Trump says that American cities should be “training reasons” for the army to fight an “invasion from the inside” during an extraordinary speech to the generals

to treat An audience of military copper Trump was suddenly summoned to Virginia, Trump explained a muscle view and sometimes it crashed into the role of the army in local affairs. It was joined by Defense Minister Beit Higseth, who announced the end of the “wake” culture and announced new directives for the forces that include “neutral gender” or “Male level” criteria Fitness.

Dual messages confirmed the Trump administration’s efforts not only to reshape the contemporary Pentagon culture but to recruit military resources for the priorities of the president and the local purposes for sure, including the arc of turmoil and violent crime.

“We must use some of these dangerous cities as training reasons for our army,” Trump said. He pointed out at another stage: “We are under the invasion from the inside. There is no different from the foreign enemy, but it is more difficult in many ways because they do not wear the uniform.”

Higseth called hundreds of military leaders and senior consultants from all over the world to the base of the Quantico Marine Corps without revealing the reason. Its title is largely focused on the talk points that have long been used and that drew a picture of the army “Wake up” policiesHe said that military leaders should “do the honorable thing and resign” if they do not like his new approach.

Although the meetings between military copper and civilian leaders are not new, this gathering has fueled severe speculation about its goal given the wheel that was called and the ambiguity surrounding it. The fact that the Admiral and the generals from the conflict areas were called to hold a lecture on race and sex in the army, to what extent the wars of culture in the country have become an element in the forehead and medium agenda in Higsith Bentagon, even at a time when broad national security concerns are related to all over the world.

“We will not be correct politically.”

Trump is accustomed to the loud crowds of supporters who laugh at his jokes and live with him. But he did not get this type of soundtrack from military leaders in the audience.

In line with the non -party traditions of armed services, the military leaders often sat through Trump’s political statementsIn contrast to when the soldiers and files chanted during Trump A letter in Fort Prague This summer.

Trump initially encouraged the audience of his speech to praise, as they wish. Then he added: “If you don’t like what I say, you can leave the room – of course, there is your rank, there is your future.” Some laughed at the crowd.

Before Trump took the stage, Higseth said in his speech, which lasted for about an hour, that the army had promoted many leaders for wrong reasons, based on race, sexes and “historical first”.

Higseth said: “The correct era of leadership is politically, and excessive sensitive, does not end in leading their basins at every level.”

This was repeated by Trump: “The purposes of the US military is not to protect the feelings of anyone. It protects our republic.”

“We will not be political when it comes to defending American freedom,” Trump said.

Senator Jacques Reed, the largest democracy in the Senate Armed Services Committee, described the meeting as “an expensive involvement in leadership” by the Trump administration.

“The most anxious thing was the warning of Mr. Higseth to senior American officers: he is compatible with his political view of the world or step down,” Reid said in a statement.

Trump’s use of the army on American soil

Trump has already tested the limits of a federal law approximately 150 years old, Boycott lawThis restricts the role of the army in implementing local laws.

He sent the National Guard and Naval Infantry in the active service to Los AngelesHe threatened to do the same to combat crime and illegal immigration in Other cities led by democracyIncluding Portland and Chicago, and rose Forces to the American -Mexican border.

Members of the National Guard are generally exempted from the law because they are subject to the authority of the state and control it by the conservatives.

but The law applies to them When the Federalists were “” and under the control of the president, as happened in Los Angeles due to the objections of the democratic ruler.

Trump said that the armed forces should also focus on the Western hemisphere, and boast of doing Military strikes on boats in the Caribbean sea area That the targeted drug dealers say.

Reducing disciplinary rules

Higseth said it relieves disciplinary rules and weakening conflicting protection, focusing on removing many handrails that the army put in place after many scandals and investigations.

He also said that he was asking to review “management definitions of the so -called toxic leadership, bullying and smuggling to enable leaders to impose standards without fear of revenge or the second guess.”

He called for changes to “allow leaders who have serious, serious or simple violations not to be frustrated through these violations forever.”

“People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not be determined in a full profession.”

Bulling and toxic leadership have been the suspected and confirmed reasons behind many military suicide cases over the past few years, including Brandon Cuerta, a young sailor who was intimidated in killing himself in 2018.

An investigation into the navy found that the supervisor of Cuerta, “Celebrities, most likely, would have been likely to be an important worker in the (seas) decision to end his life.”

The neutral material standards between the sexes

HegSeth used the platform to throw environmental policies and transgender forces while talking about focusing on “warrior ethics”.

Higseth said that the Pentagon had been told from previous administrations that “our diversity is our strength,” describing that “the fallacy is crazy.”

Higseth said that it is not a matter of preventing women from service.

“But when it comes to any job that requires a material strength to perform in the fighting, these material standards should be high and neutral,” he said. “If women can make them excellent, if not, then this is what it is. If this means that there are no women who are qualified for some combat jobs, then this is not the intention, but it might be the result.”

Senator Johnny Ernst, a Republican in Iowa, who served in the Iraq war, said that Higseth was “appropriate” in indicating that women should meet certain standards of the army.

“I am not worried about it,” Ernst said. “There should be a set of the same combat weapons standards. I think this was what was more likely to be referred to.”

But Janissa Goldybek, who served in the Marine Corps and is now the CEO of the Ve Voice Foundation, said that Higseth’s speech was more about “fueling the grievance more than strengthening power.”

She said Higseth “has an idea of ​​a comic book in the 1980s about the hardness that he never exceeded.” “Instead of focusing on what is actually improving the willingness of power, it continues to waste time and tax dollars on the plays of cultural war.”

Higseth’s speech came at a time when the country faces capabilities The government closing This week, as has taken many unusual and unjustified measures, including Discounts To the number of general officers and Fire from senior military leaders.

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Vinley and Turbin mentioned from Washington. The authors of the Associated Press Erik Taker, Chris Mujirian, and Adriana Gomez, Ali Swinson and Stephen Group, contributed to this report.