It is very recent news, announced by the Wall Street Journal, that Pete Hegseth, selected by Donald Trump as a possible Secretary of Defence, will probably not be confirmed by the US Senate, which for the second time in a few days would be able to block a Trumpian nomination (the first had been Matt Gaetz, candidate for Attorney General).

As reported by Politico no more than a few hours ago, Hegseth is reportedly doing everything he can to save his nomination, but it would only take four dissenting Republican senators to blow his position (this is assuming, as seems likely, that all 47 Democratic senators vote against) and it appears that the former Fox host’s chances are steadily declining.

At the moment, as many as six senators, among them a close Trumpian like Lindsey Graham and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, have expressed strong doubts about the validity of the choice for an extremely powerful position in the US government, in charge of almost three million people including military and civilians, with a budget of almost one trillion dollars, practically half the entire Italian GDP.

The charges against Hegseth

There are several allegations and rumours swirling around: allegations of sexual harassment at a Republican conference in California in 2017, for which Hegseth reached a financial settlement with the prosecution that was not disclosed to Trump’s team; rumours describing him as a frequent drinker (even when he led the Concerned Veterans for America foundation); even, an incident where he is said to have climbed onto the bar of a strip club on a particularly heated evening chanting the chorus ‘Kill all Muslims’.

The role of Joni Ernst

Another person could be a thorn in Hegseth’s side, for reasons that go beyond those of character: it is Joni Ernst, Iowa senator and war veteran. Ernst would appear to have been very close to being appointed Secretary of Defence, although her candidature has been discarded (for now) partly because of her perhaps too ‘traditional’ positions on the use of the US military compared to those of the President.

The criticism of Hegseth would come from two fronts that are very important to Ernst: the accusations of harassment, an issue on which the senator has been fighting for a long time with a focus on the phenomenon in the military world; and the opposition to the employment of women in war operations expressed by Hegseth in his past role as a television presenter.

Trump’s staff strategy

It is difficult to understand how the president’s staff is moving, not least because the rumours coming in lead us from two opposite sides.

On the one hand, it seems that the Tycoon himself has been clear about his willingness to go ahead with Hegseth, even to the latter’s own account in an interview with Megyn Kelly, in which Trump himself is said to have called to say to continue fighting.

On the other hand, there are rumours that the transition team is working to find potential replacements, including Trump’s strongest rival in the last Republican primaries, Ron De Santis, currently governor of a state considered solid for the GOP such as Florida, who shares with the President-Elect the desire to pursue the anti-Woke battle within the US military.

Conclusions

In short, we will learn in the coming days whether Pete Hegseth, the alcoholic who doesn’t want women to fight, will succeed in becoming the head of the world’s largest military machine, or whether the Republican Party senators will block the nomination, proving for the second time in a few weeks (think of the Gaetz case) that the dynamic between Trump and the Republican Party is anything but a foregone conclusion and unbalanced in favour of the president-elect.