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Pete Hegseth delivered his State of the Force speech on Wednesday and as expected he did not miss an opportunity to complain about all the kinds of people in the military that he doesn’t like. In front of hundreds of enlisted service members, Hegseth talked about a great military victory. No, not the ongoing Iran war that was only supposed to last four to six weeks, but rather the Secretary’s defeat of any lib the Department of Defense might have been harboring.
“No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors,” Hegseth said openly using a slur for transgender people. “The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top.”
He’s not just transphobic, he also really hates beards so much that he changed the military’s shaving rules. He also took the opportunity to talk about his unhealthy obsession with his own personal vision of masculinity, which has led to mandatory testosterone testing of service members older than 30.
But although Hegseth claimed the military has finally defeated wokeness, when it comes to Iran, an actual war the United States started and hasn’t managed to conclude after spending $45 billion, he claimed not only that the American people support it (patently false) but also that the reporters who accurately cover what’s happening in the Middle East are “anti-American losers.” He continued: “It’s treason, actually. I mean, I hate to have to say it, but it has to be said.”
Then, because using transphobic slurs and body shaming military members wasn’t enough, he also announced a new Office of Religious Affairs to support the religious needs of the troops, something Hegseth says has been ignored. Naturally, it sounds more like it’ll focus exclusively on Christianity. “Our department is, you might say putting on the full armor of God, because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual,” he said. “God is good, evil is not, and America’s military must understand the difference.” Hegseth also announced new initiatives that would allow states to bid for new military bases and recruitment programs that would target students from conservative schools.
Essentially, the speech was likely only palatable to other white Christian straight males but it certainly came as no surprise if Hegseth’s beliefs and past behavior are any indication. Last year, he shared X posts from his pastor who is against same-sex marriage and doesn’t think that women should be able to vote. That’s probably why during his tenure, he has repeatedly blocked promotions for mostly female and Black candidates. And soon after Trump named Hegseth, who was a Fox News TV host at the time, as his Defense Secretary, sexual assault allegations against him and his behavior towards women came to light. In 2017, a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in a hotel. He later paid her $50,000. Sounds like he’s had the armor of God protecting his reputation all along!
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