Trump Calls Hegseth 'One of My Best' While His Own Allies Say He Can't Run a War

Trump Says He's 'Very Good at This Stuff,' Which Is One Way to Put It

In a phone interview with NBC News on Thursday, Trump offered his fullest public defense yet of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose grip on the Pentagon has been wobbling for weeks. "He's very much into it," Trump said. "Respected by the military."

The problem is that the people who work closest to Hegseth don't seem to agree. At least one of Trump's own political allies has told the president in recent weeks that Hegseth is "not a manager" and isn't cut out to lead the Defense Department during wartime. That's not a Democrat saying it. That's someone in Trump's orbit, whispering into the president's ear, apparently to no effect.

And then there's Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who didn't whisper anything. Tillis said publicly that he has "zero confidence" in Hegseth. Zero. A round number. No rounding up to one percent, no credit for effort. Zero confidence in the man running the largest military on Earth while American forces are engaged in active conflict.

A War, a Strait, and a Deal That Isn't Quite There Yet

The backdrop to all of this is genuinely grim. NBC News reports that a deal to end the six-month Iran war appeared to be taking shape in Qatar as of this week, though there were few signs of actual progress by Thursday. So it's taking shape the way a storm takes shape: you can see it coming, but it hasn't hit yet and it might still go sideways.

The slightly better news is that a smaller, separate agreement between Iran and Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz appeared to be close. The Strait of Hormuz, for those keeping score at home, is where roughly 20 percent of global oil flows through, and it has been a pressure point throughout this conflict. Getting it back open would be an actual, concrete win in a situation that has been very short on those.

The jobs report due Friday is expected to show only 83,000 nonfarm payrolls added and unemployment sitting at 4.2%, according to NBC News. Economists expect wages to keep losing ground to inflation, partly because the Iran war keeps pushing energy prices higher. So the war is costing American workers real money, every month, and the man managing that war is someone a Trump ally described as not capable of managing.

DeSantis Name Floated, Trump Opens a Door, Immediately Gets Weird About It

If Hegseth were to go, Trump would need a Senate-confirmable replacement, which narrows the field considerably given this particular Senate's appetite for rubber-stamping anyone with a Fox News contract. NBC News reports that the name floating in pro-Trump circles is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Trump, characteristically, managed to say he'd be open to considering DeSantis for "another role" without actually committing to anything or naming the role. Which is Trump's version of a job posting. The position exists somewhere. The salary is unclear. Please check back later.

DeSantis, for what it's worth, is in the middle of his second term as Florida governor and has been conspicuously quiet since his 2024 presidential primary campaign collapsed. Apparently, the path back to relevance in MAGA world runs through the Pentagon. That's not a sentence anyone would have predicted writing five years ago.

Tennessee Delivers a Primary Night With Actual Consequences

While Washington spent Thursday debating whether Pete Hegseth is good actually, Tennessee held its Republican primaries and delivered a clean result: Congressman Andy Ogles is done. NBC News projects Ogles lost his House GOP primary to Charlie Hatcher, a former state agriculture commissioner backed by the governor and a coalition of mainstream Tennessee Republicans.

Ogles becomes the ninth House incumbent and the third Republican to lose a primary this year. The loss came despite a Trump endorsement, which is starting to feel less like a golden ticket and more like a participation ribbon in districts where local Republicans decided they'd had enough. Ogles brought considerable baggage: criticism over comments about Muslims, plus an investigation into alleged campaign finance violations. Sometimes the endorsement isn't enough to outrun your own record.

On the other side of the ballot, Senator Marsha Blackburn won the Republican gubernatorial nomination, defeating Rep. John Rose. Blackburn, who became the first woman to represent Tennessee in the Senate back in 2018, would be the state's first female governor if she wins in November. She is one of the Senate's most conservative members, known primarily for hardline positions on abortion and transgender rights. So: history, but the specific kind of history that half the state will be trying very hard to prevent.

Spokane Is Burning and the Suspect Used a Cigarette

Out in Washington state, the scale of destruction from the Spokane fires is becoming clearer and it is staggering. NBC News reports that Aaron Farinacci, the man charged with igniting the Old Trails Fire, allegedly started it with a cigarette, a pack of matches, and a rubber band. That combination has so far burned over 800 buildings and displaced approximately 60,000 people.

Farinacci was charged with four additional first-degree counts of arson after investigators linked him to fires dating back to July 2025. While NBC News notes there's little evidence of a broader statewide arson trend, the reporting makes clear that intentionally set fires are increasingly catastrophic because of longer fire seasons, denser forests, and climate change creating conditions where a cigarette can become a catastrophe. The arsonist may be unusual. The conditions that let a single match do this much damage are becoming normal.