• Ecco the dolphin@lemmy.ml
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      5 hours ago

      He’s talking about getting rid of military members who can’t shave due to medical reasons.

      context

      People with curly hair can have ingrown hairs from shaving. Most people with no shave chits are black.

      Don’t let him trick you into thinking this speech is just stupid. Its stupid, but he’s also trying to give generals plausible deniability to remove minority military members and women.

  • blattrules@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    I hope every single one of them realizes that they were used as seat fillers for more culture war bullshit. I’m sure they can see right through these two man-babies for the weak human beings they are and will think twice when they’re asked to do something illegal/immoral for them.

    • unphazed@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Mussolini promised the world to his troops, and was seen as a competent soldier himself (I admit I know little on his military prowess). Our regime is led by a diaper wearing, flat footed nepo baby who hired a pretty boy guardsman who spent more time in front of a camera wielding propaganda than he did a rifle to lead our entire military. These generals meanwhile get chastised and left to fix every fuckup generated by the administration with no reward for themselves or the men and women under their command. Then they see any hope of rewards in retirement after decades of service go up in smoke. Yeah, I’m not too worried about them doing illegal actions on US citizens. I’m becoming more afraid of a military coup however. If our balance of power and law becomes obsolete, then they may see it as reason to change the executive power as it stands.

      • Formfiller@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        I was kinda hoping that they would have done that coup today and put those two on trial for being enemies of the constitution. The military swears an oath to the constitution and those two knuckleheads were directing the generals to do unconstitutional shit. I’m pretty sure this coup scenario would be better than what is going currently

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Imagine if it continues to degrade to the point that Kristi Noem gets put in charge of more branches of armed forces.

  • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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    12 hours ago

    Hegseth is a cartoon villain that shouldn’t be anywhere near a position of power

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reposted and praised a video interview of a self-described Christian nationalist pastor whose church doesn’t believe women should be allowed to vote.

    Just an utter scumbag.

  • xenomor@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    My favorite part was when Hegseth talked about removing politics from the military, and then trump spent 20 minutes whining about politics.

    • Tryenjer@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Hegseth disrupted the lives of 800 highly educated military leaders to call them fat. 🤣

      • TemplaerDude@sh.itjust.works
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        10 hours ago

        Exactly.

        These scumbags talk one thing and do the opposite.

        They deserve the gallows before they take the rest of that shit country down with them.

        • SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world
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          10 hours ago

          I’m afraid it’s far too late for that. You think things are bad now? You just wait. Shit’s gonna start getting extremely ugly when the massive house of cards that is the current US economy starts falling down - which I personally would normally peg to start happening in earnest by early next year, but with Trump deliberately destroying the very source that would let us all know the numbers behind what’s actually going on in the economy all bets on timing are off. The longer it gets put off, the worse it’s gonna be, however.

          • TemplaerDude@sh.itjust.works
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            10 hours ago

            I’m just pulling for some Americans to do the right thing and start putting holes in these fascists. Doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen though, they’re happy just memeing their way to hell.

            • SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world
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              9 hours ago

              Unlike in the past, there are a million and one ways to avoid reality nowadays (heck, I’m doing so by spending time here). That, and the fact the bulk of the angry gun-owning types are on the MAGAt side of the isle. This crash is going to be like none before, so it’s impossible to make predictions (beyond any obvious ones) on what will happen.

              • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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                6 hours ago

                While I agree we should be cautious and fight back, that’s just not true. The Business Plot, for example, just sort of didn’t happen and fizzled out. This isn’t to imply nothing should be done, because we definitely need to work to ensure they don’t achieve their goals, but Fascists have lost to less than bullets. This also isn’t saying dead Fascists aren’t desired. It’s only stating that your comment isn’t exactly accurate.

                Saying the only way to fight back is by killing people leaves a whole lot of people doing nothing. There’s a lot more you can do besides picking up a gun. Your message plays into their hands, not ours.

      • cmbabul@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        Just like Christian’s don’t consider Christianity anything besides “the truth” American conservatives/maga/gop also don’t think their political beliefs are political, just “common sense”

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    10 hours ago

    The military may just have to step in and save us on this one guys. This administration is a direct threat to democracy and everyone who has provided material support for Project 2025 is a traitor.

