{"id":46598,"date":"2025-10-01T06:47:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T06:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=46598"},"modified":"2026-07-08T02:21:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T02:21:58","slug":"trump-defends-troops-in-us-cities-after-hegseth-decries-military-dei-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2025\/10\/01\/trump-defends-troops-in-us-cities-after-hegseth-decries-military-dei-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump defends troops in US cities after Hegseth decries military DEI efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At an address of assembled generals and admirals,\u00a0Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, outlined changes to military policy and philosophy in a set of 10 directives meant to change organizational culture around fitness, race and gender, describing the previous state of military affairs as the \u201cwoke department\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump\u00a0followed Hegseth\u2019s call to embrace the virtues of lethality as a doctrine with a suggestion buried in an hour-long campaign-style speech that the gathering of officers and senior enlisted advisers should consider targeting US cities and civilian populations as a training exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military \u2013 national guard, but military \u2013 because we\u2019re going into Chicago very soon, that\u2019s a big city with an incompetent governor,\u201d Trump said, attacking JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump went on to describe soldiers he had seen in media accounts who had been spit upon who \u201cwant to knock the hell out of a person, but he\u2019s not allowed to do anything \u2026 I say: \u2018They spit, we hit\u2019. Is that OK? I think so, they spit \u2013 it\u2019s a new thing \u2013 \u2018They spit, we hit\u2019\u201d. Trump said that immigration enforcement agents, facing people throwing bricks at their vehicles, should retaliate. \u201cI say it here, you can get out of that car and you do whatever the hell you want to do\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also defended the navy\u2019s sinking of Venezuelan boats, rather than attempting to interdict suspected drug runners as required by international law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. \u201cEvery boat kills about 25,000 people,\u201d he claimed without evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s speech was packed with campaign references to his electoral victory and the perceived shortcomings of his political adversaries. The assemblage of uniformed officers sat stonefaced, expressionless and inscrutable with few smiles. Trump\u2019s attacks on Joe Biden were met with silence. Some of his lines elicited polite ripples of laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, Hegseth\u2019s address focused on military culture and philosophical doctrine. Decrying \u201cthe insane fallacy that diversity is our strength\u201d, Hegseth said he had chosen to fire previous generals because they had been personally invested in progressive ideas about diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nearly impossible to change a culture with the same people helped create or even benefited from that culture,\u201d he said, adding that he expects others to leave. \u201cIf the words that you hear today make your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth has fired several generals and admirals in the first months of his tenure, a disproportionate number of which have been Black or women, including chair of the joint chiefs, CQ Brown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst of all, you\u2019ve got to fire the chairman of the joint chiefs,\u201d Hegseth said\u00a0during a November interview\u00a0on the Shawn Ryan Show. \u201cAny general that was involved, general, admiral, or whatever, that was involved in any of that DEI woke shit has got to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The military does not have racial quotas for promotion, but does take steps to ensure that non-white and female troops do not face racial or gender discrimination. While noting that \u201cbeing a racist has been illegal in our formations since 1948,\u201d Hegseth said that the department would review promotions policies and eliminate racial quotas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cColorblind, gender-neutral, merit based; the entire promotion process, including evaluations of warfighting capabilities, is being thoroughly re-examined,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Man<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth said the Pentagon would overhaul inspector general and equal opportunity office rules to reduce complaints. He also said the Pentagon would establish a process to remove \u201cforgivable earnest or minor infractions\u201d from leader\u2019s records. \u201cI call it the no more walking on eggshells policy,\u201d he said. \u201cNo more frivolous complaints \u2026 no more side tracking careers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gathering of flag officers together in the same place and time is largely unprecedented. Rather than record the equivalent of a Ted talk video or send an email, Hegseth chose to deliver a theatrically incendiary speech meant as much for a wider political audience as it was for men and women wearing stars on their shoulders. Hegseth took potshots at Mark Milley, the former chief of staff, and scattered jingoism throughout his address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShould our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be crushed by the violence, precision and ferocity of the war department,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cTo our enemies, FAFO,\u201d he said referring to the acronym for \u201cfuck around and find out\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth used this gathering to impress the need for a risk-taking culture and a return to physical and appearance standards set in 1990. Permission to wear a beard \u2013 a shaving profile \u2013 will be broadly rescinded for everyone except special forces troops. Women in combat roles will be expected to meet the same physical standards as men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWar does not care if you are a man or a woman,\u201d Hegseth said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drill sergeants will be empowered to swear and conduct \u201cshark attack\u201d type-training, during which instructors gang up on a recruit and shout at them, Hegseth said. Basic training should be \u201cscary, tough and disciplined. We\u2019re empowering drill sergeants to instil healthy fear in new recruits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth also said the rules of engagement would be reviewed. \u201cWe untie the hands of our war fighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement. Just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for war fighters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among his first acts as secretary, Hegseth fired<\/a> or reassigned many of the military lawyers who advise senior leaders about the legality of operations. He then commissioned his personal lawyer and former naval officer, Tim Parlatore, as a navy commander to oversee changes to legal advice to give commanders more leeway to pursue more aggressive tactics and take a more lenient approach in charging soldiers with battlefield crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Smith contributed reporting<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At an address of assembled generals and admirals,\u00a0Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, outlined changes to military policy and philosophy in a set of 10 directives meant to change organizational culture around fitness, race and gender, describing the previous state of military affairs as the \u201cwoke department\u201d. Donald Trump\u00a0followed Hegseth\u2019s call to embrace the virtues […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":46599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[5304,11394,5178,6573,10387,13175,7489,854,887,8256,9331,7823,8982,4024,3513,9556,12084,9520,11273,11954,12310,8057,12210,6159,10453,1444,10321,988,6094,8329,10954,11493,11391,2471,10419,10342,10776,12309,5572,4995,10349,6719,12083,6200,12938,9583,8297,5807,11199,6334,10402,5618,10041,9178,5815,184,6348,10885,8033,5251,6571,5273,5320,594],"class_list":["post-46598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-attack","tag-attacks","tag-biden","tag-black","tag-campaign","tag-car","tag-chairman","tag-chicago","tag-chief-of-staff","tag-chiefs","tag-city","tag-code","tag-combat","tag-common","tag-culture","tag-david-smith","tag-dei","tag-discrimination","tag-drug","tag-engagement","tag-exercise","tag-fear","tag-female","tag-fire","tag-guard","tag-hell","tag-illegal","tag-illinois","tag-immigration","tag-incompetent","tag-international","tag-interview","tag-jb-pritzker","tag-joe-biden","tag-justice","tag-law","tag-lawyer","tag-men","tag-military","tag-minor","tag-navy","tag-pentagon","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-race","tag-racist","tag-recruits","tag-resign","tag-risk","tag-shark-attack","tag-shaving","tag-sink","tag-soldiers","tag-speech","tag-troops","tag-uniform","tag-united-states-president-donald-john-trump-jr","tag-us","tag-victory","tag-video","tag-war","tag-white","tag-woman","tag-women","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46600,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46598\/revisions\/46600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}