President Donald Trump, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at his side, looks on as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight from Dover, Delaware, to Miami, Florida, March 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The bizarre recent announcement from President Donald Trump's defense chief is actually part of a long-term scheme, with his one-time biographer revealing the 2028 ambitions behind it.
Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth prompted confusion and mockery when he announced that, going forward, all military officers over the age of 30 would be subject to mandatory tests for testosterone deficiency and given hormone replacement therapy if their results are lacking. The move comes amid the Pentagon chief's longstanding insistence that the armed forces are suffering from a lack of masculine energy.
That might not be all there is behind the announcement, however. Michael Wolff — a veteran reporter and author best known for his insider coverage of Trump's political machine — claimed in the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," that Hegseth is using this announcement to lay the foundation for his own 2028 presidential run.
"I think, actually, the Heggers is running for president,” Wolff said. “There’s sort of a fundamental political strategy or view in the MAGAsphere, or in the Trump... world, which is that culture is politics. And it is always better to hit the cultural note rather than the political or the policy note."
He added: "So he is speaking with this directly to the ‘Trump bro’ base, because if he wants to run for president, that’s where he has to begin. He has to... appeal in some kind of identity, charismatic fashion to those kinds of people."
Wolff explained further that, in order to reach voters within the so-called "manosphere," one has to abandon "traditional politics" and begin viewing public statements and legislative pushes as "cultural markers." This, he argued, is precisely what Hegseth's latest move is all about.
“I mean, how are people gonna respond? I mean... certainly... he is the bottom of the pack of the obvious list that you might make at this point,” Wolff said. “But if this begins to catch on, then... he’s got himself a race.”
Wolff has asserted in the past that Hegseth is among those in Trump's orbit positioning themselves as potential 2028 successors, even though he has not generated significant media coverage for his ambitions, like Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In a podcast from April, he suggested that the defense chief's chances largely hinge on those two names flaming out of the 2028 race.
"Is Pete Hegseth somehow, because he’s a performer, because he seems shameless, because he’s pro-military in some comical way, does this make him someone who can be a number two or three, and then number one and two fall, and he rises?" Wolff said. "Unlikely, but not impossible."