The U.S. armed forces are the most professional, disciplined and effective military in world history. Its members and leaders are not without fault — they are not perfect — but there is no question that this country’s defense is sound and its international interests well served by the proud men and women in uniform.
What a shame it is that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doesn’t think so. And how frightening that President Donald Trump believes that fighting force should be used domestically against Americans.
Those were the top-line take-aways from a bizarre event Tuesday at Marine Corps Base Quantico, where Hegseth and Trump addressed a gathering of the military’s 800 top flag officers. Generals and admirals with command duties were summoned last week to Virginia for the in-person event, a sharp and wholly unnecessary deviation from protocol that pulled some from their pressing duties to travel halfway around the world for a lecture.
Hegseth is a former Fox News presenter who served as a major in the National Guard and was deployed to Iraq. He made clear on Tuesday that he believes our nation’s military needs more discipline and is overly enamored with social engineering, and outlined a 10-point plan that includes new grooming and fitness standards.
But the Defense secretary also said he wants to loosen the rules that govern service members’ conduct, both in combat operations and in how they interact with one another. He used the Tuesday address to rail against the laws and guidance which seek to limit civilian casualties and promised to change the internal reporting system for complaints developed to protect troops from hazing, unwanted advances and abuse.
This is in keeping with Hegseth’s twisted vision for the military. One of his first acts as secretary was to fire the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force who he claims act as “roadblocks” to effective operations; among other responsibilities, the JAG corps provides guidance to ensure our military acts with honor, adheres to rules of engagement, and avoids the commission of war crimes.
Following Hegseth on Tuesday was a rambling, hour-long political speech by the president — also inappropriate for an audience that is constitutionally outside of politics — in which Trump suggested his administration should deploy the military in American cities to be used against the public.
“We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” the president said while decrying “the enemy within” our country.
Of course, he already did just that earlier this year when he deployed 700 U.S. Marines and 4,000 members of the California National Guard to support immigration arrest and removal operations in Los Angeles. A federal judge ruled last month that those orders violated the Posse Comitatus Act which prohibits use of the military for domestic law enforcement.
Trump also had a message Tuesday for flag officers who harbor reservations about using the military against the public: “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room,” he said. “Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future, but you just feel nice and loose, OK?”
By now, most Americans are inured to such bluster. But with troops still in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — and Trump’s thirst for sending more service members to other cities evident — the Tuesday event serves notice that Trump has no intention to stop.
Congress, with Republican majorities in both chambers, has shown no willingness to intervene. Their cowardice is a stain on their reputations and that of the institution they serve.
But Americans should find comfort in service members themselves, who swear an oath of allegiance to the Constitution — not the president — and pledge to follow orders “according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”
No doubt, the flag officers listening to Trump and Hegseth were thinking about that oath on Tuesday. Their dedication to those promises, and to this country, will be tested if their civilian leaders have their way.
