In a sane America, much of what the Malignant Fascist and his incompetent "Secretary of War" Whiskey Pete Hegseth said at today's gathering of the top brass in the U.S. military would be grounds for immediate removal from office and (we would like to think) imprisonment. It's just unbelievable this is happening in America in 2025. Excerpts from NBC News (our emphasis):
Hegseth
Hegseth told officers that if they don’t like what they're hearing from him, they should leave the service.
“If the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign,” he said.
In his remarks, the defense secretary ticked off 10 new directives for the military, including new physical fitness standards for all troops and the hundreds of officers in the audience, and touted his efforts to rid the military of “wokeness” and “dudes in dresses.”
Some officers may disagree with the direction he is taking the military, Hegseth said. He aded that they may be so inculcated with what he called the culture of previous administrations — led by “foolish and reckless political leaders” that created the “Department of Woke” — that as a result they should leave the service. Others, he said, want to be warriors and will stay.
“We may lose good people,” he said.
Trump
Trump threatened to fire military leaders he disliked "on the spot."
"I'm going to be meeting with generals and with admirals and with leaders, and if I don't like somebody, I'm going to fire them right on the spot," he said.
His remarks to reporters came shortly before traveling to address military officials in Virginia.
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The audience was quiet when Trump walked onstage, which is typical for a military event.
Trump, though, began his remarks by noting that he has "never walked into a room so silent before."
Some in the audience laughed, prompting Trump to joke, "Don't laugh, you're not allowed to do that."
"Just have a good time," he added. "And if you want to applaud, you applaud. And if you want to do anything you want, you can do anything you want. And if you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future."
People laughed, and Trump told the audience to "feel nice and loose."
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Trump dedicated part of his speech to criticizing Biden's use of the autopen.
"How would you like to have your thing signed by an autopen?" Trump said. "You know, when I have a general and I have to sign for a general, because we have beautiful paper. They're gorgeous paper. I said, 'Throw a little more gold on it. They deserve it. Give me — I want the A paper, not the D paper.'"
Later, Trump praised his own signature, saying, "I love my signature, I really do. Everyone loves my signature."
"I always think to myself, 'How can you have an autopen sign this?'" he said. "It's just so disrespectful to me. It's just totally disrespectful."
Biden's use of an autopen is a favorite attack of Trump's, although it's not clear how often Biden used an autopen. Trump has previously used an autopen, too.
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During his speech before the military brass, Trump revived his previous idea of making Canada the 51st state of the United States.
He said Canada called him a couple of weeks ago and Trump claimed its leaders expressed interest in being part of the missile defense shield Trump has dubbed the Golden Dome.
"They want to be part of it, to which I said, 'Why don't you just join our country? You become 51, become the 51st state, and you get it for free," he said. "So I don't know if that made a big impact, but it does make a lot of sense ... because they're having a hard time up there in Canada now, because, as you know, with tariffs, everyone's coming into our country."
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has emphatically said that his country would never join the U.S.
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Trump said in his remarks that Portland, Oregon, "looks like a war zone" and that "this place is a nightmare."
"It looks like a war zone, and I get a call from the liberal governor. 'Sir, please don't come in. We don't need you.' I said, 'Well, unless they're playing false tapes, this looks like World War II, your place is burning down,'" he said. *
Trump mocked the governor of Oregon, who he said claimed his law enforcement personnel had Portland under control. The president said he told the governor that the city is a "nightmare."
Trump has authorized the deployment of the National Guard to Portland, but Oregon and the city have sued the administration over the move.
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Trump characterized the country as being at war at home, explaining he was refocusing the military to help law enforcement domestically. He praised the National Guard troops in D.C. and railed against other Democrat-led cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.
"They're very unsafe places, and we're going to straighten them out one by one," Trump said. "And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That's a war, too. It's a war from within. Controlling the physical territory of our border is essential to national security. We can't let these people in."
The president also argued that the country was "under invasion from within."
"After spending trillions of dollars defending the borders of foreign countries, with your help, we’re defending the borders of our country from now on," Trump said.
The Malignant Fascist rambled on for over an hour with his usual litany of lies, delusions, projection, racism, and loony tales. In case it's not immediately obvious, this attempt to politicize the military and use it against the citizens of this country is full-scale, saying- the- quiet- part- loud authoritarian fascism. We can only hope those listening to these deranged, un-American statements will be true to their oaths to the Constitution and not bow to the orders of a would- be dictator.
Some reactions here and here.
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What I wouldn't have given to see the thought bubbles over their heads during that meeting. While I'm 90% sure who they voted for, none of them voted for this.
ReplyDeleteSeafury -- agreed!
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