Trump calls for using US cities as ‘training ground’ for military in unusual speech to generals
By BEN FINLEY, KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and EVAN VUCCI Updated 1:23 PM MDT, September 30, 2025
QUANTICO, Va. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed using American cities as training grounds for the armed forces and spoke of needing U.S. military might to combat what he called the “invasion from within.”
Addressing an audience of military brass abruptly summoned to Virginia, Trump outlined a muscular and at times norm-shattering view of the military’s role in domestic affairs. He was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who declared an end to “woke” culture and announced new directives for troops that include “gender-neutral” or “male-level” standards for physical fitness.
The dual messages underscored the Trump administration’s efforts not only to reshape contemporary Pentagon culture but to enlist military resources for the president’s priorities and decidedly domestic purposes, including quelling unrest and violent crime.
“We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” Trump said. He noted at another point: “We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms.”
Hegseth called hundreds of military leaders and their top advisers from around the world to the Marine Corps base in Quantico without publicly revealing the reason. His address largely focused on long-used talking points that painted a picture of a military that has been hamstrung by “woke” policies, and he said military leaders should “do the honorable thing and resign” if they don’t like his new approach.
Though meetings between military brass and civilian leaders are nothing new, this gathering had fueled intense speculation about its purpose given the haste with which it was called and the mystery surrounding it. The fact that admirals and generals from conflict zones were summoned for a lecture on race and gender in the military showed the extent to which the country’s culture wars have become a front-and-center agenda item for Hegseth’s Pentagon, even at a time of broad national security concerns across the globe. ‘We will not be politically correct’
Trump is accustomed to boisterous crowds of supporters who laugh at his jokes and applaud his boasting. But he wasn’t getting that kind of soundtrack from the military leaders in attendance.
In keeping with the nonpartisan tradition of the armed services, the military leaders sat mostly stone-faced through Trump’s politicized remarks, a contrast from when rank-and-file soldiers cheered during Trump’s speech at Fort Bragg this summer.
Trump encouraged the audience at the outset of his speech to applaud as they wished. He then added, “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room — of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future.” Some in the crowd laughed.
Before Trump took the stage, Hegseth said in his nearly hourlong speech that the military has promoted too many leaders for the wrong reasons, based on race, gender quotas and “historic firsts.”
“The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now at every level,” Hegseth said.
That was echoed by Trump: “The purposes of America military is not to protect anyone’s feelings. It’s to protect our republic.″
″We will not be politically correct when it comes to defending American freedom,” Trump said.
Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the meeting “an expensive, dangerous dereliction of leadership” by the Trump administration.
“Even more troubling was Mr. Hegseth’s ultimatum to America’s senior officers: conform to his political worldview or step aside,” Reed said in a statement, calling it a “profoundly dangerous” demand.
Trump’s use of the military on American soil
Trump has already tested the limits of a nearly 150-year-old federal law, the Posse Comitatus Act, that restricts the military’s role in enforcing domestic laws.
He has sent National Guard and active duty Marines to Los Angeles, threatened to do the same to combat crime and illegal immigration in other Democratic-led cities, including Portland and Chicago, and surged troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.
National Guard members are generally exempt from the law since they are under state authority and controlled by governors.
But the law does apply to them when they’re “federalized” and put under the president’s control, as happened in Los Angeles over the Democratic governor’s objections.
Trump said the armed forces also should focus on the Western Hemisphere, boasting about carrying out military strikes on boats in the Caribbean that he says targeted drug traffickers. Loosening disciplinary rules
Hegseth said he is easing disciplinary rules and weakening hazing protections, focusing on removing many of the guardrails the military had put in place after numerous scandals and investigations.
He also said he was ordering a review of “the department’s definitions of so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing.”
He called for changes to “allow leaders with forgivable, earnest or minor infractions to not be encumbered by those infractions in perpetuity.”
“People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not define an entire career,” Hegseth said.
Bullying and toxic leadership have been the suspected and confirmed causes behind numerous military suicides over the past several years, including of Brandon Caserta, a young sailor who was bullied into killing himself in 2018.
A Navy investigation found that Caserta’s supervisor’s “noted belligerence, vulgarity and brash leadership was likely a significant contributing factor in (the sailor)’s decision to end his own life.” Gender-neutral physical standards
Hegseth used the platform to slam environmental policies and transgender troops while talking up a focus on “the warrior ethos.”
The Pentagon has been told from previous administrations that “our diversity is our strength,” Hegseth said, calling that an “insane fallacy.”
Hegseth said it is not about preventing women from serving.
