But having heard the secretary’s remarks, he proved to be even worse than expected. Reuters reported:

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed ‘fat generals’ and diversity initiatives that he said led to decades of decay in the military and told a rare gathering of commanders on Tuesday they should resign if they don’t support his agenda. ‘Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading and we lost our way. We became the “Woke Department,”’ Hegseth said as he kicked off the event in Quantico, Virginia. ‘But not anymore,’ he said.

Choosing the worst moment from Hegseth’s bizarre and unnecessary speech is admittedly challenging. Was it his boasts about firing qualified military leaders? Or maybe his condemnation of diversity initiatives and climate change as “s---” that the military will no longer care about?.....

Maybe the lowest of the low points was Hegseth’s comment that seemed to open the door to a new attitude toward war crimes. “We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt, and kill the enemies of our country,” he declared. “No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement.”

Hegseth: "We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt, and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-09-30T13:06:31.204Z

In other words, Hegseth spent millions of taxpayer dollars to bring generals and admirals in from around the world so that he could treat them like a CPAC audience.

As for those in attendance who might’ve been uncomfortable with the secretary’s absurdities, he extended some advice to them, too. “If the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign,” Hegseth said.