Pete Hegseth's Breakup With Trump Is Coming Faster Than A MAGA Minute

Pete Hegseth has long been a controversial member of Donald Trump's second administration, but with a number of reports claiming others in the military have raised concerns about his plans (and that his behavior is becoming increasingly erratic), we can't help but wonder if there's another Musk-Trump-esque breakup looming. Sips tea. 

ICYMI, the last few days of September 2025 weren't great for the Secretary of Defense, er, War. For one, a report from The Washington Post claimed that a number of military leaders were apprehensive about his proposed new National Defense Strategy, regarding which General Dan Caine was said to have "[given] Hegseth very frank feedback." Okay, so that's not exactly the end of the world — after all, there's always bound to be some debate when drafting a strategy. However, the insider further hinted that there was more to Caine's intervention. "I don't know if Hegseth even understands the magnitude of the NDS, which is why I think Caine tried so hard," they claimed. Ouch. 

Caine's criticism of Hegseth is interesting to note, given the general's closeness to Trump. In fact, Trump has long gushed over Caine, even lauding his appearance (obvs), referring to him as "right out of central casting" (via The Atlantic). Caine is also one of Trump's few appointees to have been widely accepted, thanks to his years on the job. With all that said, we couldn't not notice the parallels between the last days of the president's bromance with Elon Musk, who also butted heads with one of Trump's trusted appointees, Peter Navarro. Ofc, Musk ended up coming last in that particular love triangle, and their explosive bromance breakup came just months later. Screen goes black as "To be continued ..." fades in slowly. 

As some will know, the rumored tension between Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine isn't the only drama surrounding the Secretary of War to have come to light. Au contraire, just over a month prior to that particular story being published, The Washington Post had also shared insider claims that Hegseth seemed to be panicked over his personal security. One unnamed source from the Army's Criminal Investigations Division told the outlet of the protection surrounding Hegseth and his family, "I've never seen this many security teams for one guy. Nobody has." Others added that the budget for all that security was chipping away at the CID's funds, so much so, they claimed, that "we have complete inability to achieve our most basic missions." Unsurprisingly, backlash from MAGA-land was swift, with Florida congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna accusing The Washington Post of treason on X and calling for investigations into both the writer and their sources. This, despite the outlet specifying that they'd omitted any sensitive information in their write-up. 

Of course, a few weeks after The Washington Post's report, Charlie Kirk was killed – and speaking to the Daily Mail, a number of insiders claimed that Hegseth's existing anxieties skyrocketed, prompting his behavior to go from already erratic to even worse. Moreover, the sources claimed that in response to anyone who questioned him or his proposed National Defense Strategy, Hegseth had been throwing "full-blown tantrums." 

TBH, there's a chance Donald Trump has enjoyed watching the chaos play out. Like we said, though, we can't help but think we've seen this movie before. Either way, be sure to have your popcorn stash ready for when the chumminess between the president and his war secretary eventually does implode.