President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rallied hundreds of U.S. generals with a call to end “woke” principles like diversity and inclusion, declaring war on “fat” troops and demanding a return to “male standards” in the ranks.
Flexing his power as commander in chief, Trump taunted the assembled top brass after they failed to greet him with more than scattered applause when he took the stage.
“If you don’t like what I’m saying you can leave the room, because there goes your rank, there goes your future,” Trump said with a grin.
Trump spoke for more than an hour, repeating claims about solving various global conflicts while deriding his political opponents.
He vowed to continue unleashing the military to crack down on undocumented immigrants and protesters in American cities, a major break with longstanding tradition.
“Our history is filled with military heroes who took on all enemies foreign and domestic. That’s what the oath says — foreign and domestic,” he said. “Well, we also have domestic (enemies).”
The unusual gathering came after Hegseth abruptly summoned military leaders from around the world to convene at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, without publicly revealing any reason.
Hegseth painted a picture of a military that has been crippled by “woke” policies, and he warned military leaders they could quit if they don’t agree.
“We are done with that s–t,” Hegseth said.
The highest civilian leader in the military derided “fat” troops and generals and demanded that troops meet the “highest male standards” for some combat roles, an apparent dig at women in uniform.
The dual messages underscored the Trump administration’s efforts not only to reshape contemporary Pentagon culture but to enlist military resources for the president’s priorities and decidedly domestic purposes, including quelling unrest and violent crime.
“We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” Trump said.
He noted at another point: “We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms.”
“We will not be politically correct when it comes to defending American freedom,” Trump said.
At the same time he took aim at woke culture, Hegseth vowed to loosen strict disciplinary rules the military has put in place after numerous scandals and investigations of physical, mental and sexual abuse of troops.
He said he was ordering a review of “the department’s definitions of so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing.”
He called for changes to “allow leaders with forgivable, earnest or minor infractions to not be encumbered by those infractions in perpetuity.”
“People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not define an entire career,” Hegseth said.
Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the meeting “an expensive, dangerous dereliction of leadership” by the Trump administration.
“Even more troubling was Mr. Hegseth’s ultimatum to America’s senior officers: conform to his political worldview or step aside,” Reed said in a statement, calling it a “profoundly dangerous” demand.
Hegseth used the platform to slam environmental policies and transgender troops while talking up a focus on “the warrior ethos.”
The Pentagon has been told from previous administrations that “our diversity is our strength,” Hegseth said, calling that an “insane fallacy.”
Hegseth said it is not about preventing women from serving.
“But when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral,” he said. “If women can make it excellent, if not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result.”
Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican who served in the Iraq War, said Hegseth was “appropriate” in suggesting that women should be expected to meet certain standards for the military.
“I’m not worried about that,” Ernst said. “There should be a same set of standards for combat arms. I think that’s what he probably was referring to.”
But Janessa Goldbeck, who served in the Marines and is now CEO of the Vet Voice Foundation, said Hegseth’s speech was more about “stoking grievance than strengthening the force.”
Hegseth “has a cartoonish, 1980s comic-book idea of toughness he’s never outgrown,” she said. “Instead of focusing on what actually improves force readiness, he continues to waste time and tax-payer dollars on He-Man culture-war theatrics.”