Trump is reportedly considering replacing Hegseth with DeSantis

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vowed to take on the “woke” military during his failed 2024 presidential campaign. Now, if he replaces Fox News host Pete Hegseth as President-elect Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense, he would have the opportunity to implement that policy.

On Tuesday evening, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was considering replacing Hegseth — whose nomination has been jeopardized by allegations of sexual assault and reports of problematic workplace behavior — with DeSantis, an ally turned rival in 2024. It would be a shocking turnaround for Trump, who usually does not give political enemies a second chance.

Trump endorsed DeSantis over another Republican when the Republican congressman ran for governor in 2018, but turned on him — nicknamed “DeSanctimonious” — when the Florida governor challenged him for the White House. But the two men share similar goals when it comes to the military — namely getting rid of the Pentagon’s DEI policies — diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Florida governor’s bid for the Pentagon leadership received support from Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, but with a caveat. “I’ll consider a YES to him if he finally admits he has 4-inch shoes,” Fetterman wrote to X.

Fetterman drew attention to a conspiracy theory about DeSantis that emerged during his misguided presidential bid — that the 6-foot-2 governor wore hidden heels. DeSantis denied the accusation during an October 2023 podcast interview.

“No, no, no, they’re just standard, off-the-shelf Lucchese,” said DeSantis, spotlighting a popular cowboy boot brand. So far, Hegseth has denied that he is considering walking away from the nomination to head the Pentagon. And DeSantis is not a sure replacement.

The Journal reported that other names have been put forward, including Elbridge Colby, a Trump-appointed Pentagon official who is an ally of newly elected Vice President J.D. Vance, as well as Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, who would make history as the first female defense minister. . Moreover, Trump’s new chief of staff, Susie Wiles, has had bad blood with DeSantis after she helped him win the governorship and was subsequently ousted from his inner circle of advisers.

Wiles told a reporter at the Atlantic that working for DeSantis was the “biggest mistake” she had ever made in her career and she wanted him to feel the pain for throwing her away. She did so with Trump’s easy victory in the 2024 Republican primaries. Trump was so dominant in the Iowa caucuses that DeSantis fled to South Carolina in an attempt to steal support from Trump’s other major challenger, the former UN ambassador . Nikki Haley, before announcing he was quitting two days before the New Hampshire primary.

DeSantis burned more than $160 million of his donors’ money to survive just one primary. The Florida governor was a Navy JAG while attending Harvard Law School. He later supported operations at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, deployed to Iraq as part of the 2007 “surge” and supported the Navy SEAL mission in Fallujah. He has a Bronze Star and an Iraq Campaign Medal.

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