Will Our Military Remember Their Oath?

“Remember your oath.”

That was what President Biden told the military not long ago. A reminder that service is about the Constitution, not about one man. About defending the people, not worshiping a leader.

And today, under Trump and his new “Secretary of War,” I watched the opposite. I watched the oath twisted into theater. I watched loyalty demanded, not to country, but to power. I watched our military paraded like props in a sermon of camouflage.

I’m from the Vulnerable States of America. Where the men entrusted with protecting us left us exposed, to enemies abroad, and to enemies within.

Where the president and his new “Secretary of War” stood on a stage today and showed the world how weak we have become. Where theater replaced strategy. Where propaganda replaced patriotism. Where the men entrusted with protecting us left us exposed to enemies abroad, and to enemies within.

Trump and Pete Hegseth didn’t strengthen our defenses. They tore them down and called it victory. They didn’t project strength. They broadcast chaos. They didn’t protect the people. They declared war on us.

I watched the military conference today, and I can’t remember the last time I felt so embarrassed for my country. Not just embarrassed, but heartsick. Because what I saw was not leadership. It was not defense. It was a sermon in camouflage. A dress rehearsal for authoritarianism. A propaganda play draped in our flag and stolen from our history books.

I come from a family of service. Relatives who wore the uniform, enlisted soldiers, officers, leaders higher up the chain of command. Each one proud of their service. Each one of us proud of them. Here in San Diego, I live surrounded by bases and families who live this sacrifice every day. My children have been raised to honor those who serve, to respect those who dedicate their lives to protecting this country, and to remember those who paid the ultimate price. That is patriotism. That is strength.

And watching today, I felt heartbreak. Looking out at those admirals and generals, I saw solemn faces. No applause. No smiles. No celebration. They stood still, stone-faced, while Trump and Hegseth tried to humiliate them. Because they know better. They are brilliant at what they do. They have given their lives, and their families’ lives, to service. And today, they were treated like props in a propaganda play. It was demeaning. It was demoralizing. It was wrong.

The first move of this spectacle was symbolic and chilling. A while back, they started calling the Department of Defense the Department of War in preparation for this day. As if tearing out one word could rewrite the soul of the institution. Defense is a promise to protect, to safeguard, to shield. War is a hunger to consume, to destroy, to sacrifice others for power. They renamed it the way arsonists rename fire as warmth.

This is how authoritarian regimes announce themselves: not with tanks in the street, but with words twisted until their meanings collapse. Hitler did not call his propaganda ministry the Ministry of Lies. He called it the Ministry of Enlightenment. Stalin did not call his show trials purges. He called them justice. Today, Trump and Hegseth did not call it militarization. They called it strength.

Then came the theater. Hegseth strutted the stage like a preacher at a revival tent, delivering not policy but performance. He invoked George Washington, hoping the founder’s honor might rub off on him. But this was not Washington. This was Mussolini’s strut. This was Franco’s purge. This was Hitler demanding loyalty not to a Constitution, but to himself. It was the same playbook, dressed in American accents.

He told nearly 800 generals and admirals that if they disagreed with him, they should resign. That is not leadership. That is a loyalty oath. Franco demanded the same of Spain’s officers. Stalin humiliated generals in public show trials. Mussolini expelled dissenters and called it renewal. Weak men demand obedience because they cannot inspire respect.

And then came the humiliation. He mocked his own officers as “fat generals.” He rolled out grooming requirements, waistline measurements, fitness tests, as if readiness could be measured in inches. As if courage and expertise could be seen in a belt size. This was not discipline. It was humiliation as control. Hitler exalted the perfect Aryan body. Mussolini glorified youth and muscle. Franco demanded his “new Spain” be pure in body as well as mind. Weak men always cling to appearance because they cannot inspire through character.

He moved seamlessly from body shaming to excluding women. He demanded a return to the “highest male standard,” pretending “gender-neutral” is fairness when it is really exclusion. He said he would not want his son serving alongside women who could not measure up in the gym. He cloaked misogyny in the language of protection. But everyone knew what he meant: erase women. Pretend their strengths do not count.

The irony is almost too rich. There is video of Hegseth himself struggling to do pull-ups, a performance my daughters could outdo without breaking a sweat. Yet he dares to demean women who have passed rigorous tests, who have proven themselves in combat, who have given more than he ever has. It is not about fitness. It is about fear. Insecure men lash out at women because women see through them, call them out, and refuse to excuse their cruelty.

