-serving chief of staff Susie Wiles with Stephen Miller, but has otherwise looked bereft of answers and in danger of drifting into a twilight of self-indulgence and irrelevance. However, his successful endorsement of Hegseth – who might have been an obvious scapegoat for an election decided by public opposition to the war, which even Vice President JD Vance has acknowledged – might just provide a shot in the arm and certainly serves as a reminder that, at least for now, he retains an iron grip over his shellshocked party. House Republicans banded together in unity behind the Trump banner, rather than give in to the temptation to deliver a sharp rebuke of their own to a president they have every reason to resent just now.