Hegseth Still Needs to Go—And No Free Pass for Whoever Comes Next

Pete Hegseth still needs to be run out of town. And when he goes, he should make history. But it matters what kind.

History has a habit of remembering scapegoats as footnotes, a name attached to a failure the system quietly outlived. Hegseth shouldn't be that. For waging war without congressional authorization and presiding over grave violations of humanitarian law, let's make him a precedent, not a sacrificial lamb.

On Tuesday evening, House Republicans voted to prevent even that first step toward accountability. By 211 to 204, the House sent the impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee, effectively shelving it. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY.), who brought the charges, was the only Republican to oppose the maneuver.

Tuesday's vote postponed accountability. It did not answer the charges, and it should not end the organizing.

The campaign must continue now, with a demand that the new Congress revive impeachment in January. And it must reach beyond Hegseth. Removing him would deserve celebration. But a victory like this can arrive dressed as an ending. You stand in the kitchen after the guests have gone, the plates still out, and think: How nice, but now that's over...

It isn't.

What Would be New

Only two Cabinet secretaries have been impeached: William Belknap in 1876 and Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024. Neither case was about war.

Massie's articles are different. They concern Hegseth's conducting of the Iran War without congressional authorization, his continuation of hostilities after Congress directed an end to them, and his dismantling of safeguards meant to protect civilians. Another article concerns extrajudicial killings in the campaign against suspected drug boats, including attacks on shipwrecked survivors.

An impeachment built on war powers and the laws of war would be a historic breakthrough for accountability—a step toward removing officials for abuses too often treated as part of the job.

The Campaign to Impeach Hegseth Should Set a New Standard

The effort to impeach Hegseth must become a sustained campaign to block anyone who would continue the same abuses. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz are already being floated as possible successors. If the principles behind impeachment vanish at the next confirmation hearing, accountability becomes a politically important but ultimately skin-deep showpiece.

Democrats and everyone else demanding Hegseth's removal need to start talking now about the standards they will apply to his successor. What conduct disqualifies someone from running the Pentagon? What decisions will senators examine? We should not wait for a nomination to discover that the coalition had agreed on a departure, but not a change of direction.

Hegseth's Successor?

Think of Mike Waltz's record as a bill of particulars. Count one is Yemen. As national security adviser, he convened the Signal group where officials discussed the March 2025 strikes. Airwars documented reports of at least 224 civilians killed during the campaign in less than two months. Most people remember the chat for the journalist accidentally included. The killing of civilians was the bigger crime.

Count two is the law of war. Asked in April about President Donald Trump's threat to destroy every Iranian power plant and bridge, Waltz defended such attacks as “perfectly acceptable in the rules of land warfare.” Legal experts writing in Just Security explained the distinction he obscured: Individual facilities may qualify as military targets, but destroying an entire category of infrastructure would be unlawful and “most likely is a war crime” by some of those involved.

Someone who helps organize war, supplies excuses for unlawful attacks, and resists public scrutiny is not a clean break from Hegseth.

Count three is accountability. Asked in a Foreign Policy interview whether Americans deserved a fuller accounting of US losses and mistakes, Waltz replied, “I don't know a country that exposes its military's mistakes.” Exposing them during a conflict, he added, would be “quite foolish.”

Someone who helps organize war, supplies excuses for unlawful attacks, and resists public scrutiny is not a clean break from Hegseth.

Make the Pentagon Florida Again?

The war DeSantis is most famous for is the culture war. An appeals court found his restrictions on university teaching about race and gender violated professors' free-speech rights. His “Alligator Alcatraz” detention site drew a federal watchdog's finding that it failed to meet numerous federal and state standards. These things matter when considering who should run an agency as sprawling as the Department of Defense.

There is also Guantánamo. As a Navy lawyer there, DeSantis advised a commander that hunger-striking detainees could be force-fed. Providing legal permission for coercion is not the human-rights qualification we should want in a defense secretary.

His Cuba record extends the concern beyond the prison. In Congress, DeSantis cosponsored legislation that would have barred easing travel and trade restrictions. UN Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan has warned that US sanctions substantially worsen Cuba's humanitarian situation, affecting food security, healthcare, and education.

In 2021, DeSantis also encouraged Cuba's military to overthrow its government, telling younger officers they could “live in the history books.” That was a clear endorsement of regime change.

One Standard, Every Confirmation

The point isn't which party a nominee belongs to or how they present themselves on TV. Did they help wage unauthorized wars, enable attacks on civilians, or give legal cover for cruelty? Those questions should organize a campaign: public demands, pressure on senators, and confirmation hearings that examine decisions rather than simply reward a more polished tone less likely to be lampooned on Saturday Night Live.

That standard has no party exemption. Biden-era officials who armed and defended Israel's devastation of Gaza must face it too. The UN's independent Commission of Inquiry has found that Israel committed genocide and called on states to stop transferring weapons that may be used for genocidal acts. Congress must refuse to confirm nominees whose records include egregious violations of human rights or the laws of war.

Tuesday's vote postponed accountability. It did not answer the charges, and it should not end the organizing.

Impeachment would establish the principle. The confirmation fight tests whether anyone intends to enforce it. The peace movement's task is to build a campaign strong enough to do both.