"America First" — Pete Hegseth's Wife Apparently Wears Temu and Shein to Big Events

Ever since he first ran for office, President Donald Trump has touted himself as the "America First" candidate turned elected official. This slogan has trickled down through his administration, and cabinet officials have adopted it as part of their strategy to drum up support for their policies and decisions.

Including Secretary of War (formerly Secretary of Defense) Pete Hegseth.

However, eagle-eyed internet denizens believe that there's a little hypocrisy residing at the Hegseth house. Because his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, appears to be wearing clothes most definitely not made in America.

Does she wear Temu and Shein? Here's what we know about the scandal.

Rauchet is Hegseth's third wife, and they share one daughter, Gwendolyn. They always make a picture-perfect couple in public, matchy-matchy dressing up their blended family, which includes three kids from a previous relationship of Hegseth's and three kids from a previous relationship of Rauchet's.

But as it turns out, Rauchet may not be embracing her husband's "America First" drive in her fashion.

Instagram account @diet_prada posted a photo carousel showing a number of outfits worn by Rauchet at large events, where it appears that she's wearing clothing or accessories sourced from Shein or Temu.

The account writes, "Rauchet’s husband Hegseth knows how to spend money with reckless abandon. His career is marred with scandal, much of which alleges financial mismanagement. An analysis published in March revealed $93.4 billion was spent by the DoD in September alone. $9 million of that total was reportedly spent on 'Alaskan king crab and lobster tails'.”

This is all in addition to apparent wasteful spending on other areas and an alleged $50K hush money payment to someone over sexual allegations, the account alleges.

But while Hegseth thumps his chest and quotes the Bible in support of "America First," his wife may be outsourcing her fashion. The carousel shows multiple outfits that appear to be from the foreign retailer.

But why does it matter so much?

Aside from the hypocrisy, Shein, Temu, and other high-volume low-cost "fast fashion" retailers have a bad reputation for unsafe and unfair labor practices.

In 2024, BBC published a report detailing how manufacturers tied to Shein were nabbed for child labor violation. However, the retailer claims they quickly cut ties with those manufacturers and were able to prove no labor violations in subsequent inspections.

But the stain on their reputation remains, and people are skeptical of both the human rights and wasteful environmental impacts of fast fashion. In the comment section of the post exposing Rauchet's fashion choices, people weighed in on the topic.

One user wrote, "Not the make 'America great again' crowd wearing non-American, slave-made, foreign fast fashion again."

Others, however, suggested that perhaps she used a stylist who upcharged the items and sewed in fake tags to make them more appealing.

It's all speculation, of course, but the look isn't great for the wife of the country's loudest "America First" Secretary of War.