I imagine the top brass of the United States military is scared out of its collective wits right now. They’ve seen that their Commander in Chief is a pubescent boy locked in an old man’s body. He’s also a narcissistic simpleton who is not prepared to lead the nation out of a wet paper bag. Likewise the Secretary of Defense/War/Whatever. Pete Hegseth may be in better physical shape than Trump but clearly never quite navigated his way out of adolescence and has unresolved Mommy issues. Hegseth’s “warrior ethos” seems to mostly involve grooming, lots of pushups, misogyny, and sociopathy.
This meeting, which could have been done over Zoom, cost taxpayers several million dollars.
Retired Marine Col. Mark F. Cancian, senior adviser for the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, calculated that it would cost a minimum of $6 million.
“The DOD has not released any cost information. One calculation put the cost at $3.4 million, but that may be low,” wrote Cancian. “My rough estimate would be higher, $6 million, calculated as follows: If there are 1,000 visitors (400 senior officers and 600 support personnel), and each costs $4,000 for air travel, ground transportation, and lodging, then the total travel cost would be $4 million. Extra base costs for overtime, food, and security might be another $2 million, bringing the total to $6 million. That does not include opportunity costs for diverting DOD assets from other activities. There might be lost training at Quantico for the hundreds of military personnel at the base’s schools, military aircraft might be diverted to ferrying VIPs, and events might be canceled because of the senior officers’ absence.”
From the same link above, citing The View:
“I don’t get it. There’s an estimated $6 million that taxpayers paid for their travel, lodging, and security when we all learned a few years ago, you can do it all on Zoom,” said co-host Sara Haines. “So, I don’t know because some of the messages, as Joy mentioned — don’t be fat, shave your beard, go back to hazing people.”
I take it this meeting was entirely Pete Hegseth’s idea, and that Trump invited himself when he found out about it. There are a number of reports out today that Hegseth is crumbling. This is from the Daily Beast via Drezner’s World.
Pete Hegseth is crumbling under the pressure of leading the Pentagon.
The defense secretary—who prefers the moniker “Secretary of War”—is being described by staffers as “manic,” erupting into fits of rage and tumultuous tirades, the Daily Mailreported on Monday.
While he has reportedly always been temperamental, two staffers claim the former Fox News star’s mental state has reached new, frenzied heights after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this month.
They said Hegseth is becoming increasingly “obsessed” with his own security and exhibits frantic behavior, such as fidgeting and pacing during meetings.
“There’s a manic quality about him. Or let me rephrase, an even more manic quality, which is really saying something,” an insider told the outlet.
“Dude is crawling out of his skin,” another source said….
Also under scrutiny are Hegseth’s extensive personal security demands, which, according to the paper, are now straining the Army agency responsible for protecting him. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) has reportedly pulled agents away from criminal probes in order to safeguard Hegseth’s residences in Minnesota, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C.
Trump seems to have been taken aback by the silence of the brass. They sat silent when he appeared. It’s reported Trump told them more than once it was okay to applaud. They did not. They were probably fighting off nausea. News stories say there was mute applause when Trump finished his speech, but otherwise the brass sat on its hands. Trump’s speech was full of his usual airing of grievances combined with bragging about how great he is. Trump wants to use U.S. cities as “training grounds” for the military. Trump thinks the Navy isn’t building battleships properly. Yes, he said battleships. Trump has no idea what he’s talking about. And if the brass weren’t collectively terrified of what he might order them to do before the meeting, they are are now.
Update: Trump admin made up of ‘sniveling losers’ and ‘crybabies’ putting on ‘tough guy act’: analyst
In an article for The Nation published Monday, Katherine Krueger, a contributing editor for Current Affairs, argued that the Trump administration is governed by men who imagine themselves as Nietzschean Übermenschen, but in reality are insecure, performative, and deeply flawed.
She claimed that these figures, especially those at the heart of the administration, project strength and dominance while signaling anxiety, neediness, and a compulsion to overcompensate.
“They effectively control our fates, but deep down, they know they’re sniveling, pathetic, and inadequate, and it eats them up, the article said.
Krueger contended that these so?called winners are “huge losers and crybabies,” despite controlling levers of power. She argued that their contradictory behavior — insisting on total authority while revealing inner fragility — undermines their claim to superiority.
