MAGA Mike IN UTTER TERROR as Epstein VOTE PASSES

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's blunders and bluster are about to become a central argument against Republican lawmakers in the upcoming midterm election, according to a new report.

Democratic candidates and campaign strategists consider the controversial Donald Trump Cabinet member to be a target-rich subject when it comes to putting their GOP opponents back on their heels, Politico reported Thursday.

"The more Hegseth puts himself out there, the more he does the work for us," said Matt Corridoni, a Democratic strategist told Politico.

"Normally the Secretary of Defense is not such a politically focused position, but he has pushed it into hyper politics. So you're going to see candidates using him as a foil more and more."

Hegseth's television personality has made him instantly recognizable, and his record of controversy provides endless ammunition for Democrats in key districts, the report states.

"Campaign planners said they expect candidates to call out Hegseth even more as the war against Iran continues," the report stated. "Trump has repeatedly said the Defense secretary was among the first and most vocal proponents of the fight, which has now lasted more than five months and led to a spike in global energy prices."

Cait Conley, an Iraq war veteran running for New York's 17th Congressional District, has been particularly brutal, calling Hegseth unqualified and incompetent while quipping that he knows "more about botox than bombs."

Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot running for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District, has made Hegseth's removal a centerpiece of her campaign. She's called for his resignation at every stop, framing him as a threat to military integrity.

"Pete Hegseth is a disgrace to the office that he holds, and the reason why I believe he is deeply dangerous is partially because of the polarization," Bennett said.

"We have an obligation to call those things out when we see it, and to make sure that we are standing up for our service members who do not have the ability to speak out about these things."

President Donald Trump conceded Thursday he may pull his own attorney general nominee rather than give two outgoing Republican senators what they are demanding.

Trump made the admission on Truth Social after the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's nomination Wednesday night. The vote was canceled when it became clear two Republicans would block it.

Those two senators — Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — are leaving Congress at the end of the year.

"Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "He has the potential to go down as one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time."

"I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd's name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office," Trump wrote.

Trump also attacked both senators directly, calling them men "whose political careers have been ended by my action" — a reference to his decision not to endorse them. He added that "both Cornyn and Tillis voted for Merrick Garland," invoking former Attorney General Merrick Garland, a name Republicans cite as a symbol of Democratic overreach.

On Capitol Hill Thursday morning, Cornyn told reporters the situation had taken a turn for the worse. Asked whether Blanche could be confirmed before the August recess, he said the odds were against it.

"It's looking doubtful," Cornyn told reporters, according to NBC News congressional reporter Laura Weiss.

Cornyn said talks with Blanche had been "very constructive" and that he believed a deal was close Tuesday night. But by Thursday morning, something had shifted.

"Other people intervening," he said. He told NBC News congressional correspondent Julie Tsirkin he did not know whether the president himself was standing in the way.

At the heart of the standoff is a settlement Trump's Department of Justice reached with the Internal Revenue Service. The deal granted Trump and his family immunity from tax audits and created a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who said they had been targeted by the government for political reasons.

The fund was later abandoned, but Cornyn wants that abandonment in writing — and wants the audit immunity narrowed so it does not cover future tax filings, according to MS NOW.

"All I want them to do is to confirm what he said in his sworn testimony before the Judiciary Committee, with regard not only to the weaponization fund, but also who is protected from future audits and what agencies of the federal government are bound by the release," Cornyn told reporters, according to CBS News.

The Department of Justice, Cornyn said, had not delivered. "They've simply refused to cooperate," he said, according to The Hill.

As of Thursday morning, Cornyn said he was waiting on a DOJ response to his latest offer and had no meetings or calls scheduled with the White House or the Department of Justice.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) fired back at President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying opposition to his IRS tax settlement runs far deeper than just two senators.

At 11:15 AM, Trump wrote on Truth Social that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was "a STAR" with the potential to be "one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time."

He blamed Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — "both of whom I refused to Endorse, and whose political careers have been ended by my action" — for blocking the confirmation.

Just seven minutes after Trump backed down, Cornyn rubbed salt in the wound by responding to Trump on X.

"POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis," Cornyn wrote on X.

The standoff forced the Senate Judiciary Committee to scrap a scheduled Thursday vote on Blanche's nomination, a setback for one of Trump's top Cabinet picks, MS NOW reported.

"I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd's name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office," Trump wrote on Truth Social, threatening to pull the nomination entirely and resubmit it once both senators leave office.

Earlier Wednesday, before Trump's post, Cornyn and Tillis had told Politico that someone inside the White House — not Trump himself — was blocking a deal.

"I don't know who it is — I'm just trying to get them out of the way so we can get the president his AG," Tillis said.

"If this were just between me and Todd Blanche, we would have worked this out, but, apparently, he's getting some pushback from higher ups at the White House," Cornyn said, adding that he did not know who was responsible. "I don't know who, but it doesn't need to be this hard."

"Why don't you call over the DOJ and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for," Cornyn told reporters Wednesday afternoon, as negotiations with the Department of Justice dragged on, MS NOW reported.

"What I've advised the chair, and I would assume Senator Cornyn said something similar, is that we're not prepared to vote yes yet," Tillis said Wednesday night, confirming neither senator had moved.