Slotkin + Noonan v. Hegseth (and Jesus) October 4, 2025October 3, 2025 Watch Senator Slotkin grill the Secretary of Defense (two minutes). Compare her bio with Hegseth’s — it is as deeply impressive as his is not. Peggy Noonan roasts him in the Wall Street Journal: . . . His unprecedented extravaganza this week, in which he summoned hundreds of generals and admirals from around the world to Virginia’s Quantico Marine Base to listen to him speak . . . was, as a former general said by phone, “just flat-out bizarre.” It was embarrassing to watch. He made everyone in the audience look smaller, which made their profession look smaller. How does that help America? Mr. Hegseth instructed them as if from a great height. What he told them is that the woke progressive era in the U.S. military is over. He will have a reset to the “warrior ethos.” “No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. . . . We are done with that s—.” OK. Understood. Understood, in fact, since he was appointed. Mr. Hegseth could have reiterated all this by secure video conference, or just sent a video. Instead he dragged commanders from their stations to be his audience. So he could pose with a giant American flag behind him like George C. Scott in “Patton,” only Scott delivered a great speech. Mr. Hegseth gave a TED Talk, a weirdly self-reverential one. He paced the stage like a strutting, gelled bantam, like an amped-up actor with rehearsed gestures and expressions and voice shifts. “You might say we’re ending the war on warriors. I heard someone wrote a book about that.” Mr. Hegseth is author of a book called “The War on Warriors.” I guess he wants us to buy it. There was braggadocio: “To our enemies, FAFO. If necessary, our troops can translate that for you.” He used “lethal” and “lethality” a lot, like a young Hollywood scriptwriter dreaming up some mad right-wing Army officer because he watched “Platoon” too much as a child, as perhaps Mr. Hegseth did. The frantic drama: “This is a moment of urgency, mounting urgency.” “We became the Woke Department.” “It’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals.” The retired general later sighed on the phone and said: “I would like you to note that his hero, Norman Schwarzkopf, was fat. And George Patton wasn’t exactly a gazelle.” Sound military leadership has little to do with physical fitness and everything to do with strategic judgment. Mr. Hegseth also seemed preoccupied with reimposing the military’s height requirement. There goes young Napoleon. What are we doing in this dangerous world having the head of the Defense Department prance around like this and embarrass the generals he used as his backdrop? Why do his highly placed defenders in the administration think this is good for the White House, or even for Mr. Hegseth? . . . Mr. Hegseth has always had bad press, from the scandals that emerged after his nomination through fairly constant reports about chaos in his office. I thought and said early on he was a poor choice—a television host playing a culture warrior who lacked the weight and gravitas the Pentagon needed. This week the Daily Mail, not an immediate foe of all things Trump, had a story in which Mr. Hegseth was described as paranoid, “crawling out of his skin,” fearful and suspicious. . . . You know why people say something’s wrong with this guy? Because it appears something is wrong with this guy. Speaking of fat commanders, it’s not just Hegseth’s hero Norman Schwarzkopf who was fat; it’s Hegseth’s bone-spurred commander-in-chief. BONUS James Talarico: “Jesus spent most of his time healing the sick. Today, we have politicians in Congress with ‘Christ-follower’ in their Twitter bios — but they’re trying to kick the sick off their healthcare. And they’re willing to shut down the government to do it.” Watch (70 seconds). Join Indivisible. Make plans to peacefully protest with friends October 18. Fund the opposition party (or “my” dinner — it all goes into the same pot.) An adequately funded DNC is just one of the things we need to prevail — but it is an absolutely necessary thing.