All the President's Wimps
Actual tough guys don't have to tell you they're tough guys.
Like so many things the Trump administration does, today’s meeting of some 800 admirals and generals convened by “Department of War” secretary Pete Hegseth was equal parts asinine and terrifying. Gathering the top military brass all in one place is very obviously foolish — a fabulous waste of time, and an enormous security risk to boot. Hegseth, the least experienced defense secretary in modern history, used the opportunity to lecture top military brass on how their forces are too fat, too woke, and too bearded to be up to standard. And President Donald Trump used his time at the podium to say that he instructed Hegseth to use American cities as “training grounds” for the military.
Let’s repeat that: The president of the United States told his Secretary of Defense to use American cities as training grounds for the military.
The American military is supposed to defend the United States of America. It is not supposed to be used against US citizens. And yet that is precisely what the president is promising. I have to wonder at what point military leaders realize that this is not what they signed up for — that they pledged not loyalty to the man in the Oval Office, but to the flag and the nation.
I also have to wonder at what point a critical mass of military men and women realize they’re being led by a bunch of phony wannabe tough guys.
The posturing from this administration is almost comical. The truth is that most of the time, if someone truly understands that they possess a particular admirable trait, they don’t need to constantly tell you about it. People who are extremely mentally and physically tough — real lethal “warriors,” as Hegseth might say — don’t need to constantly tell you how tough and lethal and warrior-like they are; they know, and they don’t need repeated external validation.
