CNN (“Republicans quickly turn against Pete Hegseth after midterms rout“):

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.

CBS News (“Trump asking advisers if Hegseth should stay after midterm losses, sources say“):

President Trump has been asking advisers around him and on the phone whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should stay in his job, following Republicans’ catastrophic losses Tuesday night, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CBS News.

Some White House aides have predicted some of the blame for GOP midterm losses will be trained on Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, who both played big roles in guidance on the Iran war.

Still, other sources said the president hasn’t decided to replace Hegseth. Before the election, Democrats were already trying to impeach Hegseth, and the likelihood of an impeachment effort could increase with Democrats holding strong majorities in both chambers.

Vice President JD Vance is blaming the war for the GOP defeat. “The reason we lost is the war,” he said in a lengthy post on X Wednesday morning.

One source told CBS News that GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is being floated as a possible replacement for Hegseth, arguing DeSantis could go through Senate confirmation in the lame-duck period and then take the post when his term as governor expires Jan. 5.

Mr. Trump was asked Wednesday afternoon whether he was considering replacing Hegseth, and he told reporters, “No, I think he’s doing a very good job.” The president was also asked if he’d like to see Hegseth appointed to fill the seat that will be vacated by Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn when she takes office as governor. “I actually think he’d be very popular if he did that,” Mr. Trump said, “but I haven’t heard that at all.”

NY Post (“Trump weighs making Pete Hegseth the fall guy for Republicans’ crushing midterms loss: ‘Knives are definitely out’“):

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Wednesday ruled out voluntarily leaving his job to take a Senate appointment — as President Trump considers whether to make him his whipping boy for the brutal midterm election wipeout.

Hegseth advocated for and oversees the Iran war, which caused steep Republican losses on Tuesday, and faces a looming impeachment vote for waging the conflict without congressional authorization. Democratic gains in the Senate mean he likely would face a public trial next year that would scorch the administration.

The former Fox News personality’s cleanest offramp, ironically, is joining the Senate by gaining Tennessee Gov.-elect Martha Blackburn’s support to appoint him to her vacated seat.

But Hegseth ruled out that option even as Trump spoke with allies about whether to replace him.

“We will continue to drive [Trump’s] agenda at the Department of War — despite threats of sham witch hunts from Democrats — and Secretary Hegseth is 100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump’s term in office,” said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.

Many sources told The Post that Hegseth would be an obvious near-term option for removal after the drubbing, in part because Trump will have a much more difficult time gaining Senate confirmation for a replacement when power changes hands in January.

“Knives are definitely out for him among senior West Wing staff,” a source close to the White House said, cautioning, “I don’t know if it’s a foregone conclusion that he’s gone.”

A different Trump insider said the president is asking around for input on what to do about Hegseth.

The Pentagon chief is popular with the conservative base but indisputably bears significant responsibility for the war, which both Trump and Vice President JD Vance said was a top cause of the landslide loss because of a surge in energy prices and inflation.

A third person close to the White House said “somebody has to own this.”

“When the word ‘war’ is in your title then you might be the person in the crosshairs,” he quipped.

A fourth person close to Trump said that if he were in Hegseth’s shoes, he would be begging Blackburn for the Senate appointment.

Trump dismissed mounting speculation about Hegseth’s fate, telling reporters Wednesday that Hegseth was “doing a very good job” and that he doesn’t plan to fire him, but that “he’d be very popular” if he chose to seek appointment to the Senate.

Trump, notably, used similar language while praising his former Attorney General Pam Bondi and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem before firing them this year.

Wired (“Knives Are Out in the White House“):

President Donald Trump’s aides were reeling from the scale of Republican losses on Tuesday night, but they almost immediately began figuring out who to blame.

The ultimate responsibility, officials acknowledged only in private, lay with Trump for taking the country into an unpopular war with Iran that drove up prices, which became the number one issue for voters.

But in the absence of being able to blame Trump publicly, there has been growing pressure to find scapegoats in all places, from cabinet officials to White House aides to conservative media commentators.

Recalling how then-president George W. Bush pushed out defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld after the GOP lost both chambers in 2006, sources say there is an expectation from furious officials and donors for Trump to do something similar.

Trump does not seem to have made up his mind on whether he should, sources say, in part because of a recognition that there was perhaps not much that his staff could have done to stave off such overwhelming Democratic victories.

