The New York Times headlines: “Hegseth is purging military leaders and offering little explanation.” Subhed: “The moves to fire or sideline generals and admirals are without precedent in recent decades and have rattled the top brass.”
I think the Times totally fails to understand that most of us will see this as good news.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired or sidelined at least two dozen generals and admirals over the past nine months in a series of ousters that could reshape the U.S. military for years to come.
His actions, which are without precedent in recent decades, have come with little explanation. In many cases, they have run counter to the advice of top military leaders who fought alongside the officers in combat, senior military officials said.
So “senior military officials,” no doubt fearing for their own jobs (or maybe being among those already let go) are leaking to the New York Times. What else is new? The Times hates soldiers, except for the ones that leak.
Presumably what is going on here is that Secretary Hegseth is carrying out his mission of turning the U.S. military into a lean, war-winning machine. This means getting rid of the DEI nonsense that has dragged our armed forces down in recent years, and the generals and admirals who imposed it, probably to gain political promotion. It means getting rid of generals who achieved their rank, not through combat, but through political maneuvering.
In short, it means that Secretary Hegseth is doing exactly what President Trump wants him to do, and what he pledged to do when he took over the Department of Defense War.
The Times’ complaint that Hegseth is cashiering or sidelining officers “with little explanation” is disingenuous. Would the Times really prefer it if Hegseth put out a press release detailing the shortcomings of all of the officers he is getting out of the way? I don’t think so. If the Times wants an explanation, its reporters should read Pete’s book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free. That will tell them what they need to know.
Although, to be fair, I am pretty sure they already have a good idea what is going on. They just don’t like it.
