The nation’s highest-ranking military officers, a sea of white faces and polished brass, appeared visibly annoyed after being summoned for a weird meeting with President Donald Trump and his Secretary of War, Peter Hegseth—two men not exactly known for their deep understanding of military life, let alone diversity. In an era dominated by Zoom calls, hundreds of generals and admirals were compelled to travel to Quantico, Virginia…only to be crammed into one room, likely wondering if this was another one of Trump’s chaotic, unscripted photo ops.
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There, they were subjected to what amounted to a strange campaign speech by Trump, followed by Hegseth’s ham-fisted attempt at a rallying cry for military exceptionalism. You could almost hear the eye-rolls, particularly from the few, the proud, the Black officers in the room who’ve probably heard enough talk of “exceptionalism” to last a lifetime, all while fighting for true equality within the ranks. Here are three essential points about this meeting that should give us all pause, especially when we consider who’s giving the orders and who’s expected to follow them without question. This won’t take long.
The Racial Overtones Were Loud and Clear
When President Trump starts talking about sending in the military or cops to our cities, it’s impossible not to hear the echoes of a racist past. He frames “civil disturbances” as some kind of “enemy from within” and calls our cities “training grounds,” which just screams state-sanctioned violence against Black and brown folks. We’ve seen this movie before, where they justify these deployments by painting our communities as criminals and demons. And then you’ve got the Defense Secretary declaring war on “woke” culture and bringing in “male-level” fitness standards. “Woke” culture is all about racial and social justice, so to dismiss it is to dismiss the experiences and rights of marginalized people. It’s a whole lot of dog whistles, and we’re not falling for it. Speaking of our Defense Secretary … he has some stones. He is undoubtably one of the most underqualified men to hold his position in the history of the country. He has degrees from Princeton and Harvard, yes. But militarily, the man only served in the Army National Guard and the highest rank he achieved was major. And yeah, he was in the military…but for him to get on a stage and lecture the highest ranking people in our country is rich.
This was an incredibly unnecessary and stupid security risk
Why would anyone ever announce to the world that they are having an in-person meeting of our country’s highest ranking military personnel? Like, yo…that is opposite of smart. America is lucky that there was no Red Dawn like attempt to attack the men and women in that room. Having all those people in one room was a major security risk, full stop.
The Generals were forced to listen to some nonsense
Hegseth possibly offended many in the room by calling out “fat generals.” He then went on to push new fitness standards that could limit women’s ability to serve in combat roles. Meanwhile, the president tried to justify sending troops into American cities. In other words, this meeting was a sh*tshow.
That meeting was wholly unnecessary. All Hegseth did was force those men and women who had better things they could be doing to attend a meeting that a former senior defense official said could have been an email.
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