Donald Trump Jr. has exiled former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot from the MAGA movement.
The president’s son made the announcement in a post on X, claiming that Ullyot was “not America First” and worked for years to sabotage President Trump’s agenda.
“This guy is not America First,” Trump Jr. posted. “I’ve been hearing for years that he works his a** off to subvert my father’s agenda. That ends today. He’s officially exiled from our movement.”
Ullyot wrote a scathing op-ed in Politico on Sunday that heavily criticized Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, claiming that the Defense Department is “in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership.”
“The last month has been a full-blown meltdown at the Pentagon — and it’s becoming a real problem for the administration,” Ullyot wrote.
He also called the recent publicity from the Signal chat leaks “the month from hell” at the Defense Department.
Ullyot praised Trump’s previous work, stating that the president “produced more national-security wins than any president in a generation or more.” He was also complimentary of the president’s second term, saying that, so far, in the president’s second term, he “continued that great record on national security, in particular refocusing the Defense Department on its core mission of preparing to fight and win wars.”
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Yet, he continued to blast Hegseth and his leadership, saying that after a “terrible month,” the Pentagon was not focused “on warfighting but on endless drama.” Ullyot called for Trump to hold Hegseth accountable and replace him because of his poor performance, citing Trump’s previous actions of replacing Cabinet members during his first term.
“Given his record of holding prior Cabinet leaders accountable, many in the secretary’s own inner circle will applaud quietly if Trump chooses to do the same in short order at the top of the Defense Department,” Ullyot wrote.