RUN PETE HEGSETH OUT OF TOWN

Quick question for you. If you’re campaigning on ending a war, when exactly do you plan to use the one power that actually ends wars? Take the red pill with me this morning. The blue one comes with a workout video.

“Run Pete Hegseth out of town”

On Oct. 10, in Yardley, Pennsylvania, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries took the stage for Bob Harvie, the Democrat challenging Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick. Per C-SPAN’s coverage, he said: “In the minority, we ran Pam Bondi out of town. In the minority, we ran Kristi Noem out of town. And I’m here to say one of the first things we’re going to do in the majority, we’re going to run Pete Hegseth out of town.” A few lines later he promised “a Democratic majority committed to ending this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran.”

He’s not alone. Democrats are making the defense secretary a main character of the midterms, The New York Times reported Saturday. In Colorado, House candidate Manny Rutinel posted footage of a sweaty Hegseth lifting weights with troops under the words “This man is letting Trump raise your gas prices,” then cut to himself doing pull-ups. Jeffries has said repeatedly that impeaching Hegseth will be one of the first orders of business. The Times notes removal would take a House majority and a two-thirds vote in the Senate.

RUN PETE HEGSETH OUT OF TOWN: great applause line. Now check the calendar.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries in his official portrait. On Oct. 10 in Yardley, Pennsylvania, he said one of the first things a Democratic majority would do is “run Pete Hegseth out of town.” Credit: Office of Representative Hakeem Jeffries, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

The power they won’t commit to

Congress has a tool that’s stronger than a pull-up video. It’s called money. The spending bill keeping the government open expires Dec. 11, The Intercept reported Saturday. Democrats could try to attach a rider barring any of its funds from being used for the Iran war. Congressional Democratic leaders haven’t said whether they’re willing to risk a shutdown over it.

Asked about it on CNN, Jeffries said: “Listen, we’ll deal with the appropriations process when we deal with the appropriations process.” For now, he said, the plan is “to aggressively move war powers resolutions until we end this war.”

How are those going? A war powers resolution passed both chambers in June, and the administration ignored it, arguing the law is unconstitutional, per The Intercept. On Sept. 24 the Senate rejected another resolution 49-50, per NBC News. As a concurrent resolution, it would never have reached the president’s desk anyway. Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on House Armed Services, told The Intercept he’s “open to exploring options for using the NDAA or appropriations bills” but is “not confident” there’s enough Republican support. Former State Department official Brian Finucane put it plainly: “If they are serious, they should be willing to play hardball, and that would require using the power of the purse.”

We’ve written about what happens when Washington treats the purse as decoration in THE PURSE IS OPTIONAL.

Running a man out of town is a promise. Cutting off the money is a vote. Only one of them is on the calendar.

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We’ve seen this movie

The Times itself points to the precedent. In 2006, Democrats made Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the face of the Iraq war. The day after they won Congress, President George W. Bush announced Rumsfeld was stepping down.

Then came the money. On May 24, 2007, the new Democratic Congress sent Bush a $120 billion war spending bill, abandoning its call for most U.S. troops to leave Iraq after Bush vetoed an earlier version, CNN reported. It passed the House 280-142 and the Senate 80-14. Then-Majority Leader Harry Reid’s defense: “We have repeatedly forced our Republican colleagues in the Senate and in the House to debate and vote on where the people stand with respect to the president’s failed Iraq policy.”

Now read The Intercept’s first line from Saturday: “For months, Democrats have forced Republicans to take vote after vote on President Donald Trump’s unpopular war on Iran.”

Same line, 19 years apart. Rumsfeld got run out of town. The war got a $120 billion check.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in 2001. Democrats made him the face of the Iraq war in the 2006 midterms; he stepped down the day after they won. Six months later, the Democratic Congress sent President Bush $120 billion in war funding without a withdrawal deadline. Credit: Scott Davis, U.S. Army, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

The red costume: “I’m going to stop wars”

Now the other side, because it’s not better. On election night 2024, Trump told supporters, “They said, ‘He will start a war.’ I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars,” per The American Presidency Project. The Iran war began Feb. 28. Nineteen U.S. service members had died as of Sept. 24, per NBC, and most Senate Republicans still voted against the resolution to end it.

Hegseth, meanwhile, campaigned in May for Ed Gallrein, the Trump-backed challenger who ousted Rep. Thomas Massie, “an outspoken opponent of the war,” per the Times. In August he praised Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn at the state fair. Weeks later Nunn voted to direct the president to end hostilities: “I will not support another open-ended war.” The RNC’s answer to the Democratic attacks: going after Hegseth “won’t move the needle outside of D.C.”

“I’m going to stop wars” didn’t come with an exception for the ones you start.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's official portrait. A Quinnipiac poll last month found 32 percent of registered voters approved of his performance and 57 percent disapproved, per The New York Times. Credit: U.S. Department of Defense, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Both costumes

Here’s the adult version.

Democrats want credit for opposing the war without saying what they’ll do with the one lever that ends it. Republicans want credit for “stop wars” while voting, again and again, to keep this one going. One side runs on a scalp. The other runs on a slogan.

The boring standard: Congress declares war and Congress pays for war. If you campaign on ending one, tell voters before Nov. 3 how you’ll vote on Dec. 11.

Ask your House member one question: will you vote for a spending bill that funds the Iran war without conditions, yes or no? See who’s funding Pennsylvania’s delegation, including Fitzpatrick’s seat, on our Pennsylvania Money Map, and follow the PAC money on PACTracker.

Receipts

• C-SPAN, Oct. 10, 2026. Jeffries in Yardley, Pa.: Bondi, Noem and “run Pete Hegseth out of town”; “ending this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran.”
• The New York Times, Oct. 17, 2026. Democrats target Hegseth; Rutinel video; impeachment talk and two-thirds bar; Rumsfeld 2006; Gallrein, Massie and Nunn; RNC response; Quinnipiac numbers.
• The Intercept (Matt Sledge), Oct. 17, 2026. Dec. 11 deadline; Jeffries’ CNN quote; June resolution ignored; Adam Smith and Finucane quotes.
• NBC News, Sept. 24, 2026. Senate rejects resolution 49-50; concurrent resolution is symbolic; 19 service members killed.
• CNN, May 24, 2007. $120 billion war bill without the withdrawal goal; 280-142 and 80-14; Reid quote.
• The American Presidency Project. Trump’s Nov. 6, 2024 victory remarks: “I’m going to stop wars.”
• Earlier Hypocrisy Democracy: THE PURSE IS OPTIONAL; DOVE SEASON. Reader tools: Pennsylvania Money Map; PACTracker.

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Originally published on Substack.