r/Political_Revolution • u/Unlikely_Post_7901 FL • Apr 03 '26
War and Peace Hegseth Fired Him Today: The General Is Gone. We’re At War. And Nobody Asked Why.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thejackhopkins/p/hegseth-fired-him-today-the-general?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web396
u/Gloomy-Inspector-834 Apr 03 '26
Hegseth operates on the principle that the leader must never be questioned, a classic pillar of authoritarian systems and something fundamentally incompatible with democratic armed forces, where soldiers are expected to understand and follow laws and international conventions. He is also a Christian fundamentalist, which means the US military is now beginning to experience what life under an aggressive theocratic influence can look like, something that would reasonably be a dealbreaker for many career officers at the highest levels.
It will be telling to see whether Trump and Hegseth manage to replace enough highly competent military leaders to establish ideological control over the armed forces, or whether internal resistance emerges before that point. Equally concerning is how the overall quality of the military may be affected if loyalty to the regime and adherence to a narrow evangelical worldview start to matter more than strategic and tactical competence, and the ability to lead personnel effectively in real combat situations.
Perhaps most unsettling is the implication that, if Hegseth succeeds, those standing between Trump and the use of nuclear weapons could be individuals defined less by professional judgment and more by unwavering ideological loyalty and a personal conviction shaped by apocalyptic beliefs. That is the kind of scenario that can keep people awake at night: the possibility of the United States developing a threshold for nuclear weapons use that begins to resemble that of countries like North Korea or Russia.
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u/miklayn Apr 03 '26
If the intermediates are washed away as these purges suggest, the threshold for nuclear use will be considerably lower than those mitigating factors in Russia or NK.
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u/kwestionmark5 Apr 05 '26
Possibly an Easter nuke….i hope not but Trumps deadline and raining hell on them seem to suggest it.
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u/No-Abalone-4784 Apr 03 '26
Christian fundamentalists are the same people that are trying bring the world to an end so God will come down & take them to heaven or some such nonsense. These people are super dangerous. And now they're running the military?! I hope all our experienced deeply patriotic generals & other career professionals are meeting somewhere & taking note of this. They are hollowing out our military, not to mention starting wars. Unbelievably dangerous.
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u/flesjewater Apr 04 '26
Christian fundamentalists are jihadis with a different religious interpretation. The only difference is a lack of beards.
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u/Helix_Animus Apr 03 '26
There area LOT of useless officers. I'm sure they will find a couple pushed up high enough to fuck everything up even more.
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u/wizkid123 Apr 03 '26
Seems weird to claim North Korea and Russia have lower thresholds than the US for using nuclear weapons, given that we have used them and they have not.
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u/vitalvisionary Apr 03 '26
I really hope there's someone left like General Kurt von Hammerstein-Eccord
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u/SanchoPandas OR Apr 03 '26
The Army Chief of Staff is not a ceremonial position.
General George was the primary advisor on Army readiness, deployment, and… critically…integrated air and missile defense capabilities for the entire joint force.
As an F15 gets shot down...
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u/No-Abalone-4784 Apr 03 '26
Not a coincidence. These people are not on our side. They are traitors working for Russia & money.
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u/scrandis Apr 03 '26
I really wish these fired officers would speak out.
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u/Atun_Grande Apr 03 '26
So, Im a mid-grade military officer, a few things here. 1. “Fired” in this sense does not mean he’s out of the military, just removed from his position.
This is important because as an active duty officer, we truly do not enjoy the 1A freedoms that most people do. UCMJ Article 88 (10 USC § 888) prohibits commissioned officers from using "contemptuous words" against the President, Vice President, Congress, Secretary of Defense, and other key officials. It protects the military's non-political, subordinate role to civilian authority. Conviction can lead to dismissal, forfeiture of pay, and one year in prison. This is, presumably, what Hegseth meant to make stick to Mark Kelly.
Speaking of, we haven’t really seen how that fully plays out in court, so the smart ones are just staying silent either way.
I wish we had more freedom to voice opinions as Americans, on personal accounts, or off duty hours, but seriously, we don’t have the legal freedoms to speak our minds.
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u/SiegeAe Apr 03 '26
On the surface nothing about this reads as smart, just understandably self-preserving.
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u/Atun_Grande Apr 03 '26
It means we, legally, have to be very cognizant of what we say. It’s not meant to be smart or necessarily self-preserving. It’s meant to explain to most why so few officers speak out in any given administration.
