Here’s the one conspiracy theory that always sticks with me because it explains everything. Putin’s number one goal for decades has been to destabilize the United States. That’s why Russian troll farms have posted things supporting both sides of decisive issues for ages. He doesn’t care about the issue, just that Americans fight over them. Trump has been mixed up with the Russian Mafia since his real estate days, and Putin has a lot of dirt on him. Since becoming president, Trump has appointed people most likely to disrupt or destroy the organizations they’re in charge of. The person who wants to get rid of the department of education gets put in charge of it. The person who doesn’t believe in science and who believes junk conspiracy theories, gets appointed health and human services. Many more examples. The goal is to make the government fall apart.

So in that context, Hegseth doing this works either way. If he gets the military brass to fall in line and go against the Constitution, Putin wins. If he tries and the military brass goes against the commander in chief, Putin still wins. The goal is destabilizing the country and taking down the government.