The threat of resignation loomed over two people from Donald Trump’s entourage, with whom the US president had high hopes. The American media is predicting the imminent departure of the head of the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, and the head of the Department for Improving Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk. Both too often become the heroes of scandalous stories and, objectively, work to reduce Trump’s already falling rating. A serious argument against their resignations is the president’s firm belief that personnel organizational withdrawals should not be made under public pressure.
Trump had to personally stand up for the defense minister. On Monday, April 21, he told reporters that Hegseth was “doing a great job” and had not lost the president’s trust.
On this basis, it is impossible to conclude that the clouds have cleared over the head of the Pentagon. Since his first term as president, Trump has been very reluctant to admit his mistakes, including personnel ones. If an official’s resignation is publicly demanded, it is a guarantee that he will not resign from his post, at least immediately. His resignation should look like a conscious decision by Trump, conditioned only by his own will, even if there is no other way out but to get rid of the official who made a mistake.
And Hegseth made a big mistake. The noise from the unsecured Signal messenger chat, where, as it turned out, the White House security forces were discussing the planning of military operations in Yemen, did not have time to subside, as a new scandal broke out. The New York Times reported on April 20 that last month, Hegseth posted top secret information in a chat with his wife Jennifer, brother Phil, and his lawyer Tim Parlatore – a flight schedule for American fighter jets attacking Yemeni Houthi positions. This failure is entirely his. Michael Waltz, Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security, decided to discuss military operations through Signal. For some reason, he added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, who made the whole story public. Now Hegseth is not an accomplice, but the initiator of an emergency similar to the previous one. If his brother and lawyer are Pentagon employees, which means that there is some way to explain why the minister introduces them to classified information, then Jennifer Hegseth is a Fox news producer. The fact that this TV channel sympathizes with Trump, while The Atlantis, on the contrary, opposes the president, does not change the essence of the matter.
On Tuesday, April 22, on Fox news, Hegseth tried to convince Americans of the opposite. He shifted the focus to the fact that the changes he initiated at the Pentagon (optimizing employees and expenses) cause understandable resistance, which leads to attempts to discredit the minister. “I don’t have time for a pseudo–press that peddles old stories of disgruntled employees,” Hegseth said.
Meanwhile, the press is reporting on personnel changes at the Pentagon. At least there will be a new chief of staff who will ensure that there are no more leaks to the media. Not only American journalists, but also congressmen are wondering if the head of the Pentagon will cope with his duties if, having barely formed his team, he has to change it. This, of course, will weaken Hegseth’s hardware position. It was not without hesitation that he was confirmed in his position. Congressmen were confused by everything about this candidacy: Hegseth’s lack of necessary experience (the post usually offered to generals went to a retired major who commanded a maximum company), his beliefs, and even tattoos befitting right-wing radicals, not a minister. John Bolton, a critic of the president and his former national security aide, either goading Trump or stating the fact, told CNN that the head of the Pentagon was not in danger. Although he has proven his professional worth, he is loyal to Trump, and for that, this is the main thing. Bolton considers the promise, repeated many times during the election campaign, to easily part with incompetent officials to be just words.
Whether this is true or not, it will become clear soon. The rating of the president, and with him the entire Republican Party, is falling, and the Democrats have already begun preparations for the midterm congressional elections in 2026. They are determined to take at least one of the chambers away from Trump. Their task will be simplified if the president stubbornly does not surrender his own, even if they are too scandalized.
The time of resignations in the Trump team may begin not with Hegseth, but with Musk. There are many complaints about him, and among supporters of both the Democratic and Republican parties. In addition, according to The Washington Post, Musk himself wants to leave his post. Allegedly, this will happen on May 30, when Trump simply will not confirm him as head of DOGE. However, there are few signs that even in this case, Musk will leave the presidential entourage. He is still one of the few whose opinion Trump values.
Of course, the president’s team has other candidates for retirement – the same Waltz or Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The latter has not yet had any failures, but ideologically he is not close to Trump. Rubio is one of the adherents of the old Republican foreign policy line, which comes from Ronald Reagan, part of which is the fight against protectionism, strengthening ties with NATO allies and hostile or skeptical attitude towards all authoritarian regimes. Therefore, if anything happens, Trump will part with him relatively easily.
The resignation of the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristy Noem, is also possible, because she, too, got into the scandal out of the blue. According to CNN, on Sunday night, during a dinner at a restaurant, thieves stole a purse with a driver’s license, money and, most importantly, credentials for access to the ministry. Of course, these are not secret military plans, but they are also grounds for doubts about the official’s professionalism.