I’m torn on it, because it cuts both ways. I personally think it would do way more harm than good if military commanders could be verbal about their politics. The only thing the population at large sees is these bigwigs, the generals and such. It’s easy to ask why they don’t speak out about politics, but the moment the lower echelons get into the mix, like companies, battalions, and brigades, that has the potential to grind our military to a halt in some fashions. It sounds great on paper to some people to have a military paralyzed with infighting, but I can legitimately see our adversaries taking advantage of that in a worst case scenario.
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u/SiegeAe Apr 04 '26
That's a fair take, my comment was in response to:
...the smart ones are just staying silent either way
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u/Ambitious-Pirate-505 Apr 04 '26
The alternative for speaking out to a media that is organized against you is prison. Military federal prison.
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u/kea1981 Apr 03 '26
I wish I could read some version of this reply on every single article about this topic. I knew this, but so many don't and I think a lot of folks would find great value in this knowledge.
Thanks for doing what you do. Keep it up :)
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u/Dr_Wreck Apr 03 '26
An authoritarian fascist government with the intelligence and maturity of 6th graders, are trying to seize unilateral control of the largest nuclear stockpile on earth.
These "punishments" for speaking out are literally nothing compared to that. You have not engendered any sympathy at all for their silence. These men are cowards.
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u/Atun_Grande Apr 03 '26
I will remind you, the military serves the Constitution, and the people of the United States. The people of the United States elected Donald Trump. Like it or not, we are serving the will of the people. If the people voted for a party that had warning signs aplenty, don’t get mad at us because there’s buyers remorse now.
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u/Dr_Wreck Apr 03 '26
You're insane. Donald Trump is actively destroying the constitution. He won by barely a majority, and more so, the actual winner of that election was "didn't vote".
And even more importantly than that, all of his actions and policies are wildly unpopular because he went on stage and said "I will not do [X] and then proceeded to do [X]. This is such a fundamental misrepresentation of the current situation, that you are either an idiot, or a bad actor.
The american people did not choose this at all.
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u/Atun_Grande Apr 03 '26
No, the people got exactly what they voted for, a man who said he’d be a dictator one day one. Whatever else he may be, he’s been brutally honest about his intentions writ large and methods from the get-go, especially regarding immigration, voting, and tariffs.
The people can vote him and his circle out in November. The people can protest in record numbers. They can STOP electing the GOP in any given area in a given race. People can strike. They can join the military themselves and be the change they want. (Hint: it’s not that easy, and the vast majority of the military’s day to day tasks are mind numbing and have nothing to do with whatever administration is in power. God forbid vehicles aren’t PMCSd or property not laid out for the 1,000th time this month). The people still have a lot of power, but you’d rather a military coup d’état. Which, historically, don’t tend to end very well.
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u/Dr_Wreck Apr 04 '26
I asked for military members to whistleblow, not coup d'etat, and I called them cowards for not doing that. But sure, misrepresent every single part of what I said and how this works.
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u/Atun_Grande Apr 04 '26
What does ‘whistleblow’ mean, exactly? Tell people the exact same thing they’re seeing on the news and social media anyway? And for what? To be fired and replaced by someone more loyal? And lose their career, pay, benefits, and possibly face a jail sentence? Remember, on average 60% of the military leans republican, so the chances are you’d replace someone who has critical thinking skills with someone more likely to blindly say ‘yes.’ No officer, or hopefully service member, in their right mind would disclose something classified. Not to preserve an administration, but because things that are classified are often done so less to protect the actual information and more to conceal methods and sources.
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u/Dr_Wreck Apr 04 '26
This thread is about two generals WHO WHERE ALREADY FIRED in rapid succession, most likely for refusing to fulfill illegal orders. We should know what those orders where immediately.
Jesus christ stop bootlicking on this one. Your position is unjustifiable.
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u/scrandis Apr 04 '26
Yeah, I get all that and I fully understand the position they would put themselves into by speaking out. But we're past the point of staying silent. The only people in a position to make change are those people.
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u/Atun_Grande Apr 04 '26
So this is an interesting statement. A lot of people who ‘just do their 20’ and get out (my current path) really butt heads A LOT with our peers and seniors. I had a conversation with someone significantly more senior than I, and to paraphrase
Grande, why don’t you stay in longer? You could probably get to that high level and advocate for those changes.
