Pete Hegseth ‘emboldened’ by firing of top military officials as he moves to ‘consolidate control’: report

2026-05-02 22:34 UTC

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has become “emboldened” after ousting some of the military’s most senior officials as he moves to “consolidate control” at the Pentagon, according to a report. The firing of Navy Secretary John Phelan and the Army’s chief of staff Gen. Randy George was part of Hegseth’s reported pursuit to “consolidate control” of the Pentagon, leaving him “more confident than ever in his job,” The Washington Post reports. Despite concerns from those in President Donald Trump’s inner circle, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Hegseth appears to have secured his standing within the administration amid a turbulent first year in office, the newspaper reports. “All the power has been taken away from the uniforms and 100 percent gone to the political appointees,” one official told the Post. Phelan was removed on April 22 shortly after voicing concerns to lawmakers regarding what he characterized as a “land grab” by Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, according to the newspaper.

Replies (9)

@FederatedFreedom1981@lemmy.ca 2026-05-02 23:23

This consolidation of control is to overturn the election results later this year in a coup.

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@Dragomus@lemmy.world 2026-05-02 23:49

What was that about the army being politically neutral? This will be quite the ride in 2028 when trump won't go away.

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@pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 2026-05-02 23:00

How you doing Republicans, feeling safe in this world you created?

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@switcheroo@lemmy.world 2026-05-03 02:40

Gotta fill those spots with more sycophants and morons. Gotta love the fact if some other country did decide to attack us, the mushroom-fluffers would have no idea what to fucking do. They'd probably end up bombing US, the citizens. Fucking disgraceful. Hope the military is happy that they get to go fight fake wars for the Epstein class and die to cover up the pedophiles in office.

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@nymnympseudonym@piefed.social 2026-05-02 23:09

I just can't help seeing Hegseth as Soltan Gris, the incompetent drunk alien CIA operative who manages to lie, embezzle, and grift himself to riches on the planet he is meant to be saving L Ron Hubbard was a rapist and a grifter. But NEGL his [Mission Earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Earth_(novel_series)) is a *great* read (yes, all 10 books of it) and it's **insane** how relevant it is under Trump 2.0 ![image](https://media.piefed.social/posts/pT/F5/pTF5lJAt40n6u1l.png)

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@watson387@sopuli.xyz 2026-05-02 23:11

This is all totally normal. Nothing strange about any of this. This is all just to keep USAmericans safe.

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@NatakuNox@lemmy.world 2026-05-03 04:31

Drug test Pete! Dude is drunk off his ass 24/7 and gets to call in drone strikes.

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@SabinStargem@lemmy.today 2026-05-04 06:31

I hope to someday see this traitor swinging from the gallows. Hopefully with a priest excommunicating him, moments before.

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@FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 2026-05-03 23:26

The Untied States continues to march towards dictatorship. If only there was some way it could have been foreseen.

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