Trump and Hegseth's Plan for the "War Within"

"Without actually coming out and saying it, Trump indicated that the primary focus of US strategy would now shift from a focus on war with other great powers to combatting narco-cartels in Latin America and leftist "insurrectionists" in US cities. Hegseth, for his part, hinted that women will henceforth be discouraged from joining the military and that Black officers and personnel will find it difficult to get promoted."

"These objectives are not expressed overtly or in ways that people outside the US military might grasp. But they run like a dark current through everything Trump and Hegseth said. And they share a common theme: Democratic rules and values, whether expressed in the public sphere or the ranks of the Armed Forces, will no longer be tolerated in this country."

"Trump never said to the assembled officers, "You must adapt to a new defense policy, consisting of the following elements..." Rather, his new, US-focused strategic outlook was spelled out in drips and drabs, often attached to other pet Trumpian concerns, such as tariffs, Biden's incompetence, and his own alleged success in ending wars. But the underlying theme was unmistakable."

Senior political leaders signaled a strategic shift in U.S. defense priorities from preparing for high-end conflict with China or Russia toward addressing transnational drug cartels and domestic unrest. Military personnel who trained for great-power war were asked to set aside that focus and to roll back diversity initiatives that had expanded opportunities for women and people of color. The new orientation discourages female recruits and creates promotion barriers for Black officers. Emphasis on internal security and policing roles for the armed forces reframes defense institutions toward domestic political objectives and weakens democratic norms within the military and society.

Read at The Nation