Pete Hegseth barely received enough votes to win confirmation as Donald Trump’s defense secretary. Three Republicans even bucked their own party’s president to oppose him. One of them, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), cited “accusations of financial mismanagement and problems with the workplace culture he fostered.” Another, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said Hegseth had “failed to demonstrate” that he could manage “nearly 3 million military and civilian personnel, an annual budget of nearly $1 trillion.”

It hasn’t taken long for Hegseth to prove them — along with every Senate Democrat and the countless others who warned about him taking over the Pentagon — right.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Hegseth shared attack plans in a second unsecured Signal group chat, following the revelation last month that he shared the plans to attack Houthi militants in Yemen in a Signal chat group that included a journalist. The second chat included Hegseth’s wife, brother, and personal lawyer, underscoring the former Fox News host’s recklessness with highly sensitive information.

The news came after a tumultuous week in the Pentagon that saw Hegseth fire three senior officials — ostensibly because of an internal investigation into leaking, although the officials seemed confused about what happened. “We still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with,” they wrote in a joint statement Friday night, adding that, although the experience was “unconscionable,” they will continue to support Trump’s plans for the Pentagon.

John Ullyot, who resigned as a spokesperson for the Pentagon last week, put a button on the turmoil in an op-ed for Politico on Sunday. “It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon,” the piece began. “From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership.”

Ullyot went on to bash the week’s firings, calling the purge “strange and baffling”; detail Hegeth’s “horrible crisis-communications” following the initial Signal scandal; and predict that “many in the secretary’s own inner circle will applaud quietly” if Trump decides to hold him accountable. Ullyot also predicted that the drama isn’t going to let up anytime soon: “There are very likely more shoes to drop in short order, with even bigger bombshell stories coming this week, key Pentagon reporters have been telling sources privately.”

Donald Trump Jr. responded to the op-ed, which included plenty of praise for Trump and his agenda, by writing on Monday that Ullyot is “officially exiled from our movement.”

The White House also rushed to Hegseth’s defense. “The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox & Friends on Monday. “This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change you are trying to implement.”

Hegseth blamed the media while speaking to reporters at the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday. “What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax,” he said during a wild rant. “This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations. It’s not going to work with me.”

Hegseth then gestured to children standing behind him. “This is what we’re doing it for,” he said. “These kids right here. This is why we’re fighting the fake news media. This is why we’re fighting slash-and-burn Democrats. This is why we’re fighting hoaxsters.” He started pointing at the media questioning him. “Hoaxsters. This group fight here. Full of hoaxsters.”

It was the first time Hegseth has commented at length on the past week of dysfunction at the Pentagon. The Democratic National Committee wrote Sunday night on X that Hegseth “needs to go,” to which he replied, “Your agenda is illegals, trans & DEI — all of which are no longer allowed @ DoD.”

The DEI card is just about all Hegseth has to play as it becomes clearer and clearer that he is in over his head.