P ete Hegseth is struggling: that much has been clear for a while.

When it comes to the Iran war and the updates he is tasked to provide, he’s most comfortable in front of a journalistic audience, where he can yell and berate people for “being negative” any time they ask anything that sounds too much like an actual question. But today, poor old Pete had to testify in Congress before the experts on the House Armed Services Committee. It’s a place where questions aren’t just allowed, but also follow-up questions.

And this is where he completely unraveled. Because follow-up questions really are Pete Hegseth’s kryptonite.

Take, for example, an early exchange between him and Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.). Now that the Strait of Hormuz is still closed (our blockade of their blockade), the economy is in freefall, and the nuclear arsenal of Iran still hasn’t been decimated, what’s the Pentagon’s strategy, Smith asked?…