For a man who publicly professes to hate communists (or anything even vaguely left-wing coded) as often as he does, Pete Hegseth has an odd habit of imitating them.
The US Secretary of Defence – who likes to style himself as the Secretary of War – has ordered a further purge of the US military’s top generals and admirals, according to media reports, seeking to eliminate 160 of the 800 most senior roles across US forces, and to complete the job by the end of this year.
There are no budgetary pressures forcing Hegseth to do this: Congress only recently passed the biggest defence appropriations in US history. Similarly, Hegseth has hardly made the job of running the military any easier or calmer than it used to be.
The top brass of the American military is currently juggling numerous complex problems. They have to manage the ongoing quagmire of a war with Iran, the accompanying effort to protect US military bases across the Middle East, and complex operations to navigate tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.
At the same time, military leaders need to find ways to restock the USA’s critically low supplies of key missiles and ammunition, particularly those needed to intercept enemy missile strikes. In Europe, American allies – and bases – face hybrid threats from Iranian and Russian operations. And despite Donald Trump’s efforts to win over Chinese premier Xi Jinping, tensions between China and Taiwan could escalate at any time.
Just yesterday, it was revealed that millions of current and former US service personnel had their personal information stolen in a massive data breach that went undiscovered for months – the kind of major failure, with awful security implications, that would have once been a front-page scandal for weeks to come.
No fatties.No trannies. No beardos.No weirdoes.No wimps.No radicals — JUST WARRIORS. pic.twitter.com/mDktwOmn6F
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) October 1, 2026Most leaders in Hegseth’s position might decide that was enough for the military to be handling at any one time, without forcing the departure of one in five of the services’ most senior leaders – allowing thousands of years of experience to walk out of the door, right when it’s most needed.
But Hegseth seems much more determined to fight a culture war than to focus his attention on any of the very real military conflicts crossing his desk. In a speech that surely marked the nadir of his chaotic term at the Pentagon on Wednesday, Hegseth had an extraordinary boast to make.
“We are no longer the woke department, or the weak department,” he said, stumbling over his words several times as he tried to deliver his key line. “Simple translation of that – no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors.”
Hegseth was not quite done. “The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in with testosterone testing on top,” he added, referencing his own new policy of mandatory testosterone tests for US troops. “Diversity is not our strength. Unity is our strength.”
The Secretary of Defence is very purposefully adding insult to injury, denigrating career soldiers even as he fires them – and his purges to date have included some very well-regarded officers, popular with the troops and regarded as effective by senior colleagues. But critics have warned that Hegseth’s purges are not just classless, but also leave the US at risk.
“He’s got some kind of like deep-seated grievance about leadership in the military,” said Democratic senator Mark Kelly, a former Navy combat pilot and astronaut. “He’s purging a generation of great leaders of the military, and it’s going to take a generation to recover from it.”
Almost none of the most senior military leaders – the chiefs of army, navy, air force, and other branches of the forces – who were in place when Hegseth took office are still in post. He has overseen one of the highest rates of churn of any modern Pentagon chief, and is only accelerating that.
Critics might note that Hegseth may have misunderstood public commentary about his own performance. Hegseth, a former Fox & Friends Weekend host, has been widely criticised in the media, amid widespread speculation he is being set up as a scapegoat for the deeply unpopular and unsuccessful Iran war, should the Republicans have the midterms disaster many expect.
Some wonder if Hegseth, unable to see that the chaos and dysfunction around him are his own fault, is purging those competent enough to give good advice – which involves telling him things he doesn’t like to hear. Others suggest that a hopelessly out-of-his-depth Hegseth is focusing on issues like shaving, physique, workouts, and wokery because he can, at least, understand those.
Still, if Hegseth wants to look for precedent to his actions, he can find it. Joseph Stalin was famously fond of purging his generals at even the slightest hint of disloyalty. It is widely agreed that this led to horrible mismanagement of the military, widespread incompetence, and to several Soviet military disasters in the Second World War. But no one called the Red Army woke, at least.
Key context
Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of Defence, addressed junior officers and enlisted leaders in an unusual speech at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on Wednesday. Previous secretaries of defence have tended to address troops and military leaders in small, private settings rather than gathering them together for a public speech. However, this was the second year in a row that Hegseth has given such an address. Last year he also railed against “fatties”, “wokery” and diversity in the military His announcements on Wednesday included an aim of creating a four-star command to oversee autonomous and robotic capabilities, as well as an Office of Religious Affairs at the Pentagon that “will report straight to the top”. The Defence Department had “a sacred duty” to provide troops with “first-class religious support” wherever they were sent, Hegseth, an evangelical Christian, claimed.Hence then, the article about hegseth s fatties purge has peaked he can t see the incompetent one is him was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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