The Beltway pearl-clutchers are in full meltdown mode after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans to swing through Kentucky to back a Trump-endorsed Republican challenging Rep. Thomas Massie — but the Pentagon says critics can save the fainting couch routine.
According to Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, Hegseth’s appearance at a campaign rally for former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein is being done strictly in a “personal capacity,” with no taxpayer money footing the bill.
“Secretary Hegseth is attending this event in his personal capacity,” Parnell said. “No taxpayer dollars will be used to facilitate his visit. His participation has been thoroughly vetted and cleared by lawyers, including the Department of War Office of General Counsel, and does not violate the Hatch Act or any other applicable federal statute.”
Still, Washington’s usual suspects immediately howled that the former Fox News host turned Pentagon chief was somehow dragging the military into politics simply by showing up in a congressional primary battle. Critics pointed to the Hatch Act, the federal law limiting partisan political activity by executive branch employees.
The uproar centers on Hegseth campaigning for Gallrein, a Trump-backed Republican taking on Massie in Kentucky’s bruising GOP primary showdown. The race has exploded into one of the nastiest intra-party slugfests in the country — and one of the most expensive. AdImpact data shows the contest has already vacuumed up roughly $25.6 million in TV, radio and digital ad spending, making it the priciest House primary in American history.
Hegseth’s critics claim a sitting defense secretary should steer clear of electoral politics altogether to preserve the military’s “apolitical image.” Retired Army Reserve officer and counterintelligence commentator Lawrence Sellin blasted the move on X, writing that if Hegseth “in his official capacity as Defense Secretary intervenes in a Congressional primary . . . it is a violation of the Hatch Act and should be immediately removed from office.”
Conservative operative Ivan Raiklin fired back with a very different theory — arguing the “Deep State” was trying to bait Hegseth into a Hatch Act controversy in the first place.
Meanwhile, the actual details behind the Kentucky stop are a little less scandalous than the cable-news crowd would prefer.
Hegseth is already scheduled to be in Kentucky on official Pentagon business, including awarding Purple Hearts to soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division and administering the oath of enlistment to nearly 200 reenlisting troops at Fort Campbell.
After those duties, he’s expected to appear at a rally hosted by America First Works in support of Gallrein.
The bigger political story is the increasingly bitter war between President Donald Trump and Massie, the libertarian-minded Kentucky Republican who has repeatedly broken with Trump on major votes.
Massie has irritated Trump world for years by bucking party leadership and opposing several administration-backed measures, including tax legislation and military action involving Iran. Last week, Massie was one of just three House Republicans to side with Democrats on a resolution seeking to force the removal of US armed forces from hostilities involving Iran.
Trump responded in classic Trump fashion.
“Tom Massie of Kentucky, the worst and most unreliable Republican Congressman in the history of our Country, is an even bigger insult to our Nation than Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who suffered an unprecedented loss tonight by not even being allowed to run in the Republican Primary,” the president posted early Sunday on Truth Social.
Massie, for his part, insists the White House offensive is proof he’s winning.
“You can tell that I’m ahead in the polls and they’re desperate,” Massie said during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.” “That’s why they’re sending the secretary of War to my district tomorrow.”
