this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2025
278 points (99.3% liked)

politics

30581 readers
3123 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News

• World News

• Business News

• Political Discussion

• Ask Politics

• Military News

• Global Politics

• Moderate Politics

• Progressive Politics

• UK Politics

• Canadian Politics

• Australian Politics

• New Zealand Politics

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
outrageousmatter@lemmy.world
aidan@lemmy.world
jordanlund@lemmy.world
little_cow@lemmy.world
Theonetheycall1845@lemmy.world
JuBe@lemmy.world
Lasherz12@lemmy.world
278
Hegseth’s Self-Centered Reason for Calling in Generals Leaks (www.thedailybeast.com)
submitted 10 months ago by Redditsux@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world
75 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Archive article: https://archive.ph/h9ihE

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 139 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (14 children)

The gathering, which is scheduled to take place Tuesday, was described as a “pep rally.” But bringing hundreds of generals to Quantico, including those stationed abroad, could prove to be an extremely expensive pep talk.

There's absolutely nothing the military in general hates more than this shit, and there's nothing high ranking officers specifically hate more than being treated like common soldiers.

This isn't going to inspire loyalty, it's going to turn the top brass against this administration for various reasons.

They're just pissing off everyone

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 46 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I truly hope you are right, but I am extremely concerned that this will be a power grab, having the generals swear an oath of loyalty to the Trump regime directly, rather than than the normal oath they may have sworn.

Doing this would make it extremely easy to take over and purge the leadership of disloyalty to the regime.

The situation is very precarious at the moment.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 50 points 10 months ago (2 children)

The correct reaction would be for the generals to fulfill their real oath to the Constitution and immediately depose Hegseth and the rest of the Trump regime as the domestic enemies they are.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It's basically the only scenario I can see on the table where normality even has a chance to return in our lifetime. The military would have to clean house on both sides of the aisle though, force primaries for everything, and basically flush the toilet on the last 150 years of party politics.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 26 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Here's hoping they let their feelings be known in no uncertain terms. I'm sure they won't though if they want to keep their jobs.

[–] MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I'd love to see the facial expressions on the Marines generals as he tells them how to be better Marines.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 10 months ago

Hegseth will tell them real good. I'm sure his credibility will go a long ways with them. Especially when he shows his tattoos, and starts rubbing it on that his tats are bigger than their tats. Marines love that shit.

Then they'll take him out for beers, get him really drunk, and beat the shit out of him in the alley behind the bar.

[–] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago

I hope so, but the way things are going, I doubt it.

[–] J92@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Exactly. At some point the meeting will end, and Hegseth will leave, and the generals will just be in a room together, talking about how shit hegseth is.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 points 10 months ago

And at some point, someone is going to address the elephant in the room, and say "I signed up to protect America from Nazis, not help the Nazis take over. This has got to end. NOW," and a lot of others are going to agree.

And two things will happen: They will rise up and take America back, or they will be removed from their positions, and give the American Resistance extremely strong and experienced military leadership for the rebellion.

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

One of the most expensive "this could have been an email" meeting

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 10 points 10 months ago

Okay ❤️

Yay ❤️

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (7 children)

Not even normal soldiers, but as decoration. They’ll be there to make him look good, for “optics”, and will serve the same function as furniture and wall art. All for a talk that is about army fitness and not anything requiring terribly delicate security?

If they have any self-respect they’ll be talking amongst eachother right now saying the same shit and deciding not to go. Besides, if security is the reason they should all be gathered then security is also the reason why that’s a terrible idea.

load more comments (7 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
[–] don@lemmy.ca 106 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

There’s a tweet in the article:

Pete Hegseth: @PeteHegseth

Cool story, General

Ben Hodges: @general_ben

July 1935 German generals were called to a surprise assembly in Berlin and informed that their previous oath to the Weimar constitution was void and that they would be required to swear a personal oath to the Führer. Most generals took the new oath to keep their positions.

Fucking shitbag fuckmook.

Edit:

[–] delgato@sh.itjust.works 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I keep seeing this historical “fact” but I can’t find anything corroborating it. “Hitler oaths” were already being taken since 1933, by June of 1935 the Reichswehr was replaced by the Wehrmacht.

[–] monotremata@lemmy.ca 9 points 10 months ago

The link you've shared here talks about the Führer Oath being created in August 1934 but not becoming law until mid-1935, which seems to roughly agree with the date in the post you're disputing. I can't find much to support the claim about a surprise assembly, though, at least from a cursory search.

