Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News bobblehead with documented alcohol problems, summoned the military’s top 800 generals, admirals and flag officers to Quantico, Virginia this week to degrade them with a message that could have been delivered via Zoom.
Pacing back and forth in front of a backdrop from “Patton,” Hegseth delivered what’s been called “an unhinged address filled with confusing contradictions, wild-eyed cheerleading, and politically charged rhetoric.” Hegseth seemed oblivious to the fact that he was lecturing brass with far more military expertise and experience than his own.
Hegseth’s speech was a tired attack on ‘gay’ and ‘woke.’ He told the officers, “No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses.... As I’ve said before and will say again, we are done with that shit.” He then suggested hazing and mild harassment are now ok, assuring brass that they shouldn’t be overly concerned with legalities.
He defined, for the 4-star generals, what it means to be in the US military: “We don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt, and kill the enemies of our country.”
The enemies of our country, they would next learn from Trump, are Americans.
Trump delivered proof of his own insanity
After Hegseth’s immature rant about beards, killer ethos and real men ended, Trump stepped into the spotlight like it was a MAGA rally and delivered rambling comments.
Meandering from topic to topic for over an hour, Trump mused on his fondness for the television show ‘Victory at Sea,’ asserted his claim to a Nobel Peace Prize, criticized how former Presidents Obama and Biden walk down stairs, described how he walks down stairs, insulted ‘radical Democrats,’ declared his love for tariffs, attacked Biden or his autopen 11 times, mentioned making Canada the 51st state, and described the kind of paper he likes to use when signing promotions.
Trump told the officers that he’d ended more than six wars, even though many people in the room personally witness those ‘resolved’ conflicts as they still rage on. He also repeatedly mentioned nuclear weapons. “I rebuilt our nuclear… I call it the N-word. There are two N-words, and you can’t use either of them.”
Several officials called Trump’s speech truly disturbing and unwell, “even for Trump.”
Trump repurposes generals to fight “the enemy within”
After bragging earlier in the day that he would fire “any officer” he “doesn’t like” “on the spot,” Trump told assembled brass that they were crucial in his fight against the “enemy from within.” Distilled, Trump said they would soon be fighting Americans.
Hyping the pitch, Trump told them, we’re “under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms.” He then added ominously that “our inner cities” were becoming “a big part of war now,” and that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”
Using American cities as “training grounds” for Hegseth’s extra-legal “lethality” operations meant to “kill people and break things” is batshit Reichstag Fire lunacy.
If we had a functioning government, Trump’s speech would already have triggered his 25th Amendment removal for mental infirmity, and his declaration(s) of war against American cities would be adjudicated as “levying war” against the US, otherwise known as treason.
What the hell did we just witness?
Attendees were aghast at the whole affair. The Intercept reports multiple officials who called Trump’s speech “embarrassing” and criticized Hegseth for gathering top commanders from around the world for a rant that was just like “his social media posts.”
One officer called Hegseth’s address ‘garbage.’ Another said: “We are diminished as a nation by both Hegseth and Trump.” Another called it disqualifying and that, “It shocks the conscience to hear Hegseth— he is no warrior — endorse bullying and hazing of service members. How dare this former National Guard major lecture our military leaders on lethality…”
Patriots worried about the Constitution should take heart. The disastrous spectacle delivered a silver lining that may well save the republic.
Generals now know what they must do
The silver lining is that every high-ranking officer stationed everywhere in the world now knows, without a doubt, two crucial facts they may only have suspected before Quantico:
1. Hegseth plans to bend the rules to deliver maximum “lethality,” regardless of domestic and international law; and
2. Trump is mentally unfit to serve as Commander in Chief.
Knowledge of those two facts will inform their future decisions on how to respond to illegal orders. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, they are required to disobey them. Having heard Hegseth’s criminal intent, and having experienced Trump’s insanity in person, the officers’ resolve to disobey any and all illegal orders heading their way will only strengthen.
Sabrina Haake is a 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her columns are published in Alternet, Chicago Tribune, MSN, Out South Florida, Raw Story, Salon, Smart News and Windy City Times. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.
