Even if Hegseth is calling this meeting to discuss serious issues of national defense—and so far, the Pentagon has given no such indications—few things are important enough to justify the security risk of putting the entire top U.S. military command, the secretary of defense, and the president all in the same room. The lack of information has created fertile ground for speculation; many of Donald Trump’s critics are wondering if Trump and Hegseth are going to demand a declaration of loyalty to the president that would be similar, as retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges suggested on X, to the way German officers in the 1930s were forced to swear allegiance to Hitler. The officers, as The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, said on Washington Week last week, “don’t know if they’re coming to a pep rally or the Red Wedding.” Hegseth is on the record saying that the military is too top-heavy with senior officers, but a public dismissal of U.S.-military leaders would be both terrible management and a gift to our enemies.
Author: Tom Nichols
Published at: 2025-09-29 22:53:00
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