Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth may soon be out, and insiders say he could be the very first head to roll in President Donald Trump’s second term. The warning shot came from The Daily Beast’s Washington bureau chief David Gardner, who says the Pentagon boss’s tenure is on life support after months of missteps, messy leaks, and a media meltdown that has the press corps bolting from the building.
Hegseth still has a government paycheck, for now, but the clock appears to be ticking. Gardner told interviewer Joanne Coles that Trump vowed to avoid the revolving door chaos of his first term, promising cabinet secretaries a full year to prove they could deliver. That grace period, Gardner suggested, is about to expire. “Watch out for January and Pete Hegseth,” he said, predicting the Pentagon chief will not make it much past the first anniversary.
Set a one-year runway, put every top official in a loyalty bake off, then see who actually performs. Daily Beast political reporter Sarah Ewall Wice argued the framework looks intentional, if you say early that your cabinet picks are not long term, you force them to compete for attention and prove absolute loyalty from day one. In that kind of survival game, performance is only half the test, the other half is whether you are the president’s favorite.
On that scorecard, insiders paint Hegseth as faltering. Gardner has been blunt, calling the defense secretary “bottom of the list in terms of efficiency and top of the list in terms of suck ups.” While Hegseth publicly thunders for the MAGA crowd, he is reportedly taking a back seat in real decision making, ceding the spotlight to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is said to be the current apple of Trump’s eye. One anecdote making the rounds has Hegseth routed to a separate plane during a recent Middle East swing, the kind of not-so-subtle body language that Washington reads as a pink slip in motion.
All of it is unfolding against a worsening fight with the press that has lit up every Pentagon hallway. In an extraordinary standoff, longtime defense reporters surrendered their credentials after a new Department of Defense memo attempted to ban the publication of unclassified information without explicit permission. The Pentagon Press Association called it a direct threat to national security reporting, claiming the policy would criminalize basic journalism and expose reporters to prosecution for doing their jobs. In a searing statement, the PPA called October 15, 2025, a dark day for press freedom and a warning siren about transparency at the world’s most powerful military.
Hegseth is trying to steady the building while veteran correspondents walk out, congressional oversight heats up, and leaks pour forth about internal rifts. The more the media fight dominates the narrative, the harder it becomes to showcase wins, and the easier it is for rivals to whisper that the Pentagon is off balance under his watch.
The White House is staying mum, and the Pentagon is not confirming any timeline. A one year checkpoint is approaching, and the president has never been shy about dramatic exits. If Gardner’s read is right, Hegseth is heading for the trapdoor, a first casualty in a cabinet built to compete, to flatter, and to survive. In this reality show government, the only metric that matters is whether the boss is still entertained. On that measure, Hegseth’s finale may already be in post production.
