As radar confirms the missile payloads are splitting into Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles—each missile carries several warheads—there are perhaps five minutes left until everyone on the call is dead. NORAD and Strategic Command headquarters are wiped out.

Trump is finally yanked from the stage, but the Secret Service is more focused on getting him into his car and getting him airborne as soon as possible. Since Trump is neither incapacitated nor truly incommunicado, Vice President JD Vance has no authority to act and is not a part of the Missile Attack Conference. By statute and nuclear-release protocol, the decision falls to the secretary of defense.

Will he act? Will he dither, afraid to decide without Trump? Will he panic? Will he even be sober? The probability of the scenario is remote but not nil. Appointing someone who lends ambiguity to the scenario will only encourage it to occur.

Hegseth lacks the maturity, experience, and character to make decisions like these. Frankly, he lacks the experience and knowledge to hold his own in simple National Security Council meetings against his counterparts from the State Department, Treasury Department, and CIA.

Trump’s decision to nominate Hegseth was understandable, especially after a first term in which both of his confirmed defense secretaries were disloyal and, as we have learned, actively worked against his expressed directions. It’s an understandable view, but the wrong one. Republican senators should reject Hegseth and insist on another nominee. They would not only be doing Trump a favor but also performing their duty in defending this nation.

Christian Whiton was a State Department senior advisor in the second Bush and first Trump administrations. He served as a deputy special envoy for North Korean human rights issues and also advised the secretary of state and other senior officials about public affairs and East Asia matters. During the 2016 Trump transition, he aided in the confirmation of the secretary of state and other senior department officials. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the National Interest and a principal at Rockies Aria LLC, a public affairs and government relations firm. The author of “Smart Power: Between Diplomacy and War,” Christian co-hosts the “Domino Theory” podcast and edits “Capitalist Notes” on Substack. He frequently appears on Fox Business and has appeared on Fox News, BBC, GBTV, Newsmax, NHK, Sky News Australia, CNBC, MSNBC, and numerous other outlets. In addition to the National Interest, his articles have been published by Fox News Opinion, Daily Caller, Wall Street Journal, the Australian, and others.

Image: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons.