America At War

Pete Hegseth was forced out of every organization he led before Fox News—amid allegations of sexual assault, chronic drunkenness, and financial ruin. Now he commands the world’s most powerful military

Part I: A Portrait of Impunity

Pete Hegseth’s American success story should terrify us. Man allegedly commits sexual assault, pays $50,000 to make the woman go away, signs the NDA, and continues climbing. Man drinks himself into such raging stupors that his wife hides in closets and develops a secret escape plan involving safe words texted to friends. Man bankrupts two veteran organizations, gets a six-figure severance, signs another NDA, and moves on. Man fails upward until he’s running the Pentagon. And then—here’s where the story gets truly goes off the beam—man starts killing people in international waters based on secret evidence, with no legal authority, and calls it national security.

Welcome to the Pete Hegseth experience, where the pattern is always the same: violate rules, pay for silence, face no consequences, advance to greater power. It’s a masterclass in how impunity breeds more impunity, each transgression preparing for the next, until the scale isn’t $50,000 settlements …