It looks as though his post is taken almost verbatim from this substack post: https://thecycle.substack.com/p/from-hitler-to-hegseth

which doesn't inspire the most confidence.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 63 points 10 months ago (2 children)

As it was put to CNN, the “guys with the stars on their shoulders make for a better audience from an optics standpoint.”

So it's purely an ego inflating thing. Gotcha.

[–] justOnePersistentKbinPlease@fedia.io 37 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Its purely a dictator thing.

[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 14 points 10 months ago

Tomato tomato.

[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Pure propaganda

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 10 months ago

Dictator-style.

[–] Redditsux@lemmy.world 46 points 10 months ago

I love the part about post by Ben Hodges on the same kind of thing happening in 1935 Germany. 90 years ago.

[–] miss_demeanour@lemmy.dbzer0.com 44 points 10 months ago (1 children)

All those high-ranking military folk in one spot at one time!
Super smart!

[–] burntbacon@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 10 months ago

While the likelihood is next to zero, can you imagine putin giving krasnov this order? It would be the opportunity of a lifetime.

[–] Curmuffin@fedia.io 43 points 10 months ago (1 children)

A preview of Pickled Pete's speech:

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

Harvey Dent: can we trust him?

[–] Sludgehammer@lemmy.world 42 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The gathering, which is scheduled to take place Tuesday, was described as a “pep rally.”

He's going to rant about how great he is, then ask for his boots to be tongue polished, got it.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before, and it just seems extremely bizarre and strange,” Hertling said.

Get used to it dude.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If only some of the speakers didn't have to leave that room ever again. Oh, lucky day for the rest of the world... 🤷🏼‍♂️

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC"

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Yuuup. 🫡😶‍🌫️

[–] ExtremeDullard@piefed.social 32 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (7 children)

what the new military looks like under Trump.

Trump should ask Hugo Boss to jazz up the military.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] Wilco@lemmy.zip 23 points 10 months ago (1 children)

He does realize this immediately makes him a domestic threat to the Constitution right?

[–] INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone 5 points 10 months ago

As opposed to any other cabinet member

[–] the_tab_key@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So who is providing the prep talk? Hegseth? I hope they laugh him out of the state

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 18 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Watch the brass stonewall him and give him essentially a dead room. It'd be legendary if they then simply filed out without speaking.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 points 10 months ago

This is intended for release to the public, and presumably the military rank & file, so the pressure is on Hegseth to deliver a compelling performance demonstrating his incomparable leadership.

So he'll be up there doing his best Hitler imitation, posing and emoting like a political rock star tearing off a blistering guitar solo, hoping his incendiary rhetoric inflames the Generals in the audience to patriotic fervor.

Instead, they don't react to anything, don't applaud, and just file our silently.

Go ahead, release that propaganda video, Skippy.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] zbyte64@awful.systems 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They're so incompetent but also incredibly lucky.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 10 months ago

Luck runs out, incompetence doesn't.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So it's nothing more than a Soviet/ North Korean/ Iraqi style propaganda video?

Hegseth thinks he's going to call in all of our highest commanders, people who have spent their entire careers navigating the complex military labyrinth to the top of the game, and this ignorant sycophantic child thinks he's going to tell THEM how the military is going to operate?

This video will have so much laughter, or outrage, from the audience, that it will be unreleasable.

A small part of me hopes that these Generals are so outraged by Hegseth's arrogance, that they storm the stage and beat him to a pulp. Let the MAGAs release THAT video.

[–] MisterOwl@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

people who have spent their entire careers navigating the complex military labyrinth to the top of the game, and this ignorant sycophantic child thinks he’s going to tell THEM how the military is going to operate?

To be fair, these same generals are okay with deploying troops on American soil against American citizens, so yes. He will apparently tell them how to operate, and they will respond "yes daddy".

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

They've never all been in the same room together before. Think about that. Before this, every communication between them has been monitored by someone, somewhere, and they all know it. They've never had the chance to get groups together outside of prying ears.

Maybe. Surveillance would be very tight, even outdoors. Its dangerous to get this many high ranking officers together, especially when your support isn't fully set up. Maybe the reason to do it is to sniff out as many resisters as possible, and make a public example out of them.

This could be very bad, or it could be very good.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 10 months ago

Everything is just so. goddamn. stupid.

[–] Res_ipsa_loquitur@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

He should protect his neck

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Protec' yo neck.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 8 points 10 months ago

You lot need someone with the stones of General Hummel.

load more comments
view more: next ›