Even Pete Hegseth’s former network decided not to air his lengthy rant dubbed the “State of the Force Address.”
Fox News skipped airing the defense secretary’s prattling at a Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia, on Wednesday—a speech in which he decried the wokeness he has previously claimed to have eradicated in the military.
“No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals,” he cried to a group of service members he reportedly cast who fit specific “physical standards,” including “impeccable grooming and uniform” and who conform to certain body fat requirements to attend his speech, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Hegseth said in his tirade that he has mandated his department be “unrelenting, unapologetic, and uncompromising” in its mission. He also said that generals who “clung to the woke department or seem to think civilian control of the military is simply a suggestion, well, they no longer work here.”
A Fox spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hegseth, who has been accused of being an alcoholic and has been married three times, also used his address to announce that he was slashing a fifth of leadership positions across the Pentagon—as his paranoia and deep distrust of leaders who could potentially undermine his own power deepen.
“The number crunchers say we fired 10% of the generals and admirals across the force, and that number sounds about right,” he said. “And I know because I directed it that we’ve also reduced the overall number of general officer slots by an additional 10%. So yes, 20% reduction across the board. Now the media calls that a purge. I call it accountability, and long overdue.”
Hegseth, who never reached a rank higher than major, has already fired or blocked promotions for some 80 of the nation’s top officers—roughly 10 percent of the U.S. military’s highest-ranking officers.
Prior to his speech, Hegseth recruited hundreds of military personnel to run around the Pentagon with him, wearing matching shirts reading “THIS IS WAR.”
The Pentagon also released a video of Hegseth, who seemed out of breath at times, giving military members a pep talk.
“Last year, when we gave a speech at Quantico—we launched the War Department golden rule: Do unto your formation that which you would have done unto your son or daughter’s formation,” Hegseth declared, which he said translates to “no games, no gimmicks, no low standards, and no excuses.”
During his previous Quantico speech, Hegseth flew in military leaders from around the world to Virginia so he could rail against “fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon,” and he said military leaders will need to meet height and weight standards and pass physical training, or PT, tests each year.
