Pete Hegseth Wracked by 'Paranoia' About Being Fired, Trump Administration Official Claims
Source: MEDIAite
Apr 3rd, 2026, 6:34 pm
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is increasingly consumed by paranoia over the possibility he could be pushed out and replaced by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, according to a Friday report in the New York Post.
The report, citing current and former administration officials, said Hegseths anxiety about Driscolls standing inside President Donald Trumps orbit helped drive this weeks abrupt ouster of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, along with Gen. David Hodne and Maj. Gen. William Green.
This is all driven by the insecurity and paranoia that Pete has developed since Signalgate. Unfortunately, it is stoked by some of his closest aides who should be trying to calm the waters, one official told the Post, referring to Hegseths March 2025 group chat scandal involving national security officials and an accidentally included reporter. According to a source close to the Trump administration, Hegseth has become fixated on Driscoll as a possible successor.
[Hegseth] has got a big conflict with Driscoll. And hes been told by the White House he cant fire Driscoll, at least for the moment, the source told the Posts Steven Nelson. [Hegseth] is very concerned about being fired, and he knows that Driscoll is one of the top contenders, or a natural contender, to succeed him. So what Pete has been doing is taking anyone he perceives to be close with Driscoll and going after them, the source continued.
Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/pete-hegseth-wracked-by-paranoia-about-being-fired-trump-administration-official-claims/
The women will go first although with the latest lost aircraft, his odds have put him somewhere on the radar.
True Dough
(26,716 posts)real again!
AverageOldGuy
(3,869 posts)Pete needs a couple of drinks to calm his nerves.
Harker
(17,808 posts)displacedvermoter
(4,554 posts)in the region and we have to house troops in downtown office buildings, all because we can't protect our troops and facilities from Iranian air attacks should make him paranoid!
Obviously, shit canning the Army's senior chaplain and letting military members and their dependents open carry at the NCO Club will help the situation, though.
BumRushDaShow
(169,909 posts)because that is top priority!!1!!1!!11!
liberalgunwilltravel
(1,219 posts)Is likely more sinister than people are considering. I suspect the reason underlying this move is to arm the existing fascist and the new fascist recruits in the military allowing them, at some point, to eliminate the officers who are deemed insufficiently loyal to the Führer. I know this sounds crazy, but this junta is crazy. Put nothing past them.
niyad
(132,534 posts)but I can see exactly what you are saying.
liberalgunwilltravel
(1,219 posts)displacedvermoter
(4,554 posts)but having lived on military bases in half a dozen places, including time as an AF Security Policeman, my immediate concern is the number of shootings of military personnel, their families, and various other folks who work there.
Lots of drinking, lots of stressful and potentially dangerous jobs, lots of domestic issues, and, unfortunately, military leadership at the highest levels who seem to like physical violence as a management tool.
Expect, soon, incidents like you see in the rest of the nation. There will be a mass shooting of some sort on a military installation, sooner than later, once the policy is fully implemented.
liberalgunwilltravel
(1,219 posts)I agree with you analysis. However, Whiskey Pete doesn't think things like that through. It's all about maximum "lethality" of anyone who opposes him or Trump. And this policy, coupled with his firing of top generals and JAGs, suggests a motive.
displacedvermoter
(4,554 posts)stupid enough when they have had a skinful, and for various victims of domestic violence (men, women, children of all ages) that we know exist. It will result in trouble, this I believe.
Undoubtedly, you are correct as well. They think nothing through, care not a fig about consequences, and are always up to no good.
cbabe
(6,656 posts)The Fort Bragg Cartel: Book Exposes U.S. Special Forces Involvement in Drug Trafficking & Murder
STORYAUGUST 14, 2025
As President Trump threatens to use U.S. special forces against drug cartels abroad, a new book, The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces, reveals some of the most secretive and elite special forces in the Army are heavily involved in narcotrafficking themselves.
Theres at least 14 cases that Im tracking of Fort Bragg-trained soldiers who have been either arrested, apprehended or killed in the course of trafficking drugs in the last five years or so, says author Seth Harp. The book also looks at how U.S. military intervention often stimulates drug production, including in Afghanistan, which he says became the biggest narco-state in the world during the 20-year U.S. occupation. Most of the drug trafficking and drug production was being carried out and done by warlords, police chiefs, militia commanders, who were on the U.S. payroll in a corrupt structure, says Harp.
full transcript and audio at link
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730414/the-fort-bragg-cartel-by-seth-harp/
The Fort Bragg Cartel
Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces
By Seth Harp
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A New Yorker Best Book of 2025
A Forbes Best True Crime Book of 2025
Probably the most gripping, memorable, eye-opening book Ive read in months. David Wallace-Wells, The New York Times
FalloutShelter
(14,482 posts)Sounds like planning of a junta.
moniss
(9,061 posts)or other rifle on base. When I first saw that a couple of days ago the first thought I had was how long before a disaster.
Javaman
(65,734 posts)Piss drunk Pete is so in over his head that hes panicking
purr-rat beauty
(1,261 posts)Out of a 5 story window or behind the head?
Either or is ok with me, the guy is a maniacal traitor
liberalgunwilltravel
(1,219 posts)Off topic, but Go Bills!
BumRushDaShow
(169,909 posts)Alternately -

liberalgunwilltravel
(1,219 posts)Should read the history of fragging. Its coming to a theater near him soon, either figuratively or literally.
dalton99a
(94,230 posts)niyad
(132,534 posts)May you, and your enablers and supporters, receive everything you, and they, deserve.
usonian
(25,397 posts)In the brig for life.
With a Rubik's grenade.
Quick!

LisaL
(47,426 posts)really are after you.
COL Mustard
(8,239 posts)"Young Fool, Only Now, At The End, Do You Understand."
Bayard
(29,731 posts)Makes him more dangerous. He will do anything to stay in trump's good graces.
Wonder Why
(7,051 posts)mercuryblues
(16,428 posts)and these kinds of stories are nonstop, Trump fires them. Not because they are horrible people, but they take attention away from Trump.
republianmushroom
(22,343 posts)Deminpenn
(17,521 posts)nt
aeromanKC
(3,894 posts)🍿
Turbineguy
(40,088 posts)DBoon
(25,004 posts)And some of us thought Dr. Strangelove was satire.
buzzycrumbhunger
(1,944 posts)Im sure hes got nothing to worry about.

underpants
(196,549 posts)Youre good with me, but I have a mission for you both. 😳
I was just about to post that pic.
moniss
(9,061 posts)more like it.
Turbineguy
(40,088 posts)Otherwise he has nothing to worry about.