Hegseth’s speech may be exactly what we needed

A Surviving Facts blog

Did you watch this week’s military display? If you did, then whether you’re wearing red-colored or blue-tinted glasses, you heard what I heard: No fat people in the military. Hegseth’s Patton-flag-modeled Ted Talk was clear: fat people are disgusting, men need to be warriors again (is he referring to Vikings, which science has discovered were often women?) and anti-woke means bringing back harassment and abuse— ah, the good ole days.

Let’s first address the mean-spirited fat shaming.

Logically, I understand the importance of a fit military force on the battlefield. Our battlefields, however, have increasingly become arm chairs with video screens thousands of miles away. Military maneuvering is no longer ground troops. It’s a control center of strategists and specialists.

Speaking of troops, I suspect few of our on-site soldiers are obese. If I’m wrong, give me facts. Tell me what percentage of on-the-ground troops are obese and whether these people have greater fatality rates. Provide me with statistics comparing toned and fat soldiers’ ability to maneuver and ability to fit on or in equipment. I want tangible, fact-based information. This is how critical thinking works.

What bothered me about Hegseth’s performance is not the need for fit soldiers. It was the display of white male superiority and privilege. Hegseth was unabashed about his prejudices. Indeed, he advocated for an America we have fought to move past, one in which it’s okay to ridicule people, women are less than men, domestic and sexual violence are a man’s right, and color signals automatic inequality. We all saw it. Hegseth stood in front of hundreds of the most decorated military personnel and millions of Americans watching and encouraged the military leadership to embrace his bizarre and perverted perspective rather than the principles clearly laid out in our Constitution.

Fat people are an easy target for bullies. Hegseth is a bully. He’s the mean kid in the schoolyard who bullies any kid outside the norm. He bullies because it makes him feel better about his own inadequacies— have you seen Hegseth try to do chin ups? His speech was nothing more than an ego boost to show he has the power to spend millions to uproot staff from important tasks all over the world to listen to him. In his warped mind, his position has power when it’s really the person in the position who imbues it with authority and respect.

Not wanting to reinforce my own opinion, I sought at least one piece of media coverage that was complimentary of Hegseth’s speech. I couldn’t find one. Fox News interviewed soldiers who called the speech “weird,” “theatery,” and “it could have been an email.” A Fox News host did say that it attempted to position America as strong rather than weak— good try, Trace— but others were confused by the muddled speech, saying this kind of display is what we see in North Korea.

For me, this unexpected bipartisan alignment on Hegseth’s absurd pomposity signals a potential shift. Just when I was convinced that MAGAT’s minds cannot be shifted, I find agreement on the purpose and quality of Hegseth’s speech. This tells us how bad the speech really was. It also indicates a weakening in the red wall. When buffoonery trumps common sense— and is displayed so clearly that it cannot be denied or interpreted differently— cult-like belief systems begin to develop tiny holes. These holes grow bigger over time and eventually the belief system crumbles. Trump did no better in his rambling, message-less speech. Taken together, we saw a stage of fools.

I’ll be looking for other indicators of the weakening red wall. In fact, another one already may have emerged: The government shutdown. MAGA control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. And yet, as usual, they blame the democrats for the shutdown— it’s so easy to blame the invisible “radical left.” I don’t think anyone is buying the “health care for immigrants” scktik. Early polls show that the partisan blame game isn’t sticking and most people believe the Republicans caused the shutdown,which happens to be the case. At some point, telling a lie over and over again in attempt to drive a new truth collapses in on itself, just as the lies about Jews did in Nazi Germany.

Perhaps, the ridiculousness of our times, the rejection of science and facts, the bizarre authoritarian displays will no longer carry more weight than Americans’ lived experiences. What a day to celebrate when Americans once again embrace love and acceptance over hatred and prejudice, acknowledge empirical evidence in science rather than the social echo chamber, and seek political unity and resolution rather than partisan finger pointing and ongoing strife.

Maybe there is hope this day is coming.

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