If the Urgent Trump-Hegseth Address to the Military Had Been an Email

"PLEASE DROP EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING TO READ THIS EMAIL AT ATTENTION. THIS IS NOT SPAM AND I AM EXTREMELY SOBER! YOU ARE TOO FAT TO FIGHT WARS! I AM SICK OF SEEING FAT TROOPS! NO FAT TROOPS! ALSO, TRANSPHOBIA IS BACK IN A BIG WAY. NO THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE! OUR DIVERSITY IS NOT OUR STRENGTH. I DON'T WANT WOMEN ON THE FRONT LINES, AND I DON'T WANT ANYONE WHO CAN'T BE CLEAN-SHAVEN FOR ANY REASON."

"BULLYING IS BACK NOW! LAY HANDS ON THE NEW RECRUITS! AND FEEL FREE TO MAKE MISTAKES. ESPECIALLY IN COMBAT! IT WON'T GO ON YOUR RECORD. WE'RE BRINGING MORE OF A LOOSE, IMPROVISATIONAL FEEL TO WAR. NOT DEFENSE. WAR. JUST ONE OF MANY IMPROVEMENTS! DON'T LET YOUR HANDS BE TIED BY THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. THOSE ARE POLITICALLY CORRECT, AND WE ARE DONE WITH THAT. WE ARE BRINGING BACK STANDARDS, AND BY STANDARDS, I MEAN PHYSICAL-FITNESS STANDARDS."

"OKAY, YES, I WENT THROUGH THE ARMY AND REMOVED PEOPLE MY GUT SAID WERE BAD. YOU MAY NOTICE THAT SOME OF THEM WERE WOMEN AND PEOPLE OF COLOR. YEP. CAN'T HELP IT. GUT FEELING. REMEMBER, WHENEVER SOMEONE WHO ISN'T A WHITE MAN IS IN A POSITION OF LEADERSHIP, THAT'S A SIGN THAT STANDARDS WERE LOWERED UNACCEPTABLY DUE TO DEI. QED. RIF. FAFO. IF ANYONE COMPLAINS, THEIR CAREER SHOULD BE OVER! IF THIS SPEECH MAKES YOUR HEART SINK: GET OUT! WE DON'T WANT YOU. EVERYONE ELSE, GET EXCITED"

The message commands military leadership to stop current activities and prioritize immediate enforcement of strict physical-fitness standards. It denounces overweight service members, rejects diversity as strength, and explicitly opposes women and those who cannot be clean-shaven serving on front lines. It endorses transphobia, disparages DEI, and claims personnel removals were based on gut judgments. It encourages bullying of new recruits, tolerates mistakes in combat, and calls for looser rules of engagement. It dismisses complaints by threatening careers and urges dissenters to leave. It frames these changes as restoring standards and celebrates an improvisational approach to warfare.

Read at The Atlantic