Hegseth survives his first impeachment vote — but what about the next one?

Those who watch Capitol Hill closely had certain expectations for how the process would play out. On Monday afternoon, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky formally filed an impeachment resolution targeting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and if all went according to plan, some GOP members were expected to join with House Democrats on Wednesday afternoon to approve the measure.

All did not go according to plan. MS NOW reported:

House GOP leaders said they would quash the impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. On Tuesday, they managed to do just that.

In a 211-204 vote, the House adopted a procedural motion to refer the impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee, effectively shelving the effort.

Ultimately, Massie was the only Republican to support the resolution.

Stepping back, there are two broader questions to keep in mind: (1) Why did a resolution that appeared on track to succeed fall short; and (2) what happens now?

On the former, Donald Trump invested his dwindling political capital in helping the beleaguered Pentagon chief — the president reportedly worked the phones, pushing House Republicans who were likely to support Massie’s effort — as did House GOP leaders, who made it a priority.

Those same GOP leaders moved up the vote and banged the gavel rather quickly before other members who wanted to vote managed to reach the floor. (Eleven Democrats missed the vote — more than enough to sway the outcome — though some blamed a local traffic accident.)

As for the near future, Trump celebrated the developments on Tuesday afternoon, writing to his social media platform, “The Democrats’ attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has miserably FAILED! … The Democrats continue to weaponize and abuse the United States of America. They must be stopped!”

Putting aside the absurdity of seeing the president whine about weaponization and government abuses, his more salient error is straightforward: This wasn’t a Democratic initiative; it was introduced and championed by an outgoing Republican congressman.

If Trump wants to see an actual Democratic attempt to impeach the defense secretary, he’ll have to wait until next year, when Congress has an enormous Democratic majority thanks to the backlash to Trump’s failed presidency.

Indeed, for all the celebrating in the Republican administration after Tuesday afternoon’s vote, hanging overhead was the inconvenient detail that this was the first vote to impeach the former Fox News host, not the last.

The week before Election Day, for example, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the likely next House speaker, told MS NOW, “Pete Hegseth needs to be pushed aside by the president, or we’re going to have to deal with that situation if he is not.”

A day earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported, “House Democrats are setting their political sights on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, pushing for his impeachment as the first spoils from anticipated wins in the midterm election.”

The day after Jeffries’ comments, Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, a member of the Armed Services Committee and a decorated military veteran, appeared on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” and said, “Pete Hegseth remains incompetent and is not doing what’s necessary to protect our service members, which is why he’s my priority No. 1 if we retake the majority, to make sure we oust him from the Pentagon, because our service members actually deserve competent, serious, real leadership that will protect them and do the right thing.”

For Hegseth, Tuesday’s vote wasn’t a triumph; it was a reprieve.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

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