{"id":56606,"date":"2026-04-25T15:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T18:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/pete-hegseth-ranked-as-least-popular-cabinet-member-amid-iran-war-as-an-unlikely-successor-begs-trump-for-a-role\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T15:38:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T18:38:00","slug":"pete-hegseth-ranked-as-least-popular-cabinet-member-amid-iran-war-as-an-unlikely-successor-begs-trump-for-a-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/pete-hegseth-ranked-as-least-popular-cabinet-member-amid-iran-war-as-an-unlikely-successor-begs-trump-for-a-role\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth ranked as LEAST popular Cabinet member amid Iran war\u2026 as an unlikely successor &#8216;begs&#8217; Trump for a role"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"js-article-text\">\n<ul>\n<li class><strong>Politics is fast. We&#8217;re faster. Sign up to the DC Insider newsletter for a front-row seat to American politics&#8230; and unlock 3 FREE months of DailyMail+ <a class rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/link.news.dailymail.co.uk\/join\/dc-insider-sign-up?utm_source=dailymail.co.uk&#038;utm_medium=organic_editorial&#038;utm_campaign=conversion_newsletter&#038;utm_term=dcinsider_bullets&#038;utm_budgetpot=organic\">HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/profile-962\/jon-michael-raasch.html\">JON MICHAEL RAASCH, US POLITICAL REPORTER<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/follow?screen_name=JMRaasch&#038;tw_p=followbutton\"><span><\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n<p><span> <span>Published:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-04-25T18:40:05+0100\"> 13:40 EDT, 25 April 2026 <\/time> <\/span> | <span> <span>Updated:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-04-25T19:38:36+0100\"> 14:38 EDT, 25 April 2026 <\/time> <\/span> <\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of Secretary of War <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/media\/pete-hegseth\/index.html\" id=\"mol-2b605bd0-3f43-11f1-9e33-19b492b0d6bc\" class>Pete Hegseth<\/a>as the US war with <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/iran\/index.html\" id=\"mol-2b669d60-3f43-11f1-9e33-19b492b0d6bc\">Iran<\/a>nears its eighth week, and one ambitious Trump ally eyes the Pentagon post as his &#8216;dream job.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth has an abominable 32 percent approval rating, according to the latest Daily Mail\/JL Partners poll of over 1,000 US voters.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/the-pentagon\/index.html\" id=\"mol-cd096620-3f43-11f1-9e33-19b492b0d6bc\">Pentagon<\/a> boss&#8217;s disapproval rating is 39 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Though Hegseth is treading water with Republicans, garnering a 56 percent approval among <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/conservatives\/index.html\" id=\"mol-cd087bc0-3f43-11f1-9e33-19b492b0d6bc\">conservatives<\/a>, he is underwater with independents, with just over a quarter of them approving of his leadership, 26 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Over half of the Democratic respondents &#8211; 52 percent &#8211; disapprove of the Secretary&#8217;s job performance, while just 14 percent approve.<\/p>\n<p>Though a <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/white-house\/index.html\" id=\"mol-1eb065d0-3f4b-11f1-9e33-19b492b0d6bc\">White House<\/a> official told the Daily Mail that Hegseth continues to have a good relationship with the President, recent Cabinet-level firings have spurred reports that some of Trump&#8217;s allies, like <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/florida\/index.html\" id=\"mol-1eafc990-3f4b-11f1-9e33-19b492b0d6bc\">Florida<\/a> Governor Ron <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/ron-desantis\/index.html\" id=\"mol-1ea8c4b0-3f4b-11f1-9e33-19b492b0d6bc\">DeSantis<\/a>, may be gunning for what could be soon-to-be-vacant positions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Ron was begging me to be AG,&#8217; Trump told a confidant recently after having lunch with the Governor in Florida, Axios reported.<\/p>\n<p>Another source told the outlet that &#8216;DeSantis is 100 percent not interested in the AG job, but he would be interested in two things: War secretary or Supreme Court, which would be his dream job.&#8217;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has just a 32 percent approval rating, according to the latest Daily Mail\/JL Partners poll<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>President Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis is reportedly interested in becoming the next Secretary of War<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>DeSantis himself recently said he&#8217;s &#8216;got more in the tank,&#8217; when asked about his future after his second term as Governor ends.<\/p>\n<p>When pressed by journalistGraham Bensinger about reports he was considered to lead the Pentagon after the 2024 election, the Governor said he was never asked. <\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It&#8217;s never anything I&#8217;ve aspired to do, but at the same time, I&#8217;m a service-oriented guy, like, if I can be beneficial. So I would never rule anything out.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The Pentagon boss has been one of Trump&#8217;s most aggressive advocates for the Iran war, describing its Revolutionary Guard Corps as a &#8216;gang of pirates with a flag.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth held an on-camera briefing with reporters on Friday morning, claiming that the US retains control of the Strait of Hormuz and issuing a stark warning to Iran.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;If Iran is putting mines in the water, or otherwise threatening American commercial shipping or American forces, we will shoot to destroy,&#8217; he pledged.<\/p>\n<p>Even if Trump does replace Hegseth, there are concerns among GOP lawmakers about the timing of any more Cabinet departures.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The number of working days are very limited,&#8217; Senator Thom Tillis recently told Politico of the amount of time left to get Senate-confirmed Cabinet members through the Republican controlled Senate.<\/p>\n<p><span>&#8216;You just do the math. It&#8217;s a very compressed schedule.&#8217;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Another unnamed GOP Senator revealed that Trump&#8217;s mood has soured on some Cabinet members, and that he&#8217;s readying for more firings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8216;He&#8217;s in a bad mood, so he&#8217;s letting a lot of them go,&#8217; the Senator said. &#8216;He&#8217;s preparing to really let a lot of them go.&#8217;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>                                                                                                                                  <ad-slot position=\"smart_feed\"><\/ad-slot>                                                                <ad-slot position=\"after_article\"><\/ad-slot>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Politics is fast. We&#8217;re faster. Sign up to the DC Insider newsletter for a front-row seat to American politics&#8230; and unlock 3 FREE months of DailyMail+ HERE By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 13:40 EDT, 25 April 2026 | Updated: 14:38 EDT, 25 April 2026 Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of Secretary of War Pete [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-donald-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}