Warning: Trump Needs to Reboot His PR Strategy ASAP

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First to go was Matt Gaetz. Now Pete Hegseth is in trouble. And after the Democrats sink Hegseth with anonymous allegations of sex and booze, Tulsi Gabbard will be their next target.

The Democrats are playing piñata with Trump’s cabinet picks.

Having Gaetz’s head on the chopping block wasn’t entirely unexpected; he was always seen as an outlier. With so much bad blood in his wake, it would’ve required a minor MAGA miracle to get him confirmed. So, losing Gaetz was seen more as a reflection of Gaetz than Trump.

But Hegseth is in a different category. He’s a fresh face, unmarred by GOP infighting or personality conflicts. And on top of it, he’s a Fox News star: Other than Trump himself, Hegseth has more TV experience than anyone else in the President-elect’s cabinet.

And so far, he’s done only one major interview: His appearance yesterday on “The Megyn Kelly” show.

It was a good interview. Hegseth is naturally likeable.

Which beckons the obvious question, why the hell isn’t he doing more of these?!

This is a red-flashing, alarm-sounding warning for MAGA: If you don’t revise your PR strategy for cabinet nominees ASAP, the Democrats will eat you alive.

(Even faster than an immigrant eats a cat. Meow!)

During his interview with Kelly, Hegseth said he ignored these anonymously-sourced allegations — “He’s a drunk!” “He’s a cheater!” “He’s an abuser!” — because he didn’t want to dignify them with a response.

Which was a horrible PR decision: You can’t beat a bad story with no story.

If you were a liberal politician who was being covered by the liberal media, then you could get away with ignoring allegations. That’s the institutional advantage of the left: When the media’s busy carrying your water, they’re not echoing unsubstantiated rumors or trumpeting harmful inuendo.

For liberals, ignoring an allegation would usually diminish its reach. (Especially before the rise of alternative media.) As long as they didn’t feed into the story, it typically died on its own.

But that’s just not true for conservatives. Never was, never will be. 

When conservatives fail to directly — and forcefully — refute an allegation, the liberal media interprets their silence as a damning admission of guilt.

Instead of killing the story, it has the opposite effect. 

Trump’s team needs to have a crisis communications plan in place for each nominee before they’re announced. This plan must include talking points, an outreach strategy, and (most importantly) a list of their top surrogates — reliable, credible, trustworthy people who can be booked on TV shows, podcasts, and media interviews.

MAGA needs a rapid-response team.

If it had a rapid-response team in standby, Hegseth would be in a much better situation: The moment the allegations were publicized, they could’ve had the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces — the people who served with Hegseth — making the media rounds, vouching for his character.

It would’ve made a world of difference.

After all, you’re talking about a guy who joined the Army after enrolling in Princeton. Hegseth already had a cushy job lined up at Bear Stearns as an equity analyst; most Ivy League wiz kids are content to cash-in their education for oodles of money. Not Hegseth: After graduating from Princeton, he served as an infantry platoon leader, was stationed in Baghdad, and later volunteered to be deployed in Afghanistan.

Hegseth served with honor and distinction. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal (twice), the Combat Infantryman Badge, an Army Commendation Medal (twice), a Joint Service Commendation Medal, an Afghanistan Campaign Medal (with two service stars), and Iraq Campaign Medal (with two service stars), and more. He’s a genuine American hero.

And now he’s having his character torn to shreds by cowardly blowhards who aren’t even fit to lace his boots. It’s disgusting.

But if the Republicans are incapable of defending him, the Democrats are going to double-down on these personal attacks. It’s kind of like the “peace through strength” doctrine: It only works if people think you’re strong.

If the Democrats believe these attacks are effective, then the attacks won’t only continue; they’ll escalate. It’s really that simple. Now, with Gaetz gone and Hegseth on the ropes, Tulsi Gabbard will be next — followed by RFK Jr.

Because the real game is to weaken Trump. And so far, it’s working.