In late April, The Hill reported that “a growing group of Senate Republicans” was “losing confidence” in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, adding that some GOP lawmakers would like to see him “move on” from his Pentagon leadership post. That said, the article didn’t feature any on-the-record quotes, leading readers to wonder which congressional Republicans had a problem with the former Fox News host.

Months later, the answer is coming into focus. Politico reported:

Sen. Thom Tillis renewed his call for President Donald Trump to fire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, following the resignation earlier this week of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.

“I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country,” the outgoing two-term North Carolina Republican wrote on X. “He is intimidated by competence and retreats to ginning up culture wars instead of soberly attending to the vital work of our national defense and the health and well-being of our fighting force.”

Tillis, who’s retiring at the end of his term, went on in his online statement about Hegseth, “I urge the President to find a new leader at the Pentagon who will retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it.”

It’s worth noting for context that Tillis, early last year, reportedly told GOP leaders he was prepared to vote against Hegseth’s nomination, setting off a scramble in Republican politics and a ferocious White House lobbying campaign.

The North Carolinian ultimately caved to pressure and cast the deciding vote: Hegseth was confirmed after Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie. It was easily the closest Senate confirmation vote in American history on a defense secretary nominee, and if Tillis had stuck to his guns, Hegseth would not be leading the Pentagon right now.

Roughly 20 months later, it seems Tillis now realizes he made the wrong call.

Soon after the GOP senator published his statement to social media, Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who’s also retiring at the end of this year, endorsed Tillis’ call. “I hate to tell the president who he should hire and fire … but he would not be on my team,” the congressman said, referring to Hegseth. “I think he has not been a very good leader.”

Around the same time, The Hill asked Sen. Mike Rounds, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, if he still had confidence in Hegseth’s leadership. The South Dakota Republican replied, “It’s a matter of whether the president” is confident in his secretary of defense.

That wasn’t a “yes.”

Given everything we know about the current political landscape, there’s no reason to believe Donald Trump or his team will care about this criticism from Capitol Hill. On the contrary, the president tends to treat Congress as an afterthought anyway, and he’s condemned Tillis repeatedly.

But that doesn’t change the underlying point: It’s not normal for lawmakers from a president’s own political party to publicly call for the defense secretary’s ouster. The fact that it is happening at all speaks to the seriousness surrounding Hegseth’s many failures, mistakes and scandals.

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