U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump delivered fiery speeches to top military commanders on Tuesday, unveiling sweeping changes in defense priorities while sharply criticizing diversity programs and military leadership.
Speaking to an auditorium of admirals and generals flown in on short notice, Hegseth denounced “fat generals,” diversity initiatives and what he called decades of decline under “woke” policies.
He defended recent firings of senior officers, including the military’s top general and the Navy’s highest-ranking admiral, saying they represented a “broken culture.” He warned commanders opposed to his agenda to “do the honorable thing and resign.”
“It is completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon,” Hegseth said, pledging stricter grooming standards and male-only benchmarks for fitness tests.
He also vowed to overhaul how the Pentagon handles discrimination complaints and misconduct cases, arguing the current system leaves senior officers “walking on egg shells.”
Trump, who followed with a more than hour-long address, promised unwavering support for the armed forces but drew controversy by suggesting deployments to U.S. cities could serve as “training grounds” for troops.
He defended previous moves to send the National Guard and Marines into Democratic-led cities, framing domestic deployments as part of what he called a “war from within” waged by undocumented immigrants. “America is under invasion from within … no different than a foreign enemy,” Trump said.
The event, staged with a large American flag and the slogan “Strength. Service. America,” drew muted reactions from the audience, many of whom sat expressionless. Democrats condemned the gathering as politicizing the military.
Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said it undermined the principle of a nonpartisan military, while Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker blasted Trump’s rhetoric, saying, “Anyone who talks about their fellow Americans as enemies to be ‘taken out’ is not fit to lead the nation.”
Since returning to office, Trump and Hegseth have pushed dramatic shifts at the Pentagon, including firing senior leaders, banning certain books from military academies, ordering strikes on suspected drug vessels, and proposing to rename the Department of Defense as the “Department of War.”
The Quantico meeting, held just days before a potential government shutdown, underscored the administration’s determination to realign U.S. defense priorities, even as critics warn of growing politicization of the armed forces.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