He has also been advised recently, sources tell Inner Loop, that it may be better to keep top staff inside the proverbial tent to ensure they remain loyal in the event they receive subpoenas from congressional investigators next year.

[…]

Some scrutiny has been directed at defense secretary Pete Hegseth, who has been the target of a whisper campaign that he kept presenting rosy military outlooks that misled Trump into believing more strikes could win the war.

The presentations had been so glowing, sources say, that a number of top officials, including vice president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio this spring started requesting their own intelligence briefings to get a more somber assessment of the situation.

[…]

Still, other people in Trump’s orbit have been horrified but unsurprised that the president took no personal responsibility and denied that the devastating GOP losses were effectively a referendum on his second term.

Many of the candidates in key Senate races were people that Trump had chosen and endorsed, including the scandal-plagued Republican state attorney general Ken Paxton in Texas and the inexperienced Darline Graham, sister of the late senator Lindsey Graham, in South Carolina.

And in North Carolina, the former RNC chair Michael Whatley was defeated resoundingly by the Democratic Roy Cooper—but only after Trump primaried the popular incumbent Thom Tillis earlier this year.

While I don’t think Republicans would have had a great night absent the war, I do think it likely that they would have retained control of the Senate and staved off a tsunami. While Trump, of course, bears ultimate responsibility for initiating a war of choice, it’s not at all unreasonable to hold accountable key advisors who told him it would be a cakewalk. Even more so if they’ve sugarcoated issues like our munitions shortfalls and encouraged Trump to double down on a losing strategy.

The Rumsfeld analogy is apt. Certainly, the Iraq War—of which Rumsfeld was a key advocate, seeking almost immediately after the 9/11 attacks to figure out how to leverage them into an excuse to topple Saddam’s regime—was wildly unpopular by the 2006 midterms. Further, Rumsfeld overrode the advice of some of the Joint Chiefs by sending in a relatively small invasion force to prove his theory of rapid dominance. He was fired the day after the “thumping.”

It’s noteworthy, though, that Bush took personal responsibility and took the results with humility and good humor.

I’m obviously disappointed with the outcome of the election, and as the head of the Republican Party, I share a large part of the responsibility. I told my party’s leaders that it is now our duty to put the elections behind us and work together with the Democrats and independents on the great issues facing this country.

This morning I also spoke with the Democrats. I spoke with Senators Reid and Durbin. I congratulated them on running a strong campaign in the Senate, and I told them that, regardless of the final outcome, we can work together over the next two years. I also congratulated Congresswoman Pelosi and Congressman Hoyer. They ran a disciplined campaign. Their candidates were well-organized and did a superb job of turning out their votes.

I told Congresswoman Pelosi that I look forward to working with her and her colleagues to find common ground in the next two years. As the majority party in the House of Representatives, they recognize that in their new role they now have greater responsibilities. And in my first act of bipartisan outreach since the election, I shared with her the names of some Republican interior decorators who can help her pick out the new drapes in her new offices.

And, even in firing Rumsfeld, he was gracious:

I know there’s a lot of speculation on what the election means for the battle we’re waging in Iraq. I recognize that many Americans voted last night to register their displeasure with the lack of progress being made there. Yet I also believe most Americans and leaders here in Washington from both political parties understand we cannot accept defeat.

[…]

The election has changed many things in Washington, but it has not changed my fundamental responsibility, and that is to protect the American people from attack. As the Commander-in-Chief, I take these responsibilities seriously. And so does the man who served this nation honorably for almost six years as our Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Now, after a series of thoughtful conversations, Secretary Rumsfeld and I agreed that the timing is right for new leadership at the Pentagon.

Our military has experienced an enormous amount of change and reform during the last five years while fighting the war on terror, one of the most consequential wars in our nation’s history. Don Rumsfeld has been a superb leader during a time of change. Yet he also appreciates the value of bringing in a fresh perspective during a critical period in this war. Don Rumsfeld is a patriot who served our country with honor and distinction. He’s a trusted advisor and a friend, and I’m deeply grateful to his service to our country.

Making changes in the wake of a massive electoral defeat is what should happen in a democracy. Strong leaders, though, take responsibility for their decisions rather than scapegoating their hand-picked advisors.