Fox News media personality and military veteran Pete Hegseth appears to have the bumpiest road to confirmation so far among President-elect Donald Trump‘s nominees for top positions in his second administration.
Hegseth, whose qualifications for Secretary of Defense were already considered a stretch by historical standards, is now also facing questions about his personal conduct that are causing reservations even among some Trump loyalists in the Senate.
Rumors abound about who might replace Hegseth, if Trump’s first choice is unable to dispel doubts about his fitness for the post. Who will be the Pam Bondi of the DOD? is one way the situation is being talked about, referring to Trump’s pick to replace his short-lived nomination of former Congressman Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General.
So far the rumor mill has tossed up three plausible candidates, all veterans who have demonstrated fealty to Trump and who have been elected to public office, a sign that they likely won’t face the kind of confirmation challenges that Hegseth is looking at.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who can’t run again for Governor in 2026 due to term limits, would likely see easy Senate confirmation, though as a Trump challenger in the GOP primary he showed a desire to want to step out of Trump’s shadow — not a quality the President-elect appreciates.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), a combat veteran, would also likely pass muster with the Republican-majority Senate. She too, however, might be deemed insufficiently MAGA — though she has been firmly seated on the Trump train recently.
News: In addition to DeSantis & Ernst, Trump transition team also looking at *Wesley Hunt* for SecDef, per source familiar. Hunt formally vetted this fall but Rs had concerns about House margins
— Sarah Ferris (@sarahnferris) December 4, 2024
Johnson's majority already down to 217-215 in early '25 thanks to Cabinet picks
The sleeper pick — and Trump enjoys the element of surprise — would be the 43-year-old U.S. Military Academy graduate and Ivy League-educated (Cornell Masters degrees) retired Army Captain Wesley Hunt, who CNN’s Sarah Ferris reports was vetted in the fall. A U.S. Congressman from Texas who flew helicopters during his deployment during the Iraq war, Hunt is nearly the same age as the 44-year-old Hegseth. DeSantis is 46. Ernst is 54.
