Trump’s Speech to Generals Was Incitement to Violence Against Americans

Military leaders’ quiet professionalism offers hope amid a maelstrom.

Senior military leaders look on at Marine Corps Base Quantico on September 30. October 1, 2025, 7:00 AM Comment icon View Comments ( )

Yesterday morning, U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth behaved reprehensibly. Their speeches before several hundred assembled military commanders and their senior noncommissioned officers (NCOs) were tantamount to incitement—a genuinely dangerous effort to suborn the military’s oath and condition them for using violence against their fellow Americans.

Their words should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that the civilian leadership intends to use the threat and actuality of

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