Rep. Sarah McBride didn't hold back this week when asked about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's tenure at the Pentagon: he's fought culture wars instead of doing his job, and it's making the country less safe.
In an interview with Meidas Touch reporter Pablo Manríquez, McBride was asked point-blank whether it's time to impeach Hegseth. Her answer came without a pause: "Absolutely."
What McBride Said
McBride, a Delaware Democrat and the first openly transgender member of Congress, described Hegseth as a man who can't stand being around anyone who might outshine him. "He is someone who is willing to pursue an ideological agenda at all costs, no matter how much it leaves our nation and our military weaker and less secure," she said.
Pete Hegseth cannot handle having anyone who is smarter than him around him, which is why we're seeing him fire generals, why we see people resigning who have more qualifications than him.
Sarah McBride
She wasn't the only Democrat to answer Manríquez's question without hesitation. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove said impeachment is warranted "every day of the week," and Rep. Becca Balint, who is openly gay, said it's "long past time," citing Vermont National Guard families who told her they're embarrassed by Hegseth and don't trust his leadership.
The Case for Impeachment
McBride noted she was among the earliest House members to support the impeachment resolution Rep. Yassamin Ansari filed in April. That measure lays out six articles centered on Hegseth's conduct around U.S. strikes in Iran, including the unauthorized disclosure of classified information and strikes Ansari says amounted to unlawful military action against civilians, among them a girls' school in Minab. Nine other House Democrats joined McBride and Ansari in cosponsoring the resolution.
Ansari's case against Hegseth extends beyond Iran. The Defense Secretary has also faced scrutiny for sharing sensitive operational details about strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in a private Signal chat that, in one instance, accidentally included a journalist. The Pentagon's own inspector general later found Hegseth had jeopardized troop safety and violated department policy. Separately, Democrats accused him of ordering an unlawful second strike on survivors of an earlier attack on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, a strike critics have called a war crime.
"Every single day, it seems like Pete Hegseth does something that is impeachable in and of itself," Ansari told Manríquez, adding that Pentagon leaders themselves have voiced serious concern and continue leaving the department.
A Pattern of Departures
That last point landed with extra weight this week, after Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned. Sources told CNN Driscoll had long clashed with Hegseth and worried the Secretary was hollowing out military readiness by pushing out competent generals. Other defense officials have complained that Hegseth spends more time cultivating a macho image than addressing actual readiness, with one telling CNN Hegseth talks about "muscles, dudes in dresses, testosterone" instead of the issues that matter.
That framing echoes comments Hegseth made in a speech just last week, where he tied his push to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs directly to trans troops, saying the military's new focus is "no more DEI. It means no more tr**nies, just training," alongside a vow to make the force "colorblind, gender-neutral, merit-based."
Our Read
Framing trans service members as an obstacle to "lethality" isn't a policy argument, it's a scapegoat, and it's one that's coincided with real turnover among the officers actually responsible for keeping troops safe. McBride's critique lands because she's pointing at outcomes, not just optics: generals fired, a service secretary resigning, an inspector general confirming a classified information breach. Whatever you think of impeachment's odds in a GOP-controlled House, the underlying complaint, that a Pentagon chief seems more consumed with performing strength than building it, deserves to be taken seriously rather than dismissed as just another Washington feud.
What Comes Next
With Republicans holding a narrow House majority, Ansari's impeachment articles have almost no realistic path to a vote this Congress. But the steady drip of resignations, watchdog findings and on-record criticism from lawmakers like McBride, Kamlager-Dove and Balint suggests the pressure campaign isn't going away, even if the outcome Democrats want isn't coming anytime soon.
Source: LGBTQ Nation
Cover photo: Ike Hayman, House Creative Services, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
