Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s speech to senior military officers in Virginia Tuesday was not only conduct unbecoming a former major of the Army National Guard, it was dangerous.
The former Fox News co-host forced hundreds of the nation’s highest-ranked military officials to leave their posts around the world on short notice to gather in Quantico for a speech that felt like a cross between a political rally and an old Friars Club roast.
He excoriated crowd of decorated veterans who have braved battlefields and made life-or-death decisions noting that some of them are overweight, criticized other troops as “dudes in dresses,” dismissed “climate change worship,” all while appearing to endorse hazing of new recruits and possibly even committing war crimes.
The speech was a violation of the sacred line between civilian control and and military professionalism.
The speech was a disgrace, a violation of the sacred line between civilian control and and military professionalism that only undermined Hegseth’s own authority. But it was also an ominous sign of how the president and his so-called secretary of war view the troops as little more than pawns in their political dramas.
The speech was so ludicrous that Sen. Tammy Duckworth — a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot who lost her legs in service to her country — called on Hegseth to “resign in disgrace immediately.” Defense officials speaking anonymously to Politico criticized the speech as a waste of time and money and a massive distraction from their vital jobs defending the country.
But Hegseth’s speech — and Donald Trump’s after it — weren’t just a distraction. They were also an outline of an alternative mission for the military.
The military takes great pains to treat women and people of color equally so that it can attract the best and the brightest. What Trump and Hegseth forget is the historic and significant role our military has played in creating “diversity, equity and inclusion” not only among its rank-and-file but across America. Hegseth outlined plans for male-oriented fitness standards that would keep women out of key posts and facial hair requirements that would hurt those with medical conditions or in need of religious exemptions.
The military follows rules of engagement to avoid inflaming a conflict and making it easier for the other side to recruit. Hegseth said he doesn’t want to “fight with stupid rules of engagement.”
The military is barred from conducting domestic law enforcement. Trump said in his speech he wants to send it to Portland, Oregon, in his quest to use American cities “as training grounds for our military.”
Trump and Hegseth are big talkers, and they can say whatever they want. Unlike CEOs or university presidents, the military officers gathered at Quantico could not walk out, nor could they cheer. Instead, rows of decorated generals and admirals sat mostly stone-faced, brass bars gleaming under the lights, except for some light applause. On these crucial issues, a lot will depend on how the military responds if and when they decide to do the things the president and the secretary described. In Trump’s first term, the military held firm against some of his more outlandish demands, as when he asked Defense Secretary Mark Esper if the military could just shoot protesters. But the stakes are higher now. Esper wrote in his memoir that he successfully pushed back against Trump’s request. Hegseth has demonstrated he is unlikely to do the same. The moment may come when he will pass along a similar request from the Commander-in-Chief to one of the generals seated in that audience at Quantico. At such a moment, the leadership of our military will have to decide whether to do it — or refuse and follow their duty to disobey a manifestly unlawful order under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The future of American democracy may depend on their decision. For more thought-provoking insights from Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez and Symone Sanders-Townsend, watch “The Weeknight” every Monday-Friday at 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC.
Michael Steele
Michael Steele is a co-host of "The Weeknight," which airs Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC. He is a former lieutenant governor of Maryland and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. 
