After months of standing behind President Donald Trump’s Pentagon chief, Republican senators are now openly questioning Hegseth’s leadership as the war with Iran drags on, military leaders are pushed out, and frustration grows over what many now see as an increasingly costly and directionless conflict.
The sharpest rebuke came from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who declared that Hegseth has completely lost his confidence.
“I don’t have any confidence in him anymore,” Tillis told The Hill. “I think he’s all over the place.”
Tillis accused Hegseth of forcing respected military leaders into retirement, trying to control every corner of the Pentagon, and creating a toxic atmosphere inside the Defense Department.
“I think he’s got a massive insecurity complex, he has a lack of experience in large organizations, he micromanages too much,” Tillis said. “He’s lost my confidence.”
The retiring senator went even further, comparing the internal turmoil at the Pentagon to Game of Thrones.
“Everybody knows about some of the Game of Thrones stuff going on with some of the other service secretaries and Hegseth,” Tillis said. “It seems like he wants to run the whole place.”
Perhaps most damaging, Tillis suggested he’s hardly alone.
“I think some of my Republican colleagues are probably one decision or another away” from publicly breaking with Hegseth, he said.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) also voiced concern, calling Hegseth’s dismissal of Gen. Christopher Donahue—the Army’s top commander for Europe and Africa—”deeply troubling.”
The growing Republican backlash comes as the Iran war shows no sign of ending and lawmakers become increasingly uneasy over its price tag. The conflict has already cost an estimated$37.5 billion, and Hegseth recently appeared before the Senate asking Congress to approve even more emergency funding.
That request may now face a tougher road.
Republican Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) and Joni Ernst (Iowa) warned that the American public is growing weary of a conflict that has become what critics increasingly describe as a quagmire. Both senators also raised concerns about mounting costs, a lack of transparency, and confusion over the number of U.S. casualties.
Some Republicans have also faulted Hegseth for failing to anticipate Iran’s response to Operation Epic Fury. After the U.S. airstrikes, Tehran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices soaring and intensifying economic pressure worldwide.
Hegseth dismissed the criticism during a contentious Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week, angrily rejecting claims that the war has gone off the rails.
“Shame on you and others who call this a quagmire and a failure and want to turn around and say you want to support the warfighters,” Hegseth snapped at Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.).
Not every Republican is abandoning him. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) insisted the U.S. military still has enough leverage to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz without making major concessions.
But with Republican senators now openly questioning Hegseth’s judgment, criticizing the chaos inside the Pentagon, and warning that the Iran war has become a costly quagmire, the defense secretary is facing something that may prove more politically dangerous than Democratic opposition: a growing revolt from within his own party.
