The War on Competence

Putting the worst in charge

Defense Secetary Pete Hegseth gives a ‘State of the Force’ address on Sept. 30, 2026. Photo Credit: Alex Wong/ Getty

Yes. Let’s keep putting people in charge of significantly important institutions who know absolutely nothing about how to run things. That, of course, was Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who fancies himself Secretary of War. There is so much wrong with that man, I don’t even know where to start.

Hegseth gave those remarks in front of hundreds of junior officers and enlisted troops at Quantico on Wednesday in an address he called “State of the Force.” Let’s keep in mind, by the way, that what he was telling these junior officers and enlisted troops is that expressing a difference of opinion is a fireable offense in this Department of Defense.

This is what Hegseth said:

I think the generals heard the message. Those who responded positively, which is most of them, are leading newly focused and newly empowered and disciplined formations. Those generals who did not, who clung to the woke department or seemed to think civilian control of the military is simply a suggestion, well, they no longer work here. You see, the number crunchers say we’ve fired 10 percent of the generals and admirals across the force, and that number sounds about right. And I know because I directed it that we’ve also reduced the overall number of general officer slots by an additional 10 percent.

Hegseth defended major Pentagon changes, including firing dozens of generals and admirals because they disagreed with him, expressed a difference of opinion, or were, in that idiot’s mind, too woke to serve this country after having served this country for I don’t know how many decades. He also defended barring transgender people from serving and eliminating diversity programs. I don’t know about you, but it seems like he’s the one with creepy fixations here, not the people he fired.

He also complained about the news media, using vulgar language to describe certain groups of Americans. Hegseth, of course, praised the war against Iran, which we lost on day one. But this is how he started the speech, and I want to warn you, this is really, really offensive stuff.

Hegseth: We are no longer the woke department or the weak department. Simple translation of that. No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals, just warriors. Just tough, ready, committed troops. The War Department, as you know, is colorblind, gender neutral, and merit based. Or as the president likes to say to me, Pete, central casting. I want central casting. The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in with testosterone testing on top.

Again, I’m not saying, although some people are, that Pete Hegseth has a micropenis, but he certainly acts as if he does. He is lobbing the kinds of insults that a schoolyard bully whose parents didn’t raise him very well would launch at another child.

That is the Secretary of Defense who is shaping our armed forces and the people who serve this country. That is not an audience full of admirals and generals who know better and probably feel nothing but contempt for that man. Those are junior officers and enlisted men and women who are being taught that it’s okay to speak like that and to think like that.

Later in those remarks, Hegseth turned to the war in Iran, but it seems like he’s waging a war against a different enemy.

This is what Hegseth said:

Take Iran, for example. Allow me to lay it out simply for the anti American losers in our media. These Americans right here and their peers, these, have destroyed Iran’s Navy, destroyed Iran’s Air Force, destroyed their air defense systems, their leadership and their military industrial capacity, their entire defense base. Yet our so called press makes Iranian state media look reasonable. Our media’s shameful lust for political retribution blinds them to the consequences of reckless so called reporting. So called journalists juiced up on Trump derangement syndrome think they’re fighting against our president, but they’re really undermining you. A free press is, of course, important, but partisan activism that intentionally smears the troops and the historic mission that they’re undertaking is fundamentally anti American. It’s sick. It’s a national betrayal. It’s treason, actually. I hate to have to say it, but it has to be said.

It’s people like Hegseth and Donald who simply cannot bear to have facts they don’t like brought to light, which is what our media is supposed to do. And it is not American media that makes the Iranian regime look reasonable. It is the Trump regime that makes the cruel theocratic regime of Iran look reasonable.

Then Hegseth went on to talk about his new pet projects, Autonomous Warfare Command and Project Meridian. He announced Auto Warcom, which is a new command focused on autonomous and robotic warfare, along with Project Meridian, a separate effort to study what future wars will look like and help lead the future of robotic warfare.

Well, you would think that, of course, he would pick the best of the best. He would choose the most knowledgeable people, people who understand war, how it’s waged, and how to avoid waging it. You would think he would choose people who understand national defense and the complexities of this world in which we live.

This is who Hegseth chose:

First, today at my direction, we are announcing the creation of Autonomous Warfare Command, or Auto Warcom, a new four star combatant command with service like authorities built to scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the joint force in the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history. Under the leadership of the department’s chief technology officer, Emil Michael, Project Meridian will be co led by three of our nation’s best minds: Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich, all of whom are up in the audience with us today. Please stand if you would. Thank you.

I think you could stick a fork in us. We’re done. If that weren’t so shameful and humiliating and tragic, it would, I guess, be funny. I have a couple of questions. First of all, who is Palmer Luckey? And is Newt Gingrich actually still alive? Oh, I have another question. Who in the world thinks Elon Musk is smart about anything?

I mean, yes, I guess he did such a bang up job practically destroying our country through his DOGE initiatives. Let’s put him in charge of anything we want to destroy, and Hegseth seems hellbent on destroying our military.

On the one hand, this was a pathetic display from a preening, vapid man who fancies himself the smartest person in the room. Pete Hegseth may be single handedly responsible for lowering the average IQ in America, but it’s much worse than that. His stupidity is notable and frustrating, and it makes everything else they do worse. But so much of what he’s doing is bad.

He is dismantling the United States military. He is strutting around on that stage like a man who is accountable to nobody, who can do as he wishes as long as it speaks to his private and clearly depraved concerns. He needs more than anything to protect his ego from those who are smarter, better, and more informed than he is, which is to say practically everybody.

And finally, Pete Hegseth is acting there like somebody who believes that he will get away with all of this. But the rest of us know that he is committing war crimes. He has committed war crimes, and he will be held accountable for having committed those crimes. Hopefully, so too will every single Republican senator who decided it was a good idea to confirm that guy to be Secretary of Defense.