She noted that the Trump era is marked by governing elites who posture as dominators but expose themselves as desperate for validation and unable to withstand dissent or embarrassment.
Yeah, pretty much. And it seems to be most of them. Not just Trump.
On one hand, I was relieved that the event was (essentially) two childish idiots showing off in front of a distinguished and patriotic body, hundreds of generals and admirals, each with decades of service to this country under his (or her) belt. Which is not to say I'd agree with each and every one on many issues. A few may be as stupid as Donald and Pete, but for the most part, the military is a meritocracy in fact.
Pete made a point of accusing the assembled body of being woke and promoting for race, gender, or politically correct values. This is/was an insult to everyone sitting in the room who has served with a woman who served with courage and excellence, likewise a black officer, a Hispanic officer, a Jewish officer, a Muslim officer. I consider it extremely likely that every general in the room has a few stories about these groups who have been made second-class members of the military of they have not been fired in the last eight months. So the vast majority is seething at the injustice they have been silent about, because while on active duty, it's a violation to criticize your civilian bosses.
I have said I'm relieved there was no more diabolical objective than to assemble the top brass to deride them for not being racist, for not being sexist, for not structuring advancement around religious bias. EIther the courts or the next administration can reverse standards that are biased and bigoted. I'm not sure a lot of civilians *get* that however unfair the new rules are, it's not an "illegal order" that can be disobeyed to single out individuals or groups for removal. It may be that Pete and Donald are convinced that since they have purged the military of transgender servicemembers with no massive dissent from the generals, they are cowed by the greatness in the White House.
That's not my read. (And, no I was not an officer when I served.) I think the generals have already considered, and some have privately discussed, where the line is. IMO, Trump threatened to cross it when he suggested the military will be called into duty in [American] cities to conduct warfare, that Trump called 'practice.' Trump cited an internal threat – I think he was/is referring to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. I do not think the generals will answer orders to combat an "insurrection" that does not include violence and demands free and fair elections.
I'm curious if the generals are conversing with each other after today, and how. Donald and Pete may be monitoring the usual channels of communication to detect generals more loyal to the Constitution than to Donald and Pete. In my paranoid mind, this is the only devious intent that might have motivated the assembly – to try to smoke out real patriots to the Constitution and charge them with crimes to frighten the remaining generals into submission. (This is a really bad idea – generals are not easily intimidated. But they can be pissed off.) Otherwise, it was an ego trip for Pete and Don that undermined them with a group essential to their survival..
What little of Whiskey Pete's speech I could stomach it seemed like it was just an audition to run for president and get some tee-vee time for his fragile ego. He hurled himself around the stage (talk show host style) and read from a teleprompter. How else could he get a crowd of hundreds to listen to his tiny dick syndrome speech? Me thinks Pete just wasn't getting enough press these days. I don't think it was the plan to have diaper don speak but once he heard it was a chance to also get on the tee-vee and spew his usual hate filled drool to the generals that he loathes, well he just had to jump on board. Pete just couldn’t say no to Daddy Diaper Don!
Petey wants to be Vance's Vice President.
I have heard that Vance and the inner circle around Trump were behind this. They know – from the doctors and from their own observations – that Trump is not long for this world. They have a short list of dirty deeds they want him to take the blame for, so they can ostensibly walk in with a clean slate. It's pretty clear that Trump wasn't capable of organizing this meeting, and parachuted in at the last minute.
I have heard that the emphasis on physical fitness may be related to how physically unfit many of the ICE agents are. There's a video of a bicycle courier shouting an insult to a group of ICE agents, as he pedalled by; his cellphone dropped out of his pocket; when he came back to retrieve his phone, he got into a scuffle with them and escaped. Real US military people are in far better shape.
The generals' silence says it all. While they may be trying to figure out their next move, no line was crossed at this meeting (it's just words). And as Trumps' parade showed there's lots of ways to obey without really meaning it.
I don't know about Vance. But I doubt the physical fitness thing is related to ICE, one way or another. Fitness is one of Hegseth's personal issues. He goes around challenging people to do 100 pushups.
The military does have regulations about weight already, I believe. Some of my family members who were in the military struggled with it a bit. But they aren't required to be particularly ripped, especially if they aren't in combat roles.