Their abuse of the generals and incitement against “the enemy from within” was dangerous and obscene. On this Yom Kippur, Trump and Henchman Hegseth have much to answer for
A few days ago, Pete Hegseth did something no Pentagon chief had ever done: he ordered nearly 800 of America’s top generals and admirals — along with their most senior enlisted advisors — to drop everything and appear at Quantico, Virginia. In a sinister flourish, the order came with no explanation. The reason turned out to be an anti-woke tirade and an incitement to beat up protestors.
I do have a beef with the Progressives, who have embroiled not just America but the entire West in silly arguments and obsessions, handing the populist right a major axe to grind that pushed the ridiculous Trump over the top. But for the military, this is a manufactured problem, also known as bullshit. The entire exercise was enormously costly, deeply disruptive to global operations, and strategically reckless. By concentrating almost the entire operational chain of command in a single auditorium at a publicly announced time, the Pentagon practically invited catastrophe for no good reason but the vanity of miscreants.
A Fox News mannequin with good hair, disturbing tattoos and a sketchy past who was preposterously elevated to Secretary of Defense, Hegseth now prances about as “Secretary of War” (though Congress has not approved any such title change). Railing about politicians who turned the Pentagon into “the woke department,” he claimed that “an entire generation of generals and admirals were told that they must parrot the insane fallacy that our diversity is our strength.” He also sneered that “it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the world. It’s a bad look.”
He rolled out ten “directives” including new fitness tests, “the highest male standard” for combat positions, grooming requirements and relaxed restrictions on hazing and bullying. “We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement,” he declared. “We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country.” Professionalism, inclusivity, and restraint are weakness when “you kill people and break things for a living.” If that made anyone’s “heart sink … then you should do the honorable thing and resign.”
Then came Trump (full video at the bottom). A lifelong conman with five deferments from service in Vietnam stood before combat vets to instruct them on toughness. “I’ve never walked into a room so silent before,” he said, suggesting anyone who left in protest would see “there goes your rank, there goes your future.”
So the generals sat silent as Trump advised them that one of their principal tasks going forward would be to fight Americans on home ground. “I signed an executive order to provide training for a quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances,” Trump said. “This is gonna be a big thing for the people in this room, because it’s the enemy from within and we have to handle it before it gets out of control … I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military…because we’re going into Chicago very soon.”
Beyond this sinister grotesquery, a few other notes about this grim business:
- Projection of Weakness: By reducing senior officers to caricatures of obesity and incompetence, by mocking the professionalization that has made the US military the world’s strongest, they sought to delegitimize the very people who have led wars, managed global deployments, and preserved deterrence. Would the enemies watching think the US military is weak, or strong? This grotesque miscalculation alone should end political careers.
- Trump’s Theater of the Absurd: For over seventy minutes Trump rambled about everything from tariffs to the Nobel Peace Prize he covets. He boasted of committing “a lot of money … I hope you like it” and promised 19 new ships, though “an ugly ship is not necessary.” He insisted on his “Gulf of America” nonsense and digressed about his favorite stationery: “I want the beautiful paper, the gorgeous paper with the real gold writing. I love my signature. I really do. Everyone loves my signature.” Readers who, like me, are US citizens: We’re paying these senior officers to sit there and listen to this.
- The Obscene Biden Pettiness: The speech once again highlighted Trump’s inability to let go of his successor-predecessor – who for four years was the commander-in-chief of the assembled. He referred to Biden by name eleven times, mocking him as “the auto pen” and for allegedly “falling downstairs every day.” He also recounted, nuttily, Barack Obama’s brisk walk down staircases — “da-da, da-da, da-da, bop, bop, bop” — contrasting it with the caution of Biden, “this guy who had no clue.” For bad measure, he called Democrats “sleazebags” who “never treat you with respect” and mayors “stupid.” This has never been done. Generally, when things are truly and literally unprecedented, there is a reason: Because they’re bad and idiotic.
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- The N-Word Racist Dog-Whistle: Trump claimed “there are two n-words you can’t say,” and “one is ‘nuclear.’” The other, left hanging, was the racial slur. The implication was that since the (fictitious) bad on “nuclear” would be absurd, so is the opposition to the other “n-word.” Where to even begin? Is every black general a “DEI hire”? Does he know how many troops are black and how much America owes them for its security over the years? But I bet white supremacists liked it, and they did not vote for “Sleepy Joe.”
- Sexism and Incitement to Violence: Trump casually endorsed violence against protesters in this fascinating manner: “She starts spitting in his face and he’s not allowed to do anything. If it’s OK with you, generals and admirals, I’ve taken that off. I say, ‘They spit. We hit.’” Why “she”? Is that a coincidence? Or is it a nod to the misogynist caucus that it’s OK to hit women? Is there a national epidemic of expectorating female demonstrators?
- It’s tempting to laugh at stupid shit this absurd — but obviously, it’s mainly very dangerous. At the very least, it’s an attempt to remake the military into a partisan instrument serving an authoritarian presidency. But there is something bigger here: Trump and henchmen like Hegseth lack the foggiest notion of what it was that made the United States better than just another large nation with good geography and natural resources. As someone who has spent my adulthood travelling the world, I know this is the thing also made America respected and strong. Trump is a carnival barker who’s rather be a Mussolini.In a few hours Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins in most places where there are Jews around the globe. Judaism is far from a missionary faith, but one need not exclude goyim in dire need, like these two dangerous clowns. For their vanity and vilification, arrogance and avarice, mendacity and manifold other sins, Trump and Hegseth should feel very welcome to atone.
Romania, it seems, has gained the courage to confront Russian disinformation