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      7 hours ago

      The military isn’t going to step in and save us unless they feel strongly that the public will support them wholeheartedly, and they aren’t going to feel that way if there isn’t massive and unprecedented civil unrest. That means the onus is on us.

    • MojoMcJojo@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      Consider the implication of a countries military denying the commands of the officials elected by the civilian population. The military is armed. That would completely destabilize the countries economy and it’s security on the world stage. The chain reaction of consequences is terrifying. It’s up to the people.

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      8 hours ago

      The military ain’t gonna “step in”. The only way that could possibly happen is if we have major and sustained civil demonstrations in our cities. Even then, it may take mass civilian casualties before the military intervenes.

      • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        You could very well be right, but without Congress acting on this lawlessness and with SCOTUS’s capitulation it leaves the military as the last organization that could step in to end this madness.

        First, consider the war crimes this administration has ordered. Second, its continual attacks on the Constitution and the rule of law. Lastly, the outright treasonous Project 2025 this administration has given material support to. The military would be acting well within reason seizing control and ordering a new election.

        Everyone who has given material support to Project 2025 should be held by military tribunal or ICC in order to ensure corruption is kept out of the proceedings. After this purge of the right, something we should have done long ago due to their spreading of hate and class warfare tactics, we can finally move on to an imperfect but functional future.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      Speak for yourself, I would have paid DIRECTLY to the defense department to put Hegseth on stage in front of hundreds or thousands of career military professionals from all walks of life and all branches of our highest levels of defense planning and strategy so they all get to see him in person for what he is, a wannabe TED-talking, sound-bite spewing grifter civilian with no leadership qualifications past running a podcast. Telling them each “how it’s going to be” in a sad, rambling, uninspired, chat-GTP written lecture that you would expect from a CEO of a silicon valley startup hungup on military aesthetics.

      There is no better way to ensure that every competent and concerned armed-forces leader is on the same page as getting them all in a room together to listen to these clowns perform their circus act.

      If it comes to it, we do not win revolutions without the military. We need this kind of performance.

      • RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        Hey hey… he’s not a civilian… for two weeks out of the year he is a citizen soldier.

        A citizen soldier that just called all of the top military brass pussies to their faces.

        Is it still considered a fragging if he’s a lower rank than them?

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    “All I’ve had from them so far, from the people I’ve talked to, is a combination of disbelief that some of them were made to fly from, some of them, Asia, from all over the world … all the way to Quanico to listen to the same familiar type of culture war complaints that we’ve been having since Trump was reelected,” she added, calling Trump’s remarks a “campaign-style stump speech.”

    They love making people do shit like this, and absolutely despise being reminded that someone can make them do it.

    As long as they don’t bitch out and resign, this is going to backfire on trump.

    Even if he tries to kick them out, they can drag their feet thru the official process, and if trump starts circumventing that widescale, the rest will close ranks and do a coup out of pure self interest.

    You don’t get that high up without putting your career over everything, and trump just threatened their careers.

    • Deceptichum@quokk.au
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      12 hours ago

      the rest will close ranks and do a coup out of pure self interest.

      No they won’t, Americans won’t do shit. That much is painfully obvious to everyone in the world by now.

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      Even if he tries to kick them out, they can drag their feet thru the official process, and if trump starts circumventing that widescale, the rest will close ranks and do a coup out of pure self interest.

      Things might get spicy when we finally have folks that decide to uphold their oaths to uphold the Constitution. We certainly haven’t seen any in the Executive Branch yet, and most of the Judicial and Legislative seems to be abdicating their oaths too.

      • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Note the oath the enlisted take specifically says they will follow the orders of the President.

        That’s not the one that matters.

        The officer’s oath does not include that, specifically for this reason:

        I ___, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God. (Title 5 U.S. Code 3331, an individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services)

        https://www.army.mil/values/officers.html

        I’m 99% sure that these oaths apply across the board regardless of branch, because they apply to more than just commissioned officers.

