War Secretary Pete Hegseth did not pull any punches when he addressed a gathering of generals, admirals, and high-ranking staff at Quantico, Virginia, earlier this week.
"It's tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops," Hegseth told the military leaders. "Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon."
It marked the first time generals from around the world had been summoned to convene with the secretary, and Fox News reports many had expected closed-door announcements on trimming the general officer corps, drawing down forces in the Middle East and Europe, or cutting civilian and contractor roles.
Instead, Hegseth announced that there will be new, "gender-neutral" or "male-level" standards for physical fitness in the U.S. military; personnel and servicemembers will have to work out daily and pass a standardized fitness test twice a year.
His no-nonsense speech set a new tone for the military under Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump, and the mainstream media did not take it well.
"The View" hosts Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin wondered why the person who exercises command and control over the nation's defense service branches would be "obsessed with fat … and fitness."
They were concerned that he might have hurt some feelings when he should be sending "an uplifting message for our military."
Michael Morris of MRC Free Speech America says his IQ drops 10 points every time he watches "The View."
"Leave it to Sunny Hostin to criticize Pete Hegseth for wanting the military to actually be effective," he scoffs. "If Hegseth has to tiptoe around our top brass, then we've got bigger problems in America."
Commander Kirk Lippold (U.S. Navy, ret.) thinks the physical standards should be the same, regardless of the military specialty.
"What if you're like one of my sailors that had to go two decks down and help carry a wounded shipmate up two ladders like a firefighter in order to rescue them from flooding waters in the compartment?" he poses. "You have to meet those same rigorous physical standards as if you're on the battlefield carrying a wounded mate across a field under open fire."
Hegseth also declared an end to "woke" culture in the military – something MSNBC panelist Frank Kendall, Joe Biden's Air Force secretary, says is made up.
"The tone that he set and the imaginary woke military he described, which does not and never has existed, it was a bunch of nonsense," Kendall told Nicolle Wallace.
But Morris remembers the Biden-era recruiting ads featuring a girl with two moms (pictured right) and soldiers dressed up in drag.
"They were even talking about doing transgender surgeries on the American dime – taxpayer dollars," he recalls.
And noting how effective the U.S. has been in the past with fewer admirals, Lippold thinks military personnel should be slimmed down in other ways.
"We fought World War II to victory with 100 admirals. We broke the back of the Soviet Union with 125 admirals. Today, with 290 ships, I have over 400 admirals and senior executive civilians, admiral equivalents, running the Navy," the retired commander contrasts.
"The bureaucracy of the entire military is a self-licking ice cream cone where the senior leadership is more worried about their post-retirement jobs and corporate board memberships than on the lethality of the force," Lippold tells American Family News. "That's what's wrong."
Military and veteran communities have reacted to Sec. Hegseth's speech with a mixture of backlash and support, but it served as a reminder to commanders that their authority ultimately flows from the president.
