As the dust settles on the fight over Pete Hegseth's nomination, his confirmation is emblematic of a larger truth about the state of Republican politics.

The Senate on Friday night voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary after Vice President JD Vance stepped in to cast the tiebreaking vote. Hegseth’s nomination had been hampered by allegations of misconduct.

Pete Hegseth has vowed to bring his “warrior” ethos to the Pentagon. Democrats had assailed him as unfit for the job, and his confirmation came down to Vice President JD Vance serving as tiebreaker.

Hegseth wants to restore honor to Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, the native North Carolinian whose name was replaced at Fort Bragg last year. | Opinion

Trump's administration has cleared the way for arrests in schools of people suspected of being without legal status. And, Pete Hegseth battles new allegations before receiving Senate confirmation.

The US Senate on Friday approved Pete Hegseth as President Donald Trump’s defense secretary by a razor-thin margin, in which, Vice President JD Vance had to cast the tie-breaking vote.

Vice President J.D. Vance cast his first tie-breaking vote on Friday night to help the Senate confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, as the nominee convinced just enough Republicans that attacks on his character and qualifications were unfounded.

Donald Trump scored a big win in Washington and visited North Carolina, California and Nevada on first trip since beginning his second term.

President Donald Trump is visiting hurricane-battered western North Carolina and wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles on Friday, using the first trip of his second administration to tour areas where politics has clouded the response to deadly disasters.

All but two Republicans voted to advance Pete Hegseth’s nomination as secretary of defense to a final vote, as Democrats raced to bolster fresh allegations about his personal conduct.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth as the ... a good man,” Trump said of Hegseth while departing the White House to visit disaster-hit North Carolina and Los Angeles.

Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, quickly condemned the Trump administration’s offer to roughly 2 million federal employees to resign in exchange for pay, saying in a Senate floor speech that the deal was a trick, that the president didn’t have the authority to make the offer and employees who resign may not be paid.