          • Hasherm0n@lemmy.world
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            9 hours ago

            I’ve already seen the taking point showing up on the right that the “… and domestic” part applies to the “antifa terrorists turning our cities into war zones and besieging federal (especially ICE) buildings.”

        • benignintervention@lemmy.world
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          11 hours ago

          I really hope that GOs don’t take the oath lightly. When I taught that lesson to my cadets it was a serious conversation and usually involved stories about commanders I knew who got fired or court-martialed for everything including extra-marital affairs, to belittling subordinates, to fabricating illegal orders (and then breaking international law). I hope it doesn’t come to it, but I imagine that a military court would be less partisan than our current courts have been.

      • MisterOwl@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        We certainly haven’t seen any in the Executive Branch yet, and most of the Judicial and Legislative seems to be abdicating their oaths too.

        And these generals will follow suit. People keep saying how serious and career-driven they are. What makes you think they won’t put their career over the constitution like everyone else?

        • Makeitstop@lemmy.world
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          10 hours ago

          The federal courts are filled with people appointed through the political process, and a lot of the bullshit that’s made it through the courts is a result of venue shopping to find sympathetic judges. But more importantly, the Trump administration has been losing a lot in court… until the Supreme Court steps in and reverses those rulings on the shadow docket. It’s not the whole judicial branch that’s the problem, just the ones that matter the most.

          The legislature isn’t doing its job because it’s controlled by Republicans, and as a party they’ve gone through multiple purges to root out anyone who would put the country or the constitution ahead of Trump’s slightest whim.

          The executive branch has been under siege all year, a lot of people were fired without cause, and a lot of other people are resigning or getting fired rather than doing shit that’s illegal and unconstitutional. While in some instances there are lawsuits making their way through the courts, there’s only so much they can do after they get escorted out of the building.

          To the best of my knowledge, the leadership of the military has had much more continuity and isn’t so easily stacked with loyalists. You can’t just grab some 20 something techbro douchebag from Elon’s little band of hitler youth, or the last lawyer that was dumb enough to represent Trump and make them a general.

          And there is also a big difference between what might be demanded of some congressman or civil servant compared to the military. While I doubt we’ll see anyone directly disobeying an order from the white house that has troops standing around outside federal buildings, I do think it’s pretty likely that an order to nuke an American city would be disobeyed. The question for each of them is where they draw the line. Openly defying orders is not something to be done lightly in the military.

        • Horsecook@sh.itjust.works
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          12 hours ago

          ”If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room, of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future” -Trump, to the entire military leadership

          If enough of them decide simultaneously that Trump is the main impediment to their careers, then you have a good, old-fashioned military coup.

      • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        Everyone there would have been the one for commissioned officers right below what you posted.

  • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    10 hours ago

    Did…did Hegseth even make it to NCO?

    Christ.

    No.

    He was a Princeton ROTC brat and made it all the way to Major, O-4, in twenty fucking years.

    Throw that level of ‘career development’ onto an enlisted track, and no, he would not have even gotten to an NCO rank, which typically start around E-5, Sergeant.

  • paper_moon@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    Well, expect all of them to be removed in favor of people who did, by the end of the week.

    • Formfiller@lemmy.world
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      Yes dumping a large amount of soldiers while waging an unconstitutional war on the constitutional freedoms of the American people. ……that seems like they’re creating a powerful resistance

    • logicbomb@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      You won’t find anybody who liked Hegseth’s speech, because it didn’t appeal to anybody. It was both naive and condescending, and it was presented by a guy who nobody would respect in the first place. Nobody thinks the problem with our military is that some general is overweight.

      But I’m sure it would be easy to find some people who say they liked the speech. It’s the same way that some people say they like Donald Trump. Strange how often those same people say that he’s the dumbest person on the planet once they get too fed up with him and leave.

      • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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        13 hours ago

        No. But you will find boot lickers who want a promotion/more “responsibilities” who will kneel down and asik hegseth if he wants the hot or cold blowie if it gets them the power of the general who got caught yawning.

    • theneverfox@pawb.social
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      10 hours ago

      They can’t. These people have the guns… That group forced to fly in has command over enough armies to fight the rest of the world and possibly win

      And they’re not Trump fans