U.S. Vice President JD Vance was scheduled to take part next week in a CBS town hall event and answer questions from the public. But on Wednesday, the network announced the event had been postponed until further notice.
The reason is not too hard to see. The last thing Vance wants right now is to stand before the American people and justify a war he previously opposed and had promised would not happen.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth: 'We have only just begun to fight'
(Video: The White House)
The one person who certainly would not cancel such an event now is U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who these days appears to be living out a lifelong dream: managing a major war while appearing on television almost daily.
The Pentagon estimates the war with Iran is costing about $1 billion per day. Yet even nearly a week into the conflict, the American public has still not received a clear, organized explanation of the reasons that led to it. That is precisely why President Donald Trump is pleased to have Hegseth at his side. Trump had watched him for years as a commentator on Fox News—often praising him—and appointed him for moments like these: a telegenic figure with a confident screen presence and an unshakable sense of self-assurance.
Hegseth, 45, was born in Minnesota and graduated from elite universities, including Princeton University and Harvard University. He served in the National Guard and was deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan. He joined Fox News in 2014 and simultaneously led two nonprofit organizations supporting military veterans. But in 2016, he stepped down from those roles following allegations of financial mismanagement and complaints regarding personal conduct.
Personal controversies have followed Hegseth for years, including accusations of sexual misconduct and excessive alcohol consumption. In 2021, he was removed from the National Guard unit assigned to secure the inauguration of Joe Biden due to two tattoos that Hegseth said were ordinary Christian symbols but that event commanders believed were associated with white supremacist groups. Following the incident, he left the National Guard. At the time, he certainly could not have imagined that only four years later, he would enter Washington’s most secure buildings through the front door, with officials rising to greet him.
Hegseth is a right-wing Christian ideologue and a strong admirer of Israel. At the Pentagon, he has even hosted a monthly Bible study program. During his Senate confirmation hearing, he said: “I am a Christian and I robustly support the state of Israel and its existential defense and the way America comes alongside them as their great ally. I support Israel in destroying and killing every last member of Hamas.” He has also expressed firm opposition to a two-state solution.
In 2018, he said: “If you walk the ground today, you understand there is no such thing as the outcome of a two-state solution.” In the same interview, he also said he hoped to see the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
In national security strategy documents for 2026 signed by Hegseth, Israel is described as a model ally that “has long demonstrated that it is both willing and able to defend itself with critical but limited support from the United States.”
As a commentator on Fox News, Hegseth frequently criticized U.S. “rules of engagement” and adherence to international law, and he appears to have carried that approach into the Pentagon. In enthusiastic briefings this week, he said the current conflict would be different from the “dumb, politically correct wars” of the past and suggested he would ignore traditional laws of warfare.
Like many figures in the Trump administration, Hegseth views the conflict in religious terms—as a struggle of good versus evil. Soldiers in some American units were reportedly surprised this week to hear commanders say that “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”
Hegseth’s worldview has also shaped sweeping changes within the U.S. military. He has dismantled diversity programs in the armed forces, removed women from certain combat roles, expelled transgender service members from the military, canceled military training programs at elite universities and eliminated the option of filing anonymous complaints with the Pentagon’s inspector general.
In a speech that later became the basis of a sketch on Saturday Night Live, Hegseth shouted at commanders summoned from around the world, demanding that every servicemember meet “the highest male standard” since he found it “tiring to look out at combat formations — and frankly any formations — and see fat troops.”
“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses, no more climate change worship, no more division, distraction or gender delusion, no more debris. I’ve said before and will say again, we are done with that s—,” he added.
Defense? War — against everyone
The Hegseth's appointment as secretary of defense — later renamed secretary of war — was approved in the U.S. Senate last year by the narrowest of margins, 51–50, after Vice President Vance cast the tie-breaking vote in his favor.
Two months later, it already seemed that Hegseth’s tenure would become the shortest in the history of the Pentagon, when the so-called Signal chat scandal erupted. In the messaging app group, Hegseth revealed sensitive details about U.S. strikes in Yemen — all while Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, had been mistakenly added to the chat.
Such a scandal would likely have forced the immediate resignation of any defense secretary in a previous administration. But Donald Trump stood by Hegseth, allowing him to survive the episode and move on to what has become a dream year for him: military operations against nine different countries. The United States had already struck Iranian nuclear facilities last year, and the escalation has now culminated in a full-scale war against Iran.
Hegseth makes Donald Rumsfeld, the hawkish defense secretary of the George W. Bush administration during the Iraq War, look almost like a dove. In his first year in office, he rolled back the status of women in the military by decades, halted Pentagon cooperation with elite universities and even renamed the Department of Defense the “Department of War.”
The fact that Trump promised during his campaign to end existing wars and avoid starting new ones was never really a consideration — neither for Trump himself nor certainly for Hegseth. For Trump, what matters is what appears on television. When he sees Hegseth perform well on screen, answering sharply and promising Armageddon, he gets exactly what he hoped for when he appointed him.
Not everyone in the administration appreciates this style. The news site Middle East Eye reported growing tensions between Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio over whether to send U.S. ground troops into Iran. Hegseth is enthusiastic about the idea; Rubio much less so, particularly given the memories of the Iraq War.
Hegseth said this week in one briefing that the Iran war would not become another Iraq War — a remark that reminded many Americans of Rumsfeld’s assurances 23 years ago that the Iraq War would not become another Vietnam War.
Another strong opponent of sending ground troops — and in general of the war itself — is Vice President Vance. During the campaign, he rode the wave of “America First” and “no new wars.” Now he is hoping the war ends quickly and successfully. Otherwise, he may have to explain it to American voters during the 2028 presidential campaign.
And as Hillary Clinton learned after supporting the Iraq War, that can be a recipe for failure in a run for the White House.