You may not have noticed, but the House of Representatives, exhausted after working 72 days this year, quietly slipped out of town last week, anxious to tell constituents what a great job its members have been doing keeping food and fuel affordable while protecting peace in the world, and why they deserve to be sent back for another term.
Lawmakers spent a mere 383 hours in session this entire historically unproductive year and passed a mere 34 bills that became laws, according to Nolabels.org.
“It’s time for our members to go home to their districts and make the case to the American people,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) told reporters before his abrupt exodus decision. That’s what he said, but it’s not what he meant.
It was a transparent ploy to avoid having to vote on a fellow Republican colleague’s surprise resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie blindsided party leadership with his move. Many members of Congress have quietly told reporters and friends for months that they would like to be rid of Hegseth. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle consider him the most incompetent and vulnerable member of the Trump cabinet, especially now that four inept female colleagues have been fired or “voluntarily resigned.”
Massie’s resolution charges Hegseth with abuse of power, waging unauthorized hostilities in Iran and Yemen, committing war crimes in attacks on both Iranian civilians and drug boats near South America, suppression of free speech, attempts to intimidate and punish members of Congress, and kidnapping a foreign leader.
Johnson’s abrupt adjournment was good news for Hegseth because it prevented a mandatory vote within 48 hours. It is postponed until the lame-duck House returns November 9.
Johnson used a similar ploy when Massie and others introduced bipartisan legislation mandating release of the Epstein files. President Donald Trump, whose name appears in those documents more than 38,000 times, wanted the matter dropped. After Johnson’s extended recess failed, the legislation passed nearly unanimously, but the administration is still blocking the full release.
That helps explain why Trump personally went to Kentucky to campaign for Massie’s opponent, who eventually won. Incidentally, Massie has been an outspoken critic of Israel for years, and AIPAC and other Jewish groups also opposed his reelection.
But Massie will be back in November (the next Congress convenes January 3, 2027) with the rest of the lame duck Congress, and some of his Republican colleagues may feel freer to vote their conscience.
Democrats have several choices: vote to impeach now or table the motion and wait until next year, when they hope to be the majority. That will give them the ability to exercise the constitutional power of the purse and shape legislation and policy, now denied them as the minority in an intensely polarized Congress.
A Democratic Congress could then hold extensive oversight hearings, investigations, and public sessions where Hegseth will no longer have the protection of friendly chairmen and Trump loyalists.
During his confirmation hearings, senators raised Hegseth’s reputation for excessive drinking. He promised he would not drink “a single drop of alcohol” if confirmed. That could come up again.
Conduct of the Iran war will top the agenda. Hegseth seems more concerned with testosterone levels, facial hair, and waist-to-height measurements of soldiers than with planning for war. Lack of preparedness became obvious when Iranian drones and missiles soon crippled US bases in the Gulf region needed for resupply, reinforcement, and maintenance of American forces. More lives, aircraft, and facilities have been lost than the Pentagon admits. Poor planning has resulted in shortages of weapons, low morale, and mental health problems among the troops.
Hegseth's 'warrior ethos'
Hegseth seems to think leadership means strutting on a stage, lecturing real generals and admirals about his “warrior ethos.” He likes to toss around phrases like “maximum lethality” and “violent effect, not politically correct,” “we negotiate with bombs,” and “no quarter, no mercy for our enemies.” That latter doctrine is considered a war crime under international and US law.
Trump observed during a cabinet meeting that Hegseth “loves war.” Both prefer the more macho title “secretary of war” instead of the one established by law, “secretary of defense.”
Hegseth seems intent on waging war on several home fronts as well, including race, gender, religion, and the media.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) said his treatment of the media “demonstrated a lack of confidence.” “If you’re proud of your work product, you want press to ask you the tough questions and answer them. If you’re worried about it, then you box them out.”
The secretary, a product of the Trump farm team at Fox News, has compared the media to the biblical Pharisees, implying they are hypocritical, sanctimonious, and self-righteous for not adopting his positive attitude toward the Iran war.
A profile in The Atlantic noted Hegseth “has long stewed” that women and minority officers have been promoted because of their gender and race rather than their talent. Under his leadership, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all five service chiefs, and nine of the military’s 10 combatant commanders are white men, per The New York Times.
He has brought his brand of religious zealotry and Christian nationalism to the Pentagon, where he reportedly hosts monthly Evangelical worship services.
The war with Islamic Iran, in his view, is a religious crusade. In one Pentagon service, he called for the American people to pray for victory “every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.” He likened the rescue of an American pilot shot down over Iran to the Resurrection of Jesus.
He came under public ridicule for reciting a fake Bible verse from the movie Pulp Fiction during a Pentagon worship service.
Hegseth broke with another long-standing tradition when he made an unprecedented trip to Kentucky to campaign for Massie’s (ultimately victorious) opponent in the GOP primary, Ed Gallrein. He also campaigned in Iowa for Rep. Zach Nunn.
He recently addressed the National Religious Broadcasters Network, where “he advocated for Christianity to permeate government, and the National Rifle Association, where he argued for Americans’ ‘God-given right’ to bear arms,” The Atlantic reported.
Unlike previous defense secretaries, he seems to relish diving into partisan politics and divisive social issues.
Military Times reported such “extremely unusual” partisan campaigning violates the military’s “long-standing tradition of political neutrality.”
But Hegseth answers to a higher authority – ambition. The campaign trips are seen as dipping his toe into political waters, testing for a presidential dive of his own. The pool is getting crowded.
The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and former legislative director at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.