QUANTICO, Va. — President Donald J. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday summoned more than 800 senior military officers from around the world to a Marine base in Virginia, delivering speeches that blended familiar partisan themes with sharp criticism of the U.S. armed forces.
The unprecedented gathering brought in top brass from overseas deployments on short notice, even as a potential government shutdown loomed in Washington. Officials said no modern precedent exists for a president and defense secretary ordering such a large-scale recall of combatant commanders and flag officers.
Mr. Hegseth opened the proceedings with a lengthy address stressing fitness standards, grooming rules, and what he called a renewed “warrior ethos.” He announced further restrictions on beards, pledged to eliminate what he labeled “woke garbage,” and defended his dismissal of more than a dozen senior officers, including several women and people of color. “Promotions will be based on merit, not on political correctness,” he said.
The defense secretary also railed against what he called “stupid rules of engagement” that he argued constrained troops on the battlefield. Critics warned that his comments risked undermining long-established laws of armed conflict.
Mr. Trump followed with a characteristically wide-ranging speech. He praised tariffs, derided President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and urged the use of U.S. cities as “training grounds” for troops deployed domestically. He repeated his insistence that the Pentagon be renamed the “Department of War,” despite lacking congressional approval, and mocked his predecessors in remarks that drew little visible reaction from the assembled commanders.
At one point, the president referred to the term “nuclear” as “the n-word,” adding, “there are two n-words, and you can’t use either of them” — a formulation that critics swiftly condemned as racially insensitive.
Military leaders largely maintained their traditional silence, resisting Mr. Trump’s repeated attempts to coax laughter or applause. Analysts said their restraint reflected concern over the politicization of the armed forces at a time when Mr. Trump has increasingly leaned on troops for immigration enforcement and domestic security operations in cities such as Los Angeles and Portland, Ore.
The logistics of the gathering drew immediate criticism. Lawmakers and defense specialists questioned both the cost of flying in senior commanders and the risks of concentrating so many top leaders in one location. “It appears to be one more demonstration of Secretary Hegseth mistakenly believing our military leadership needs to be lectured into focusing on fighting wars,” said Kori Schake, a former Pentagon official now at the American Enterprise Institute.
Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, a frequent Trump critic, praised the officers’ restraint but described the event as “millions spent so Pete Hegseth could rant about facial hair and Donald Trump could recycle partisan gripes.”
The top generals and admirals typically convene twice a year in Washington for private strategy sessions with the president and defense secretary. Tuesday’s summit, however, was markedly different — a mass gathering broadcast live, framed less as a military briefing than as a political spectacle.
