President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used an unusual and hastily called meeting of top U.S. military brass, summoning hundreds of admirals and generals from posts around the world to Quantico, Virginia, Tuesday, to threaten them over alleged “woke” ideologies in the military and to announce the return to “the highest male standard only” in combat positions, among other demands.
Hegseth addressed the group before Trump did, detailing a new 10-point plan, according to The Hill, to rebuild military culture. The plan includes new requirements for grooming and physical fitness, including the so-called “highest male standards” for combat troops.
He slammed overweight members of the armed forces, saying it is “completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon leading commands around the country and the world.”
Hegseth also hammered so-called “toxic leaders” and said they lowered the standards so far that the Defense Department is the “woke department.”
Then he strutted around like a peacock before declaring, “Should our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be crushed by the violence, precision, and ferocity of the War Department. In other words, to our enemies, FAFO. If necessary, our troops can translate that for you.”
In case you’re interested, FAFO is a slang acronym for “F-ck Around, Find Out.”
Social media erupted over this remark and others Hegseth made during his speech while crowing about his demands.
“This is the cringiest MF on the planet. He’s actually saying this to our most senior military officers from around the world,” this social media user remarked in disgust.
“Can someone please hit this dumb f-ck in [the] face with a bucket,” a Threads user hilariously commented.
“$$$$$millions spent, plus placing the military at an unreadiness posture around the globe so this drunk phuck could talk down to generals and trump could give another one of his deranged campaign speeches. Yeah, FAFO, mofo,” another person pointed out.
And this epic reaction from another Threads user, “This is the same guy that nailed himself in the nuts with a skateboard live on TV.”
Hegseth, in an awkward video that has gone viral again, humiliatingly and painfully struck himself in the groin while accidentally flipping a skateboard on live TV during his previous gig co-hosting “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
Pete Hegseth accidentally flipping a skateboard into his nuts on live TV
pic.twitter.com/5VHROpcyFb— PatriotTakes
(@patriottakes) September 29, 2025
That post sparked a whole new range of comments, “Here is your ‘Secretary of War.’ A Fox News host credibly accused of sexual assault and has white nationalist tattoos all over his body. Pete Kegsbreath,” an X user stated.
Social media users also posted plenty of gifs and memes, including a hilarious one of former presidential candidate and former Vice President Kamala Harris laughing
In Trump’s hour-long address, he, along with Hegseth before him, kept emphasizing their new name for the Department of Defense, “the Department of War,” but Congress has not approved of the change, so it’s technically still the Defense Department.
Another unusual aspect of this gathering is that it was broadcast. Therefore, there was no need to force military personnel to travel to Virginia from distant stations around the world, thereby jeopardizing the readiness of the U.S. armed forces.