国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯因力主发动不得人心的伊朗战争而面临日益增长的批评，特朗普首任政府时期一位前高级外交政策官员在周二共和党遭遇中期选举惨败后呼吁将其免职。
Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing growing criticism for the unpopular Iran war that he championed, with a former top Trump administration foreign policy official calling for his ouster after Tuesday’s GOP midterm election defeat.
特朗普首任政府时期国家安全委员会幕僚长弗雷德·弗莱茨周五在一篇评论专栏中写道，唐纳德·特朗普总统应当“结束伊朗战争，停止听信好战分子的建议”。他说，这意味着要谈判撤军并解雇赫格塞斯，称后者是“美国民众不再支持的这场战争的代言人”。现任特朗普阵营智库“美国优先政策研究所”高级职务的弗莱茨将这一局势比作2006年：因不得人心的伊拉克战争导致共和党失去国会两院控制权后，小布什总统决定解雇国防部长唐纳德·拉姆斯菲尔德。
President Donald Trump should “end the Iran war and stop listening to the warmongers,” Fred Fleitz, chief of staff at the National Security Council in Trump’s first term, wrote in an opinion column published on Friday. Doing so means negotiating an exit and firing Hegseth, whom he called “the face of a war most Americans no longer support.”Fleitz, now in a top job at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute, compared the situation to President George W. Bush’s decision to fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after Republicans lost both houses of Congress in 2006 over the unpopular Iraq war.
该专栏刊登在《美国伟大》网站上，该网站由克里斯·巴斯克尔出版，他是副总统JD·万斯的长期盟友。
He published the column on American Greatness, a website published by Chris Buskirk, a longtime ally of Vice President JD Vance.
弗莱茨还呼吁解雇白宫贸易顾问彼得·纳瓦罗和商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克，称他们是特朗普不得人心的关税政策的设计者，并将该政策称为“代价高昂的失败，损害了美国民众利益，破坏了与友邦盟友的关系”。纳瓦罗和卢特尼克周五未立即回应置评请求。
He also called for the firing of White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as the architects of Trump’s unpopular tariff policy, which he called a “costly failure that has hurt the American people and damaged relations with our friends and allies.”Navarro and Lutnick did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
这篇专栏揭示了共和党内部焦虑的深度：民主党在中期选举中大获全胜，牢牢控制了国会两院。周五，特朗普宣布将用白宫幕僚长苏西·怀尔斯的副手斯蒂芬·米勒取代她。
The column reveals the depth of Republican angst after a brutal midterm sweep by Democrats who took solid control of both chambers of Congress. On Friday, Trump announced he was replacing his White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles with her deputy Stephen Miller.
此前，万斯在社交媒体上发表了一份不同寻常的声明，试图与惨败划清界限，承认伊朗战争是导致其政党在选举中溃败的关键议题。
It also follows an extraordinary statement that Vance posted on social media in which he sought to distance himself from the defeats by acknowledging the Iran war was the key issue that sunk his party at the polls.
弗莱茨的文章发表之际，国会议员最早将于下周就弹劾赫格塞斯的动议进行投票，此时新当选议员尚未宣誓就职。
Fleitz’s piece comes before members of Congress are set to vote on a motion to impeach Hegseth as soon as next week, before newly elected members are even seated.
周四，赫格塞斯在X平台发布了一段时长六分钟的视频，为自己的任期进行辩护。他说，即将离任的肯塔基州共和党众议员托马斯·马西（Thomas Massie）是一名“心怀不满、已被击败的国会议员”，曾针对他本人提交“虚假的弹劾条款”。共和党参议员汤姆·蒂利斯（Thom Tillis）是特朗普的常见对手，他对该帖文作出回应，提到了特朗普的前国土安全部长，称“内阁部长不应浪费纳税人的钱制作竞选风格的视频。克里斯蒂·诺姆（Kristi Noem）是吃了苦头才明白这一点的。”
On Thursday, Hegseth posted a six-minute video on X defending his tenure. He said Representative Thomas Massie, the outgoing Kentucky Republican leading the impeachment charge, was a “disgruntled, defeated congressman” who has filed “sham articles of impeachment against yours truly.”Republican Senator Thom Tillis, a frequent Trump antagonist, responded to that post with a reference to Trump’s former homeland security secretary, saying “cabinet secretaries shouldn’t be wasting taxpayer dollars on campaign style videos. Kristi Noem learned that the hard way.”
据报道，诺姆在一场主要以她本人为主角的广告宣传活动上花费超过2亿美元后，被特朗普调离内阁。
Noem was moved out of the cabinet by Trump after reportedly spending more than $200 million on an ad campaign that mainly featured herself.
“这事关你本人，”来自北卡罗来纳州的参议员蒂利斯在回复赫格塞斯时继续说道。“你表现出的无能，你给总统提供的糟糕建议，以及你那些可耻和尴尬的事件，从解雇我们的高级将领到向记者发送作战计划短信。”
“This is about you,” Tillis, a senator from North Carolina, went on in response to Hegseth. “The incompetence you’ve displayed, the bad advice you’ve given to president, and your shameful and embarrassing episodes from firing our top generals to texting war plans to reporters.”
周五，五角大楼发言人肖恩·帕内尔（Sean Parnell）发表了一份声明，内容与前一天发布的一份完全相同。声明称，赫格塞斯“不会退缩，也不会被寻求党派得分或发起不存在不当行为的虚假调查的政客所阻挠。”
In a statement on Friday that was identical to one issued a day earlier, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Hegseth “will not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points or launch phony investigations where no wrongdoing exists.”