He sneered at what he called “individual soup,” mocking expressions of identity, mocking difference itself. As if individuality is weakness. As if uniqueness is something to be stamped out. He wants everyone to look the same, march the same, think the same. That is not unity. That is conformity. And conformity has always been the obsession of tyrants. Nazi Germany demanded blond hair and blue eyes. Mussolini paraded his Blackshirts as the model of order. Franco declared a “pure Spain.” Authoritarianism always begins with a look.

And then came the bravado. He declared, “Our enemies get a vote.” It is an old saying sometimes used in the military, meant to remind commanders that even the best plans can be disrupted by an adversary’s actions. But Hegseth did not use it that way. He threw it out like a middle school taunt, stripped of its meaning, dressed up as wisdom. He bragged that America has “the most lethal military, full stop.” Lethal? Does that mean shooting random boats in the Caribbean, killing people without trial? Does that mean war crimes as policy? This was not maturity. This was a teenage boy trying to impress his peers, except his stage was the Pentagon, and his peers were the world’s most powerful generals.

He blamed past administrations for problems he never named, a classic authoritarian tactic: invent failures, then cast yourself as the savior. He raged against “wokeness,” declaring the Pentagon had lost its way. But the things he listed as negatives were accountability, inclusivity, professionalism, the very things that make a military stronger. He was not rejecting weakness. He was rejecting progress.

And when his words faltered, he reached for the Bible. He invoked the Golden Rule. He invoked Jesus. Not to call for compassion, but to sanctify exclusion. To weaponize scripture in defense of cruelty. This is the oldest trick of Christian nationalism: hollow out the meaning of love, bless discrimination, and call it holy. Hitler quoted Luther. Mussolini paraded priests through his rallies. Franco baptized his brutality as holy war. Today, Pete Hegseth twisted the Golden Rule into a license for hate.

And then came Trump’s own words, chilling, reckless, and unconscionable:

“They’re very unsafe places, and we’re going to straighten them out one by one.”

“And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within.”

“I told [referring to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth], we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, National Guard, but our military, because we’re going into Chicago very soon. That’s a big city with an incompetent governor.”

This is not politics. This is dictatorship. Mussolini unleashed his Blackshirts on Italian streets. Franco’s troops patrolled Spanish cities. Hitler turned the Wehrmacht against his own people. Trump is threatening the same here, on American soil.

And the world was listening. China. Russia. Iran. North Korea. Even India pulled closer to their orbit. They all saw instability. They saw a military consumed with internal culture wars instead of strategy. They saw leaders alienating allies and pushing adversaries together. They saw weakness dressed up as swagger. Nothing emboldens enemies more than watching America divided against itself.

And extremists here at home were listening too. Radicalized young men who already worship Trump, who already feel entitled to violence, heard validation. They heard license. They heard that women, trans people, immigrants, scientists, all are enemies. They heard that cruelty is courage. And we wonder why the face of mass shootings in this country is so consistent: young, white, male, steeped in grievance. Trump and Hegseth are not bystanders. They are the catalysts. They are the ones handing out permission slips for hate.

This was not defense. It was exposure.

They have left us vulnerable to attack abroad and to collapse within. They are radicalizing youth, empowering extremists, alienating allies, and emboldening enemies. They are gambling with our future to cling to their own power.

But here is what they cannot erase. They cannot erase history. We have seen this play before. Hitler. Mussolini. Franco. Pinochet. Every dictatorship begins this way, with uniforms and loyalty oaths, with the erasure of women from places of power and leadership, with the policing of their own people, with the promise of purity. Every single one. And every one ends the same way: in blood, in collapse, in ruin.

They want us to forget that. They want us to believe authoritarianism is safety. But we know better. We have lived the proof that democracy is stronger, that compassion is safer, that inclusion is more powerful than cruelty.

And they cannot erase us. We see it. We name it. We refuse it.

Our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents did not fight in World War II against fascists for us to bow down to one now. Our most powerful tool is our voice, which means we need to be telling everybody what is happening right now. We need to get creative, join local organizations, and see what they are doing. We need to share the work of others who are fighting for this. We need to band together and be louder than the propaganda.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather