"Hegseth strutted and paced and lectured and hectored, warning the officers that he was tired of seeing fat people in the halls of the Pentagon and promising to take the men who have medical or religious exemptions from shaving-read: mostly Black men-and kick them out of the military. He assured them that the "woke" Department of Defense was now a robust and manly Department of War, and that they would no longer have to worry about people "smearing" them as "toxic" leaders."
"All in all, an utterly embarrassing address. But that wasn't the worst of it. The assembled military leaders likely already knew that Hegseth is unqualified for his job, and they could mostly tune out the sloganeering that Hegseth, a former TV host, was probably aiming more at Fox News and the White House than at the military itself. What they could not ignore, however, was the spectacle that President Donald Trump put on when he spoke after Hegseth."
"Several of Hegseth's people said in advance of the senior-officer conclave that its goal was to energize America's top military leaders and get them to focus on Hegseth's vision for a new Department of War. But the generals and admirals should be forgiven if they walked out of the auditorium and wondered: What on earth is wrong with the commander in chief?"
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth convened hundreds of generals and admirals and delivered a politicized, theatrical address that many found embarrassing. He lectured officers, complained about seeing fat people in Pentagon halls, and threatened to remove servicemen with medical or religious shaving exemptions—read: mostly Black men. He framed the Department of Defense as a newly muscular "Department of War" and dismissed accusations of "toxic" leadership. Most military leaders could dismiss the sloganeering as aimed at Fox News and the White House. President Donald Trump then spoke at length, delivering comments that left officers bewildered and concerned about his fitness as commander in chief.
Read at The Atlantic
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