Sources inside the White House say President Donald Trump is suffering the consequences of surrounding himself with yes-men and good news as Iran continues to beat him to pieces, according to Daily Mail.
Trump unilaterally attacked Iran in February, convinced that the invasion would be quick and effective. But apparently the president kept sound advice out of the equation before he launched the assault that has been slogging on for six months. It’s not the nature of Trump to take responsibility for his own mistakes, however -- so he appears to be taking it out on his bootlicks by sidelining at least one, according to sources.
“One is a sledge-hammer and the other is a scalpel,” the anonymous source told Daily Mail, comparing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“Hegseth, among others in the president's orbit, 'tells Trump what he wants to hear,'” the Daily Mail reports, citing the insider, who echoed “concerns about Trump's 'yes-men' military advisors shared by Republicans on Capitol Hill.”
According to the Daily Mail, Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others all get a chance to update the commander-in-chief, a source familiar with the proceedings told the Daily Mail. But recently, Trump has been elevating Bessent in these settings.
The elevation of Trump’s new “golden boy” followed an explosion at a Camp David retreat earlier this month after Trump became furious that all the good news he demands from his flunkies did not live up to the reality of the war. Most notably, the U.S. military's shortage of critical defense munitions, which Trump had been convinced “had been fixed,” reported the Daily Mail.
'The environment changed,' the Trump insider said, describing a realization inside the administration that Trump simply “can't bludgeon [Iran] anymore.”
Now Bessent appears eager to step into the captain’s chair from which Hegseth was ejected.
“He's very trusted,” the source close to the president said. “It's not just on Iran, his stock is increasing. He's just more and more involved in things.”
Hegseth's allies insist the Treasury Secretary's promotion is not a demotion for the Secretary of Defense, however.
“There are limits to how much militarily will be accepted by the public and by the Congress,” a senior Department of Defense official close to Hegseth told the Daily Mail. “The economic measures complement the bombing campaign.”
The new phase is “a much better strategy,” the official added.
