{"id":180361,"date":"2025-09-30T15:45:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/180361\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T15:45:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:45:08","slug":"hegseth-criticizes-fat-generals-and-diversity-focus-at-unusual-gathering-of-military-brass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/180361\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth criticizes \u2018fat generals\u2019 and diversity focus, at unusual gathering of military brass"},"content":{"rendered":"

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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to senior military leaders at Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday.Andrew Harnik\/Reuters<\/p>\n

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed \u201cfat generals\u201d and diversity initiatives that he said led to decades of decay in the military and told a rare gathering of commanders on Tuesday they should resign if they don\u2019t support his agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cFoolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading and we lost our way. We became the \u2018Woke Department,\u2019\u201d Hegseth said as he kicked off the event in Quantico, Virginia. \u201cBut not anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Addressing the room full of America\u2019s top generals and admirals, summoned from around the world without explanation last week, Hegseth defended his firings of flag officers, which include the top U.S. general, who was Black, and the Navy\u2019s top admiral, who was a woman. He said the officers he relieved were part of a broken culture.<\/p>\n

He promised sweeping changes to how discrimination complaints are handled and how accusations of wrongdoing are investigated at the Pentagon, saying the current system has top brass walking on \u201cegg shells.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the words I\u2019m speaking today are making your hearts sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign,\u201d Hegseth said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the overwhelming majority of you feel the opposite. These words make your hearts full.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hegseth criticized the look of overweight troops, saying: \u201cIt\u2019s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said all fitness tests would be set to male benchmarks only and emphasized the importance of grooming standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos,\u201d Hegseth told the audience, which sat in silence.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump<\/a>, as he departed for the event, told reporters on Tuesday that he would fire military leaders on the spot if he did not like them.<\/p>\n

Trump then opened with a joke as he took the stage for a speech that lasted more than an hour, saying: \u201cIf you don\u2019t like what I\u2019m saying, you can leave the room, of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Military leaders attending the gathering will be under public scrutiny for any reaction to overtly political comments made by Trump.Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters<\/p>\n

But he then spoke warmly of the military, in sometimes-wandering remarks that touched on issues like the prowess of U.S. nuclear submarines but also included fierce criticism of the media, former President Joe Biden and Venezuela.<\/p>\n

He echoed Hegseth when he turned his attention to his opposition to diversity initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cMerit. Everything\u2019s based on merit. You\u2019re all based on merit. We\u2019re not going to have somebody taking your place for political reasons, because they are politically correct and you\u2019re not,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am with you. I support you, and as president, I have your backs 100 per cent,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

The auditorium was filled with senior uniformed officials, seated in front of a stage with a large American flag, a lectern and boards that read: \u201cStrength. Service. America.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Trump spoke, several officers sat looking expressionless, and the room was far quieter than the crowds at Trump\u2019s usual gatherings. A naval officer took notes.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military is meant to be apolitical, loyal to the U.S. Constitution and independent of any party or political movement. That creates pressure on the commanders to avoid reacting to overtly political comments, by Trump or Hegseth.<\/p>\n

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Several officers sat looking expressionless, and the room was far quieter than the crowds at Trump\u2019s usual gatherings.Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The Pentagon has undergone eight months of blistering changes since Trump took office, including firings, banning books from academy libraries and ordering lethal strikes on suspected drug boats off Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you try to poison our people, we will blow you out of existence,\u201d Trump told the audience. <\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to rename the Department of Defense the \u201cDepartment of War,\u201d reverting to a title it held until after World War Two when officials sought to emphasize the Pentagon\u2019s role in preventing conflict. The name change will require congressional approval.<\/p>\n

The administration has announced a plan to send National Guard deployments to Chicago, the latest U.S. city where Trump aims to deploy U.S. troops despite objections from local authorities.<\/p>\n

Trump announced plans to send National Guard troops to Portland<\/a>, Oregon, over the weekend and sent Guard and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles earlier this year, despite protests from local officials. He acknowledged discomfort among his opponents for deploying the military on U.S. streets, but said America was in the grips of what he described as a war from within waged by illegal immigrants who his administration is seeking to deport.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica is under invasion from within. We\u2019re under invasion from within, no different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways, because they don\u2019t wear uniforms,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n

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Military leaders were summoned from around the world last week without explanation to attend the event.Andrew Harnik\/Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to senior military leaders at Quantico, Virginia,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,1008,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-180361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-pleasemod","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}