The Secretary of War, previously referred to as the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump addressed a crowd of military leaders at Quantico, Virginia, on Sept. 30.
Hegseth began his speech by emphasizing the Department of Defense’s name change, now referred to as the Department of War. He discussed the need for this new name change in today’s global environment, stating, “The only people who deserve peace are those who are willing to wage war to defend it.” Several minutes later, Hegseth directly confronted the camera in front of him and addressed America’s “enemies,” warning them to FAFO (f*ck around and find out).Â
Hegseth then pivoted his focus to the social environment of the U.S. military. He claimed that for far too long, our military has been promoting leaders for the wrong reasons, referencing race and gender quotas. Hegseth even went as far as referring to his own division as the “woke department,” saying, “We are done with that sh*t.”
Hegseth also mentioned several times that the military needed to return to the “male standard” and that all soldiers, regardless of gender, would be held to the same physical standards. Keep in mind, Hegseth was addressing a room full of military commanders when he mentioned that there are “fat generals and admirals roaming the halls of the Pentagon.” Not only are the physical standards being changed, but appearance uniformity will now be enforced much more strongly. Members of the military are now required to be clean-shaven, with Hegseth stating, “We don’t have a military full of Nordic pagans.”Â
Hegseth continuously mentioned his children during this speech, saying that they were the reason for this change. He asked us to think of our kids when listening, because after all, don’t we want to be able to put full trust in the military when our future offspring join up? Yet every time Pete mentioned “kids” or “children,” I couldn’t help but hear what he really meant: sons. “This is not about preventing women from serving. If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is.” This is not the first time we’ve heard from Hegseth regarding female soldiers. In a 2024 podcast, he said, “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles.”
Trump then entered the stage to give his address. Within the first minute, Trump mentioned what a great success his first term was, and summarized former President Joe Biden’s administration in one word: incompetence. Following Hegseth’s lead, he also pointed out several name changes, including the new Gulf of America. Trump admitted that he did expect backlash because of this change, but did not receive it. According to him, this is because the left has given up.
Progressing further into the speech, Russia and nuclear power become the main focus. Trump applauded the advances the U.S. has made with submarines, and revealed that some were sent to the coast of Russia after the country passingly warned us of their nuclear abilities. Trump even stated, “There are two ‘n’ words and you can’t use either of them.”
Later, he circled back to border control, saying that our country is under invasion, but this time from within. Trump again congratulated himself for making our capital city safer in just two weeks.Â
Several days after the Quantico meeting, Saturday Night Live aired the first episode of its 51st season. Colin Jost made a rare sketch appearance, imitating Hegseth’s statement the previous Tuesday. SNL has a history of poking fun at the Trump administration, and an even deeper history of politically satirical sketches. Further into the skit, SNL alluded to Jimmy Kimmel’s cancellation, saying that they can’t be too mean to Trump for fear of losing their show.Â
As far as the successful integration of these new policies? I guess we will just have to stay tuned.Â