Wall Street Journal ran an exclusive breaking story this morning headlined, “Trump Mulls Replacing Pete Hegseth With Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.” The sub-headline added, “President-elect is discussing replacing current Pentagon nominee as the former Fox News host faces mounting scrutiny over allegations about his personal life.”

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There’s little substance to the story. The “exclusive” reveal was that Trump dropped DeSantis’ name at a recent Mar-a-Lago dinner to possibly replace Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary. Hegseth is currently navigating through a squall of stale “Me-Too” allegations.

Hegseth may be in turbulent waters, since rumors are circulating widely that six Senators staunchly oppose Hegseth’s nomination —potentially fatal to his nomination— but he’s not done yet. The Journal reported that “So far, no Republican senators have publicly said they would oppose Hegseth’s nomination, and Trump still publicly backs him.”

So unlike Chronister, Hegseth remains in the race. For his part, DeSantis’ office declined to comment on the rumor Trump may be considering him, which just fueled the fires of speculation.

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Just below the surface, a fascinating political dance is unfolding. Here’s the timeline: First, Trump nominated Pete Hegseth. Then Trump’s deep state enemies, probably including Pentagon brass and the military-industrial lobby, deployed “military grade” background research, dragging out some old allegations of sexual abuse (never prosecuted) to undermine Hegseth’s nomination. So Trump responded yesterday by casually suggesting Ron DeSantis who, as a former Navy JAG and a top governor, is clearly qualified.

The prospect of Ron DeSantis as Defense Secretary might terrify the deep staters even more than Pete Hegseth. DeSantis’ scorn for the Ukraine war is well known. His hatred for the deep state, fine-tuned during the pandemic, is on display in dozens of public rants. At minumum, DeSantis is equally dangerous a pick as Hegseth.

After Trump’s dinner comment, those opposing Hegseth must now consider the possibility they could win their war against Hegseth only to face a sure-to-be-approved DeSantis. So, what will they do? Should they back down on Hegseth and deal with him, or take the chance it could be DeSantis?

It was another brilliant move; Trump has boxed them in.

For the record, I’d prefer to keep our Governor in Florida, thank you.