Pete Hegseth Is a Wrecking Ball

It is difficult to fathom the damage President Trump is doing to America's national security. He is making our nation more vulnerable than it has been at any time since the cloudiest days of the Cold War. Trump administration scandals come with such speed and frequency that it's easy to get lost in the weeds. One minute you're reading about potential war crimes in the Caribbean. The next moment there's a news alert about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's ongoing purge of generals. Then you click over and read a story about depleted stocks of some of America's most important munitions. That's a fraction of the havoc the administration has wrought. In a strange way, the very frequency of the scandals works to the administration's advantage. Each new story distracts us from the last one, and we don't have a minute to pause, take a deep breath and look at the whole picture. Let's take that deep breath now. Before I do, I want to be careful not to be too alarmist. Our military is still highly capable, and we have watched it successfully execute some extraordinarily difficult missions during Trump's second term. The capture of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and the rescue of two downed American airmen from the heart of Iran were remarkable feats of skill and courage. There are also signs that the Navy has been slowly, painstakingly making progress toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz — traffic through the strait is well below prewar averages, but some ships are getting through. Just as the Trump administration miscalculated when it launched its war on Iran, the Iranian regime may have miscalculated when it refused to cease hostilities after winning what would have been a decisive victory through the memorandum of understanding it negotiated with the United States. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.