肯塔基州共和党众议员托马斯·马西在九月推动迫使就弹劾国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯进行投票的计划时，这位倒霉的五角大楼负责人对此努力相当乐观。当时，赫格塞斯似乎认为这次推动并非真正的威胁，因此投入时间和精力试图阻挠该决议并无实际意义。两个月后，这位部长对这场政治斗争似乎更加恐慌。
When Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky moved forward with plans to force a vote on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in September, the hapless Pentagon chief was rather sanguine about the effort. At the time, Hegseth appeared to assume the push wasn’t a real threat, so there wasn’t any real point to investing time and effort trying to derail the resolution. Two months later, the secretary appears far more panicky about the political fight.
上周，当议员们开始计划在中期选举后返回国会山时，赫格塞斯发起了一场某种公关活动，这似乎源于在社交媒体上发布恐慌言论。这本身就有问题：《华盛顿邮报》报道称，有指控称他利用政府资源和纳税人资金制作了一段自我宣传的视频，攻击民主党人和其他政治对手，可能违反联邦道德法。
Last week, as members started making plans to return to Capitol Hill after the midterm elections, Hegseth launched a public relations campaign of sorts, which appears to be rooted in publishing panicky things on social media. That was itself problematic: The Washington Post reported on allegations that he misused government resources and taxpayer funds by creating a self-promoting video attacking Democrats and other political opponents, potentially in violation of federal ethics laws.
本周开始时，国防部长采取了进一步措施以巩固其公众形象，在海军战争学院发表了离奇言论，实际上呼吁军事教育工作者拥抱他的意识形态十字军。曾在海军战争学院任教25年的《大西洋月刊》撰稿人汤姆·尼科尔斯回应这些言论写道：“赫格塞斯演讲结束时，两点很清楚：第一，部长对战争学院的运作毫无真正了解；第二，赫格塞斯非常愤怒，因为战争学院没有将他个人的政治仇恨纳入课程。”
As this week got underway, the defense secretary took additional steps to bolster his public standing, delivering bizarre remarks at the Naval War College, effectively calling on military educators to embrace his ideological crusade. The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, who taught at the Naval War College for 25 years, wrote in response to the remarks, “Two things were clear at the end of Hegseth’s speech: First, the secretary has no real idea what goes on in war colleges. Second, Hegseth is very angry that the war colleges are not incorporating his personal political vendettas into their curricula.”
周二早上，这位部长为他的公关活动增添了新维度，采取了他通常试图避免的一步：赫格塞斯在五角大楼举行了一场罕见的新闻发布会。结果本可以更好。
On Tuesday morning, the secretary added a new dimension to his p.r. campaign, taking a step he generally tries to avoid: Hegseth held a rare press conference at the Pentagon. It could’ve gone better, too.
新闻发布会还未开始，五角大楼的一名安保人员就对现场记者发出了含蓄威胁，称若记者违反“礼仪”或被认为不专业，将被强行带出房间。一名官员告诉记者，如果他们“越界”，五角大楼武装部队保护局会将他们带出简报室。在长达25分钟的时间里，赫格塞思回答了代表保守派媒体的记者的提问，期间，这位国防部长抱怨新闻自由，抨击马西，淡化了与伊朗战争中的美军死亡人数，甚至假装自己在国会议员中拥有深厚支持。
Before the press conference even began, a member of Pentagon security made veiled threats to journalists covering the event, saying reporters would be physically removed from the room if they broke “decorum” or were otherwise deemed unprofessional. One official told the journalists that the Pentagon Force Protection Agency would take them out of the briefing room if they got “out of line.”Over the course of 25 minutes, during which time Hegseth fielded questions from people representing conservative media outlets, the secretary whined about the free press, railed against Massie, undercut the number of U.S. fatalities in the war with Iran, and even pretended to enjoy deep reservoirs of support among members of Congress.
此外，这位前福克斯新闻主播暗示，弹劾支持者可能很快会瞄准普通美军士兵——这一说法显然是他编造的——随后声称，让他为自己的失败、不当行为和悲剧性误判承担责任，将给美国对手带来“宣传胜利”。
For good measure, the former Fox News host suggested impeachment proponents might soon go after rank-and-file U.S. troops — a claim he apparently made up — before concluding that holding him accountable for his failures, misdeeds and tragic misjudgments would hand U.S. adversaries “a propaganda victory.”
尽管这场表演相当可悲，但特朗普对此印象深刻：总统在其社交媒体平台上发布了两条内容，庆祝这一表现，并给这位国防部长打了“防务‘A’加、加、加”。话虽如此，赫格塞思需要争取的人不是特朗普，很难想象他凭借最新的把戏在国会山改变了多少人的想法。
Though it was a rather pitiful display, Donald Trump was impressed: The president published a pair of items to his social media platform, celebrating the performance and giving the secretary “an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense.”That said, Trump isn’t the one Hegseth needed to win over, and it’s difficult to imagine the secretary having changed many minds on Capitol Hill with his latest antics.
至于该过程会如何发展，马西周一下午率先行动，正式提交了他的八条弹劾决议。存在一些潜在的程序障碍，包括周二下午可能进行的一项可能阻止该努力的投票，不过目前尚不清楚赫格塞思的支持者是否拥有足够的票数来拯救他。拭目以待。
As for what to expect from the process, Massie got the ball rolling on Monday afternoon, formally filing his eight-article impeachment resolution. There are some potential procedural hurdles, including a possible Tuesday afternoon vote that might block the effort, though it’s unclear whether Hegseth’s supporters have the necessary votes to rescue him. Watch this space.