Hegseth Brings Wife on Texas Trip After Staff Nickname Report

Variety / Variety via Getty Images Pete Hegseth brought his wife along on an out-of-town work trip after staff in his ranks leaked a brutal nickname they gave her.

Hegseth, 46, and his third wife, Jennifer, 49, joined the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets for early-morning physical training on Friday as part of a tour aimed at connecting with military cadets and veterans and promoting domestic manufacturing in the defense sector.

“There is NO better way to kick off the SEND ME TOUR than with early morning PT with the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets,” Hegseth wrote on X on Saturday, posting an image of him and Jennifer jogging up a staircase.

The self-anointed “secretary of war” donned a gray shirt that declared “This is War” as he delivered a cringeworthy pep talk to cadets standing at attention in a massive stadium.

“A department that’s focused on the basics, the warrior ethos.

No more ideological garbage anymore, no more DEI garbage and social engineering.

That’s all done,” he ranted.

“We don’t do critical race theory.

We don’t do DEI.

We do colorblind, gender neutral, merit-based, merit only.

Discipline, accountability, readiness, training, lethality, that’s it.

If it doesn’t contribute to any of those things, we don’t want it.” Hegseth put his photo with Jennifer front and center of his X post just a day after Defense Department staffers’ moniker for his wife became public.

Insiders told the Daily Mail that staffers have likened Jennifer to Yoko Ono, the widow of late Beatles legend John Lennon.

Ono, whose relationship with Lennon began as an affair, sparked controversy for being fiercely protective of the musician and is often portrayed as a controlling figure who played a role in the band’s breakup.