As the dust settles on the fight over Pete Hegseth's nomination, his confirmation is emblematic of a larger truth about the state of Republican politics.

Pete Hegseth has vowed to bring his “warrior” ethos to the Pentagon. Democrats had assailed him as unfit for the job, and his confirmation came down to Vice President JD Vance serving as tiebreaker.

The Senate on Friday night voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary after Vice President JD Vance stepped in to cast the tiebreaking vote. Hegseth’s nomination had been hampered by allegations of misconduct.

Trump's administration has cleared the way for arrests in schools of people suspected of being without legal status. And, Pete Hegseth battles new allegations before receiving Senate confirmation.

Hegseth wants to restore honor to Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, the native North Carolinian whose name was replaced at Fort Bragg last year. | Opinion

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s first day at the Pentagon is expected to include an array of executive orders, including “removing DEI inside the Pentagon, reinstating troops who were pushed out because of Covid mandates” and an “Iron Dome for America.

The US Senate on Friday approved Pete Hegseth as President Donald Trump’s defense secretary by a razor-thin margin, in which, Vice President JD Vance had to cast the tie-breaking vote.

President Donald Trump is visiting hurricane-battered western North Carolina and wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles on Friday, using the first trip of his second administration to tour areas where politics has clouded the response to deadly disasters.

Vice President J.D. Vance cast his first tie-breaking vote on Friday night to help the Senate confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, as the nominee convinced just enough Republicans that attacks on his character and qualifications were unfounded.

Donald Trump scored a big win in Washington and visited North Carolina, California and Nevada on first trip since beginning his second term.

A Princeton and Harvard-educated former combat veteran, Hegseth went on to make a career at Fox News, where he hosted a weekend show. Trump tapped him as the defense secretary to lead an organization with nearly 2.1 million service members, about 780,000 civilians and a budget of $850 billion.

It was very difficult to hear properly amid the roar of the helicopter's engine, but Trump did say he was "very surprised" to hear that Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski would vote against confirming Pete Hegseth, his choice to head the Department of Defense.