The Trump-Hegseth Military
A politically charged military is bad, very bad, for democratic health.
Jay Nordlinger is a senior resident fellow at the Renew Democracy Initiative and a contributor at The Next Move.
A small incident on July 15 relates to something bigger about where we stand—“we” meaning the United States.
The Navy’s Blue Angels conducted a flyover in Pensacola, Florida, where they are based. One pilot flew dangerously close to the beach, sending umbrellas and chairs flying.
Fox News, on its website, played the story this way: “Blue Angels thrill beachgoers with wild low flyover.” Yes, some were thrilled. Other people were maybe a little less so.
One of these was Captain Adam Bryan, the Blue Angels’ commanding officer. In an interview the day after, he said, “One of our pilots found himself over the beach, over a crowd, in an unsafe situation.”
Bryan went on to say, “We’ll have a heavy review of what happened yesterday to ensure that, one, we don’t put ourselves in unsafe situations again and, two, we learn from it.”
Captain Bryan graduated from the Naval Academy in 2005 and has been honored many times. He is clearly a professional.
The Trump administration did not sound like Bryan, at all. Sean Parnell, the Pentagon spokesman, posted a picture of a flyover—if not the specific flyover in question—and said, “Carry on Patriots.”
Parnell’s boss, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, tweeted, “The flyovers will continue until morale improves.” (This was a play on an old satirical line: “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”)
The White House posted a Blue Angels picture and said, “It’s okay to love America.” Had anyone suggested otherwise?
Then chiming in was the acting secretary of the Navy, Hung Cao. He posted a video of the flyover and said, “That’s the sound of Freedom!” He also said, “No reprimands. No firings. No problem.”
One of the president’s sons, Eric Trump, got into the act, tweeting, “Can’t stand the manufactured outrage by the low-T mainstream media.” “Low-T” stands for “low-testosterone,” and it’s a new putdown in the MAGA vocabulary.
Outstanding in this whole affair was the pilot himself, Lieutenant Chris Houben, of Geneva, Illinois. He talked with the Florida House representative for Pensacola, Michelle Salzman, who wrote the following about him:
“He didn’t make excuses. He didn’t try to shift blame. He simply talked about the miscalculated turn, something no pilot ever wants to experience … More than anything, he talked about the weight he’s been carrying since that moment.”
Salzman continued:
“He shared that he was shaken by what happened and needed time to process it. You could see the disappointment on his face. This wasn’t someone brushing off a mistake, it was someone who holds himself to an incredibly high standard and was deeply affected by falling short of it.”
That is the kind of man we ought to want in our military.
For many years, I have had two prayers (among others) for Americans on the right: that they recover a proper sense of patriotism and that they recover a proper sense of manliness. Patriotism is not chest-thumping jingoism, and manliness is not grunting, preening machismo.
On the Fourth of July, eight Army pilots, in Apache helicopters, did a flyover of their own. This was on the South Carolina coast. Apparently, the flyover was problematic, and the Army immediately suspended the pilots, with an investigation pending.
But Hegseth tweeted, “We’ll fix this. Carry on, Patriots.” Not long after, his spokesman, Parnell, tweeted, “Effective immediately, the suspension of all involved South Carolina pilots has been lifted. Carry on Patriots.”
Parnell, unlike his boss, has no time for commas.
Still another incident had occurred in March. Apache pilots paid a visit to the home of Kid Rock, outside Nashville. He calls his home the “Southern White House.” Kid Rock is sort of an official artist of the MAGA GOP. For example, he performed at the 2024 Republican convention.
On that day in March, Kid Rock and the pilots exchanged salutes, as the helicopters hovered. On social media, the rocker posted a video of the moment, along with a statement that began, “This is a level of respect that [the] shit for brains Governor of California will never know.” (In this period, Governor Gavin Newsom and President Trump were feuding.)
The Army immediately suspended the pilots with an investigation pending. Hegseth put a quick stop to that, saying—what else?—“Carry on, patriots.”
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A month later, Hegseth and Kid Rock took joyrides together in Apaches.
More than a few people wondered, “What if Apache pilots had hovered over the home of Bruce Springsteen, an anti-Trump rocker? Would that have been cool? Would the pilots have been ‘patriots’ then?”
Of all the institutions in America, it would be nice if our military were free of partisan and tribal politics.
I think of Ron Silver, the movie actor, who died in 2009. He was an ardent Democrat and liberal activist. At Bill Clinton’s first inauguration, in 1993, Silver saw a military flyover at the National Mall. At first, he bristled. Why should the military be involved? But then he thought, “They’re our planes now.”
He got over this. In fact, Silver became a “9/11 Democrat,” meaning a Democrat who supported President George W. Bush after the War on Terror began. Silver spoke at the Republican convention in 2004, the one that renominated Bush.
Back to this business of testosterone (I’m afraid). Last week, Secretary Hegseth posted a video of himself, which he headed “The High-T Department of War.” (The Trump administration has been styling the Department of Defense the “Department of War.”)
In the video, Hegseth said that the Pentagon would be screening servicemen for their testosterone levels.
“What is a man?” is an ancient question, and so is “What makes a soldier?” We might explore these questions at length another time. For now, I would like to recall another Trump secretary of defense, very different from Hegseth.
He was Jim Mattis, who served from 2017 to 2019. Mattis is a retired Marine Corps general. He commanded our forces in three wars. Trump was attracted to Mattis’s nickname: “Mad Dog.” But the general had another nickname: the “Warrior Monk.” Mattis is a very thoughtful, sober type.
Hopelessly at odds with Trump, Mattis resigned. Trump then pronounced him “the world’s most overrated general.”
For a time, Trump had another former Marine Corps general at his side: John F. Kelly. Kelly was first the secretary of homeland security and then the president’s chief of staff. At almost the same time as Mattis, Kelly resigned, dismayed at what he had seen.
Kelly is at the center of one of my favorite stories about patriotism. Before the confirmation hearing on Kelly’s nomination to the DHS post, a young White House aide suggested to him that he wear an American-flag lapel pin.
Bear in mind, Kelly had commanded troops in one war, Iraq, and lost a son, Robert, in another, Afghanistan.
Kelly said to the young aide, “I am the American flag.” What need had he of a pin?
Over and over, Pete Hegseth has ousted senior and experienced officers from the military—men and women who know our traditions and ethos. The most recent to go was General Chris Donahue. There must be civilian control over the military—but let it be as wise and apolitical as possible.
A politically charged military is a threat to democratic health.
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Of the many ... 'problems'(?) of the current adminstration, this one is very disturbing. Hegseth so lacks ANY kind of maturity and wisdom as to leave him completely unqualified (which we knew, and several senators must answer for). The U.S. has been for 80 years the leader of the free world. Today, its military might is in the hands of a sophomoric frat boy and his boss, who thinks manliness consists in being abusive of the less powerful and weak, yet who cowers in front of despots, and is intimidated by anyone of actual character. The shame and disgrace are bad enough but the implications of these two being in charge of the United States military! I believe there are a lot of men and women of character serving and acting as a gyroscopic force to keep an even keel. But this is a very dangerous corruption of ideals going from the top.
Note also the tone and style of CENTCOMs press releases during this war with Iran. They read like they are written at Mar A Lago by an overexcited junior Trump staffer. Disturbingly unprofessional.