“But when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral,” he said. “If women can make it excellent, if not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result.”
Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican who served in the Iraq War, said Hegseth was “appropriate” in suggesting that women should be expected to meet certain standards for the military.
“I’m not worried about that,” Ernst said. “There should be a same set of standards for combat arms. I think that’s what he probably was referring to.”
But Janessa Goldbeck, who served in the Marines and is now CEO of the Vet Voice Foundation, said Hegseth’s speech was more about “stoking grievance than strengthening the force.”
Hegseth “has a cartoonish, 1980s comic-book idea of toughness he’s never outgrown,” she said. “Instead of focusing on what actually improves force readiness, he continues to waste time and tax-payer dollars on He-Man culture-war theatrics.”
Hegseth’s speech came as the country faces a potential government shutdown this week and as he has taken several unusual and unexplained actions, including ordering cuts to the number of general officers and firings of other top military leaders.
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Finley and Toropin reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Chris Megerian, Adriana Gomez Licon, Ali Swenson and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
ChristopherBlackwell
It sounds insane that he ordered them all, at the costs of million$$ to
Sia, Just imagine had there been a terrorist attack on that auditorium? Our military would be nearly helpless.ChristopherBlackwell
Yeah, several reps and news peeps have pointed that out.
Posted by Sia on October 1, 2025, 7:18 pm, in reply to "he ordered them all" ADMIN
Add trump to the mix and it was a totally insane traffic jam and logistics nightmare.
Reminded me of Star Wars The Clone Wars episode where all of the Jedi, leaders, and Senators from across the galaxy met for a huge conference. Count Dooku and the Separatists planned a terrorist attack using a Federation starship to ram the building.
In our own government, they have a "designated survivoe" who doesn't attend huge conferences for that very reason so there is always someone who can be in charge if the worst happens.
So, it is not like that kind of thing has never been considered.
I watch a call in live stream where MAGAs call in to debate why they still support the buffoon, and all they can do is pivot and whataboutism, no matter what crime is pointed out to them.
They seem to be just enjoying their belligerence; triggering the libs.
He spews such hateful disgusting accusations against the left, I don't understand anyone who claims to "love" him. Fuh. I'm glad to see Newsom making a splash with his mockery.
PS. Portland's reaction to "War Zone" nonsense.
Feel free to disagree. Everyone has the right to be wrong - Even me.
All those generals dt and ph gathered into the room at Quantico did NOT applaud the way they wanted them to. You could tell that was upsetting to them, too. Dt even told them they could applaud if they wanted to... They did not. They know full well that the military is not supposed to express or be used for partisan political purposes. Gives me hope that there is still some integrity in our military. Too bad for the dt cult/crazies.
Yep, that is a good sign.
Posted by Trudy on October 1, 2025, 8:11 pm, in reply to "The good thing is...." Valued Poster
Maybe we're grasping at straws, and letting hope steer us wrong, but it seems that they are going to be true to their oaths.
I sometimes wish I could believe in prayer...Feel free to disagree. Everyone has the right to be wrong - Even me.
I often wish I could, but wishing has never made anything come true.
I had never participated in a political protest before, until this year.
Snap a photo.
Posted by Pikes Peak 14115 on October 3, 2025, 1:29 am, in reply to "One of my signs..." ADMIN
You have a phone. They're more than just for dirty pictures!
Today I used mine to document Jimmy Dean Pancake Sandwich Torpedoes in the microwave.
They come in their own little launch tubes. Snip the tail end open, and line them up in the microwave. Cook for 99 seconds. Here they are on the USS Plate
99 seconds later
You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony
LOL
Posted by Skye on October 3, 2025, 7:25 am, in reply to "Snap a photo." Valued Poster
LOL. We just have to laugh so we don't cry about the depth of his dementia!
They can say everybody was in agreement, which is why they sat still and listened. Doesn't matter that's how they're supposed to behave. If they disagree, they keep it inside. Military protocol is to be silent about disagreements, except at the right place and right time, and never with superior officers. CiC Felon Trump and SoW Hegseth are the most superior, and inferior simultaneously. You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony
trump actually told them, in his introduction. that they could feel free to applaud. no one did.
they laughed, or at least some of them. Didn't hear applause though.
I wouldn't doubt that some in the lower ranks would have applauded some of what they said, but training them in American cities?? Surely they don't let people into the service who are that crazy?? Oh wait...
They were disciplined to the hilt. He wasn't. His words weren't wasted on them. They know exactly who and what he and Major Kegsbreath are. You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony
on September 30, 2025, 4:27 pm
