Welcome to Power Players, The i Paper’s opinion series in which our writers and experts take an in-depth look at the key figures in American politics as the US reshapes itself and the world. • The ‘swamp creature’ eclipsing JD Vance in the race to succeed Trump• Netanyahu’s to blame for his American nightmare – and it spells his doom• The Democrat who has finally worked out how to beat Trump

Welcome to Power Players, The i Paper’s opinion series in which our writers and experts take an in-depth look at the key figures in American politics as the US reshapes itself and the world.

• The ‘swamp creature’ eclipsing JD Vance in the race to succeed Trump• Netanyahu’s to blame for his American nightmare – and it spells his doom• The Democrat who has finally worked out how to beat Trump

If the Pete Hegseth story were written up as fiction, readers would likely dismiss it as too farcical to be believed. Here you have a former soldier, flagged by a fellow service member as a potential “insider threat” for his crusader-inspired tattoo, dogged by allegations of excessive drinking, and who appears to have few leadership qualifications apart from a certain television-friendly swagger.

Upon becoming the “Secretary of War”, he shares operational details with a group chat accidentally containing a leading journalist, and watches on as his own secretary of the army quit while reportedly privately warning that Hegseth is inflicting “generational damage”. And now, our reader would say, you want me to believe this man takes professional direction from one key adviser – and this collaborator in his glorious career is his wife?

Actually, it’s his third wife. Her name is Jennifer Rauchet and they met at Fox News, where they were colleagues, he as a co-host of Fox & Friends and she as an executive producer. Jennifer was raised in........

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