We agree with Vice President JD Vance that the push to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is a costume for a case that is absurd.
JD Vance on X just hours before a House vote today called the question of whether Secretary of War Pete Hegseth committed impeachable crimes absurd and answered it for the record — no. More, he explained that impeachment had become a farce to distract from real policy and that instead of actually working to pass legislation that they disagree with, Congress has instead determined that impeachment is easy and thus a substitute for policy, as it was with Donald Trump.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky introduced a privileged resolution with eight articles today. The articles address the war with Iran, airstrikes against suspected drug running ships, Yemen, the capture of Nicolas Maduro, and a fight with Sen. Mark Kelly over civilian casualties. The Hill reports that House Republican leaders intend to kill the measure, while Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has said Hegseth has got to go.
This is what really matters. Legislators are most angry at Secretary Hegseth on the issues where he is most correct. He has taken a number of correct positions on how to reposition the military to focus on the real threats, not reflexively sending troops to fight a war in Europe or in Ukraine. And he has correctly taken on the Pentagon bureaucracy, especially in terms of the general officer corps.
In short, all of this is a fight about who runs the Department of War. The old guard views the Department of War as nothing more than a European garrison and a promotion board for outdated doctrine related to the last war. Secretary Hegseth has attempted to move forces off of such missions and to clear out senior personnel who defend such a status quo. These are the real offenses that are dressed up in the costume of an Iran debate as if such a hearing constituted oversight.
There is a separate process for Congress to declare a war. Congress can cut off funding for a war. Congress can demand that the Secretary seek authority to wage war. Members can put their vote on record by voting on authorizing legislation for specific conflicts. A privileged resolution listing eight separate and distinct charges is the opposite of work. And it is easy work at that.
While Secretary of War Hegseth rejected the impeachment bid earlier today at a Pentagon press conference and said he would carry out the same operations again, and President Trump has called the effort unfair, neither of those is the argument. It is the argument of Vice President JD Vance that the impeachment is a show and the people who have lost this argument are trying to win it as a show.
