Donald Trump live updates: Pete Hegseth tells top military leaders summoned to Quantico that our enemies will ‘FAFO’ – UK Times

Hegseth says he would not want his son “serving alongside troops who are out of shape or in combat unit with females who can’t meet the same combat arms physical standards as men or troops who are not fully proficient on their assigned weapons platform or task or under a leader who was the first, but not the best.”

Implicit in his remarks is an idea that decades of work to diversify the all-volunteer military was a fool’s errand because women, in his view, should not serve in combat.

Hegseth’s announcement that the military will require meeting “the highest male standard only” is intended to roll back a 2015 Pentagon rule change opening all combat roles to women without explicitly doing so.

The secretary announces a new “combat field test” and announces bi-annual fitness testing and insists on “real hard PT [physical training]”, not “hot yoga.”

He’s also complaining about soldiers with long hair and beards.

Hegseth is currently telling the military’s most senior leaders that many of their peers who are not white or male were promoted solely for their race or gender, seemingly ignoring the fact that those promoted to flag rank (generals or admirals) are selected by promotion boards made up of other generals or admirals.

The secretary is currently attacking the U.S. military’s culture, railing against DEI promotions and the “war on warriors,” making sure to get in a plug for his book in the process.

I hope that acronym speaks for itself…

Hegseth is at the podium and is underway, after being introduced by Dan Caine.

He tells his audience of generals and admirals that their only mission is “warfighting” and that they need to be strong to deliver peace.

You can watch a live feed from Quantico via The Independent’s YouTube channel below:

Here’s Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine arriving for this morning’s speech at Quantico, Virginia.

Here’s Kelly Rissman with a reminder of the Trump administration’s dire warning of the consequences for federal workers if their representatives on Capitol Hill fail to come to an agreement before the end of play today.

For the 21st time in the past 50 years, all federal agencies will run out of money at midnight on Tuesday – unless Congress acts to stop them.

The reason is that, while Republicans control both houses of Congress and the presidency, they still need 60 votes in the Senate to ram funding bills past a potential Democratic filibuster.

That means that as long as Democrats refuse to budge, Republicans must either offer them a compromise or abolish the filibuster. So far, neither has happened.

So what would a government shutdown actually mean for you and for the nation?

Here’s Io Dodds to answer that question.