Trump calls for using U.S. cities as ‘training ground’ for armed forces in unusual speech to generals

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says for too long, too many uniformed officers have been promoted based on race, gender quotas and so-called historic firsts

QUANTICO, Va. -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed using American cities as training grounds for the armed forces, with U.S. military might being deployed against what he described as the “invasion from within.”

Addressing an audience of military brass abruptly summoned to Virginia, Trump outlined a muscular and at times norm-shattering view of the military’s role in domestic affairs. He was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who declared an end to “woke” culture and announced new directives for troops that include “gender-neutral” or “male-level” standards for physical fitness.

The dual messages underscored the Trump administration’s efforts not only to reshape contemporary Pentagon culture but enlist military resources for the president’s priorities and in everyday American civic life, including by quelling unrest and violent crime on city streets.

“We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” Trump said. He noted at another point: “We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms.”

Hegseth called hundreds of military leaders and their top advisers from around the world to the Marine Corps base in Quantico without publicly revealing the reason. His address largely focused on his own long-used talking points that painted a picture of a military that has been hamstrung by “woke” policies, and he said military leaders should “do the honorable thing and resign” if they don’t like his new approach.

Though meetings between military brass and civilian leaders are nothing new, this gathering had fueled intense speculation about its purpose given the haste with which it was called and the mystery surrounding it. The fact that admirals and generals from conflict zones were summoned for a lecture on race and gender in the military showed the extent to which the country’s culture wars have become a front-and-center agenda item for Hegseth’s Pentagon, even at a time of broad national security concerns across the globe.

`We will not be politically correct’

Trump is used to boisterous crowds of supporters who laugh at his jokes and applaud his boasts during his speeches. But he wasn’t getting that kind of soundtrack from the military leaders in attendance.

In keeping with the nonpartisan tradition of the armed services, the military leaders sat mostly stone-faced through Trump’s politicized remarks, a contrast from when rank-and-file soldiers cheered during Trump’s speech at Fort Bragg this summer.

During his nearly hourlong speech, Hegseth said the U.S. military has promoted too many leaders for the wrong reasons based on race, gender quotas and “historic firsts.”

“The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now at every level,” Hegseth said.

That was echoed by Trump, who said “the purposes of America military is not to protect anyone’s feelings. It’s to protect our republic.”

“We will not be politically correct when it comes to defending American freedom,” Trump said. “And we will be a fighting and winning machine.”

Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the meeting “an expensive, dangerous dereliction of leadership” by the Trump administration.

“Even more troubling was Mr. Hegseth’s ultimatum to America’s senior officers: conform to his political worldview or step aside,” Reed said in a statement. “That demand is profoundly dangerous. It signals that partisan loyalty matters more than capability, judgment, or service to the Constitution, undermining the principle of a professional, nonpartisan military.”

Loosening disciplinary rules

Hegseth also said he is loosening disciplinary rules and weakening hazing protections, putting a heavy focus on removing many of the guardrails the military had put in place after numerous scandals and investigations

He said he was ordering a review of “the department’s definitions of so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing.”

He called for changes to “allow leaders with forgivable, earnest or minor infractions to not be encumbered by those infractions in perpetuity.”

“People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not define an entire career,” Hegseth said.

Bullying and toxic leadership have been the suspected and confirmed causes behind numerous military suicides over the past several years, including of Brandon Caserta, a young sailor who was bullied into killing himself in 2018.

A Navy investigation found that Caserta’s supervisor’s “noted belligerence, vulgarity and brash leadership was likely a significant contributing factor in (the sailor)’s decision to end his own life.”

Gender-neutral physical standards

Hegseth used the platform to slam environmental policies and transgender troops while talking up his and Trump’s focus on “the warrior ethos.”

The Pentagon has been told from previous administrations that “our diversity is our strength,” Hegseth said, calling that an “insane fallacy.”

“They had to put out dizzying DEI and LGBTQI+ statements. They were told females and males are the same thing, or that males who think they’re females is totally normal,” he said.

Hegseth said this is not about preventing women from serving.

“But when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral,” he said. “If women can make it excellent, if not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result.”

Hegseth’s speech came as the country faces a potential government shutdown this week and as he has taken several unusual and unexplained actions, including ordering cuts to the number of general officers and firings of other top military leaders.

Trump also said the military’s focus should be on the Western Hemisphere. His administration has championed the military’s role in securing the U.S.-Mexico border, deploying to American cities as part of Trump’s law enforcement surges, and carrying out strikes on boats in the Caribbean that it says targeted drug traffickers.

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By Ben Finley, Konstantin Toropin And Evan Vucci

Finley and Toropin reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.