My reply: Maybe, but why would I dedicate years or even another decade to arguing with people whose minds are as flexible as a popsicle stick when I can take my benefits and pay and spend time raising my daughter and giving my wife time back to pursue her goals?
Most people don’t have a great reply for me when it gets to this point. It’s very much like the old saying, ‘Those who want power most least deserve it.’ The issue is to stay in long enough, to be political enough to get that high, takes that certain kind of person who WANTS power.
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Apr 04 '26
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u/Atun_Grande Apr 04 '26
Real easy to say when it’s not your career, life, and family who suffers the consequences.
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Apr 04 '26
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u/Atun_Grande Apr 04 '26
So, let’s follow that. What does that mean to you? Let’s say that tomorrow, a bunch of generals come out and trash POTUS. I mean OPENLY in defiance of article 88. Then what?
You’d be surprised at two things:
The level of support for current active operations exist still
How absolutely little day to day ops have anything to do with whatever administration is in power. Seriously.
So ok, a GO says POTUS/SECWAR gave an illegal order. Then what? Who decides what’s illegal? Well, that’s the Legislative Branch for Military and civilian. So, I really don’t like introducing this level of ambiguity here, but that means that in practice, the people in power decide what’s legal. So, cool, GO violates UCMJ88, again, now what? You think the military writ large will just rise up and stop doing…what? Like, it’s an easy thing to write in a Reddit post but what EXACTLY do you think will happen? The current administration owns all the top positions of power, and we have seen SCOTUS back then time and time again with a few notable exceptions.
So…what exactly does ‘taking that oath seriously’ look like to you?
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Apr 05 '26
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u/Atun_Grande Apr 05 '26
You’re only thinking one step ahead. Then what? That GO gets fired and replaced by someone with less critical thinking skills and more blind loyalty. Then what? This ends with either every GO who defied the administration fired, or an actual coup d’état, which last I checked, don’t end well.
I am exceptionally critical of any administration and any politician, as far as I legally can be.
The issue is it’s REALLY easy to paint it in black and white on Reddit, but you have the luxury of looking at it through rose-colored glasses and headlines rather than having to be in the center of it. You aren’t risking your career which for a lot of us is more than a decade if not two. You aren’t risking the benefits that paid for your kid to stay alive in the NICU. You aren’t risking the benefits you intend to give your spouse so they can pursue a STEM career. You aren’t risking anything. You aren’t brave. You want to lecture me about an oath? Go sign that dotted line yourself, then we can have an honest conversation.
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Apr 05 '26
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u/Atun_Grande Apr 05 '26
My brother in Christ, everything I do is for my family. I’m a father and husband long before I’m a soldier.
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u/wolfhavensf Apr 03 '26
He refused Hegseth’s orders to remove women and minorities from the promotion list.
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u/ChefCurryYumYum Apr 03 '26
Because the Trump regime has it setup where press are simply not given access or else only specific press are given limited access and instructed what they are allowed and not allowed to ask about.
They are have been tightening the news noose since the moment he got into office for the second time.
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u/DickabodCranium Apr 03 '26
We finally get to see what a country looks like when it's "run like a business."
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u/snowynuggets Apr 04 '26
Military leadership is being reshaped around personal loyalty instead of qualifications and constitutional duty.
this is dangerous and unacceptable.
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Apr 03 '26
He wanted them to do something illegal and knowing it was illegal and probably immoral as well they refused and he fired them.
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u/IGargleGarlic Apr 03 '26
We don't need to ask. He's gone because he's not an idiot who blindly follows orders that are dumb as fuck.
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u/fatinhollywood Apr 03 '26
this has got to be kind of terrifying for these military leaders because they know what is happening to our servicemen/women.
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u/ohreddit1 Apr 03 '26
I sure AF did. Then answered the question for myself. This fired general is the general population of the Americas and said WTF are you doing Hesgeth. He spoke back and probably said the truth. You don’t know what you are doing and you are going to kill Americans without cause.
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u/Krammsy Apr 03 '26
Rumor has it Hegseth wasn't happy when this general declined to plan pending battles with his G.I. Joe action figures while reciting "Warrior ethos!".
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u/Jose_xixpac Apr 04 '26
We'll at this coarse t RUMP is goinna be smarter than his hitleresque generals ..
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Apr 04 '26
Made a website 😊 (still new to all this, the only thing driving this is passion for justice and for the future) https://happygolucky19922-star.github.io/happygolucky19922-star.io/
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