Less than 24 hours after the polls closed and Republicans had to eat the biggest blue tsunami in a generation, the GOP quickly settled on their “fall guy.” The Republican message, as stated by JD Vance, is that Donald Trump’s dipsh-t war in Iran is the reason why the GOP got their asses handed to them. And now the GOP is blaming one person for the war: Pete Hegseth, the spray-tanned, makeup-wearing, low-T-having, credibly accused sexual predator and current boozehound secretary of the “Department of War.” Congressional Republicans are already preparing to impeach Hegseth, and White House insiders are indicating that Hegseth will fit nicely under the wheels of the bus.

President Donald Trump may have made the decision to launch the war that tanked voters’ support for the GOP and dealt them a midterm shellacking. But the historic losses are accelerating a push for someone else to take the fall: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

And the House could vote as soon as next week to impeach the Pentagon’s top leader. Many Republican lawmakers and allies alarmed by Tuesday’s wipeout are moving swiftly to pin blame for the election results on Hegseth, arguing behind the scenes that he played a chief role in convincing Trump to attack Iran with no exit strategy — and no plan for managing the inevitable political fallout.

The knives-out campaign comes despite private acknowledgement from House and Senate GOP strategists that the party’s problems extended far beyond the war, triggering 2008-level losses that will take years to reverse. But for now, party leaders – and many in their ranks – remain unwilling to directly blame Trump for their woes.

Even among House Republicans who survived Tuesday’s onslaught, there’s zero expectation they will suddenly break from the president with two years left in his term. Yet that fealty does not extend to Hegseth, the combative defense secretary who has made few friends on Capitol Hill since taking over command of the Pentagon.

House Republicans are expected to vote to directly repudiate the defense secretary in a matter of days. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, the famously anti-Trump GOP lawmaker, told CNN he plans to trigger a vote to impeach Hegseth when Congress returns next week — and multiple GOP sources said they expect it to pass.

Hegseth, a vocal cheerleader for the war, oversold the US’ ability to win the conflict quickly and easily, multiple Republicans argued to CNN, describing on condition of anonymity why many in their party are now turning against the defense secretary. They accused him of continuing to advocate for escalation despite little sign that continued bombing has brought Iran closer to surrender.

The conflict has since turned into a quagmire, they said, entangling the US in the Middle East indefinitely, worsening the affordability crisis, and triggering voters’ midterm revolt against the GOP. On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance issued an extraordinary statement that “the reason we lost is the war,” though he did not assign any specific blame for the conflict.

“The pivot is starting” on the war and Hegseth, a former senior Pentagon official said. “This has been primarily a Department of War-led effort because you chose to take military action to resolve a foreign policy matter.”

[From CNN]

CNN also said that Trump actually likes Hegseth personally and might be reluctant to fire him or throw him under the bus, but Axios indicates that there’s no love lost for Hegseth within the White House, and that most people think he’s an idiot who lied about Iran and has mismanaged a stupid war. This is one of my favorite songs, when all of these dumbf–ks turn on each other and the backstabbing spills out into the media. As for Hegseth specifically, he’s a misogynist and a racist and a terrible manager. The Pentagon is in shambles because of him. I’ll throw a party if he goes down. But make no mistake, he’s not the only one who should go.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.