Last Monday, Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be Donald Trump’s defense secretary was nearing collapse.
Stories kept coming out about Hegseth’s past, key senators were publicly questioning his appointment and path forward and whispers of Trump mulling replacements for Hegseth were getting louder.
But a combination of internal and external factors salvaged Hegseth’s nomination to the point where he — while not completely out of the woods yet — is in a much better position than those around him could have imagined this time last week.