A self-wedgie

Hello there,

In December, as Pete Hegseth struggled to win over critics ahead of his confirmation process, Donald Trump rallied to his defense. Hegseth, who would go on to be confirmed as defense secretary, had a “military state of mind”, Trump said, and was a “great student”.

Tall and preppy, with a perma-smirk, slicked back hair and a penchant for doing push-ups in public, Hegseth certainly has the air of a 1950s high school bully, although perhaps not a great scholar. But the only person he has been wedgie-ing recently is himself, as Hegseth has committed a series of blunders that, according to some reports, could see him be the first senior Trump figure to be booted from the administration.

Already under fire after sharing sensitive attack plans in a Signal chat that included the editor of the Atlantic magazine, it emerged over the weekend that Hegseth had also shared the plans, which reportedly included flight schedules of the planes that would bomb Houthi targets in Yemen, in a group chat that included his wife and his brother.

It’s a mess of Hegseth’s own making, and one the former Fox & Friends host can ill afford, given that questions about his suitability have dogged him ever since Trump nominated him to the cabinet. During his confirmation hearing we heard that Hegseth was known to drink to excess, and once took former employees to a strip club, where he got so drunk he tried to get on stage with the strippers. It also emerged that Hegseth paid a $50,000 settlement to a woman who accused him in 2017 of sexually assaulting her. Hegseth has denied the accusation.

On Tuesday NPR reported that Trump “has begun the process” of looking for a replacement for Hegseth, although the White House swiftly denied the report, describing NPR, which is not a propaganda machine, as a “propaganda machine”.

In the meantime, Hegseth has rounded on his advisers, firing three of them, and while experts have told the Guardian Hegseth’s behavior “has weakened the Pentagon in the eyes of its foreign adversaries and made him and his entourage a top espionage target”.

According to CNN, Trump is not currently looking to fire Hegseth, and at the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday Trump declared, as jaunty brass band music played in the background, that he had “great confidence” in Hegseth.

But Trump has said things like this before, only to fire people soon after. Could Hegseth be the first senior official to go? Either way, it seems that having uneven sideburns is the least of Hegseth’s problems.

As far as I can tell, no one seriously thinks JD Vance had anything to do with the death of Pope Francis. But the optics were terrible for the US vice-president, who is already a widely loathed figure (a poll in March found that just 14% of British people have a positive view of Vance).

In any case, as people around the world mourn the death of the Pope, at least one person is excited to see the head of the Catholic church be committed to his grave.

“Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome. We look forward to being there!” Trump posted this week.