President Pete Hegseth? Report Says He's Considering It

Pete Hegseth is already looking beyond the Pentagon, according to NBC News, which reports that the defense secretary has told confidants he's weighing a 2028 presidential bid. The outlet notes that Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer, have been mulling the idea for months, seeing him as sharing some of President Trump's appeal with the MAGA base—especially his combative style and hard-line stance on social issues. His recent trip to the Iowa State Fair to stump for GOP Rep. Zach Nunn has only fueled whispers on the matter. More:

• Hegseth response: Officially, Hegseth says he's not running and is focused on his current job. "His main priority is leading the War Department. All other speculation is foolish," a Pentagon spokesperson says. Hegseth himself tweeted about it, calling the NBC report "100% false," adding, "We told NBC that, but they just lie w/anonymous 'sources.'"

• Obstacles: Any run would come with baggage, including the unpopular Iran war Hegseth oversees, a watchdog finding that he mishandled sensitive military information on the Signal app, and criticism from former defense secretaries over his partisan political activity while in office, per NBC.
• Public opinion: Perhaps Hegseth is denying NBC's report because he's already seen the polls: Newsweek reports that early polling has shown Hegseth to be a "long shot," citing a CPAC straw poll from March that earned Hegseth just 1%; Vice President JD Vance drew 53%, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio came in with 35% (3% were undecided).
• Possible? Salon's Amanda Marcotte writes, however, that a potential Hegseth run "isn't a joke," noting that the defense chief "is the man most closely aligned with white evangelicals, who still make up the majority of GOP primary voters." "In a field of dull choices like Vance or ... Rubio, Hegseth's over-the-top masculinity act, which reads as clownish to people outside MAGA circles, could be just the thing to push the former Fox News weekend host over the top," Marcotte writes. NBC adds that Hegseth has become a frequent presence on the campaign trail to rally Trump voters and is a favorite with male Trump voters.
• The woman behind the man: The Daily Beast, meanwhile, details how Jennifer Hegseth is working behind the scenes to whip up his "dramatic new power grab."