#Trump & #Hegseth #military address🤬🧵
#Defense Secy #PeteHegseth addressed the gathering of military leaders earlier.
He assailed what he called "decades of #decay" caused by policies promoting #diversity & #inclusion in the #USmilitary.
"Foolish & reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading & we lost our way. We became the 'Woke Department,'" Hegseth said as he kicked off the event in Quantico, Virginia.
"But not anymore," he said.
Addressing the room full of the #US’ top #generals & #admirals, summoned from around the world w/o explanation last week, #Hegseth defended his #firings of #FlagOfficers, which include the top US general, a #Black man, & the #Navy's top admiral, a #woman.
He said the officers he relieved were part of a “broken culture”.
#Trump & #PeteHegseth #military address🤬🧵
#Hegseth promised sweeping changes to how #discrimination complaints are handled & how accusations of #wrongdoing [#WarCrimes, #rape, etc] are investigated at the #Pentagon, saying the current system has top brass walking on "egg shells."
"If the words I'm speaking today are making your hearts sink, then you should do the honorable thing & resign," Hegseth said.
"I know the overwhelming majority of you feel the opposite. These words make your hearts full."
#PeteHegseth slammed "#FatGenerals". He criticized the look of overweight troops, saying: "It's completely unacceptable to see fat generals & admirals in the halls of the #Pentagon."
He said ALL fitness tests would be set to #male benchmarks only [meaning #women will be required to pass those tests] & emphasized the importance of grooming standards.
"The era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos," Hegseth told the audience, which sat in silence.
#Trump, as he departed for the event, told reporters that he would fire #military leaders on the spot if he did not like them.
Trump then opened with a joke as he took the stage, saying: "If you don't like what I'm saying, you can leave the room, of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future."
He then spoke of the #US the military prowess, in often wandering remarks praising US #nuclear #submarines, his creation of the #SpaceForce & military recruiting.
#Hegseth 🤬🧵
#Trump repeated his most recent favorite idiotic claim:
"I have settled so many wars since we're here. We're here almost 9 months."
On getting #Ukraine leader Volodymyr #Zelensky & #Russia President Vladimir #Putin together, he said: "But the only way we can do that is through strength. I mean, if we were weak, they wouldn't even take my phone call." [setting the bar pretty low there Donnie]
"'Will you get the Nobel Prize?' Absolutely not. They'll give it to some guy that didn't do a damn thing. They'll give it to a guy that wrote a book about the mind of Donald Trump & what it took to solve the wars, & he'll get the #NobelPrize," #Trump complained to the assembled #military leaders.
Trump has used a mix of threats, inducements & the power of his office to try to shape the behaviors of allies & foes.
He [nobody else] counts solving conflicts between Armenia & Azerbaijan, Cambodia & Thailand, India & Pakistan, & Serbia & Kosovo among his successes.
Many foreign leaders, including India's, dispute Trump’s claims, that US pressure led to the peace. Others, including Cambodia's, have said Trump's pressure was *helpful*.
And many conflicts remain unresolved, including between Russia & Ukraine, Israel & Hamas.
#Trump repeated the message that #Hegseth touted earlier—that the #military will no longer be "politically correct."
"Merit. Everything's based on *#merit* [loyalty to the Supreme Leader]. You're all based on merit. We're not going to have somebody taking your place for political reasons [🤣] because, they are politically correct & you're not," Trump said.
🤬🧵
"We take the people that are going to do the best job. And so it's very simple. And that's the way our country was built. We were built on merit," #Trump who was born a #white #male #millionaire told the #military leaders.
"We're bringing back a focus on fitness, ability, character [🤣] & strength & that's because the purpose of American military is not to protect anyone's feelings. It's to protect our republic."
[character: #Hegseth & Trump who are criminals & rapists👍]
🤬🧵
#Trump told the #military generals in the audience that the #US government has "brought back the fundamental principle that defending the #homeland is the military's first & most important priority."
"Only in recent decades did politicians somehow come to believe that our job is to police the far reaches of Kenya & Somalia, while America is under invasion from within," Trump said.
🤬🧵
#Trump repeatedly diverged from the purported topic of the future of the #US #military, focusing on several other issues he often highlighted in political rallies.
He spoke about the dangers of #protests against #ICE, & touched on his #NationalGuard dispatch to #WashingtonDC several times, claiming that crime has disappeared in Washington.
He called members of the #media "criminals", & lied about how much money his his #tariffs were raising.
🤬🧵
Nonilex
Anne
NotAnneShirley