{"id":263,"date":"2026-05-23T15:37:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T15:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=263"},"modified":"2026-05-23T15:37:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T15:37:06","slug":"pete-hegseth-tears-into-dei-woke-military-in-fiery-west-point-graduation-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=263","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth tears into DEI, ‘woke military’ in fiery West Point graduation speech"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth tore into DEI and a \u201cwoke military\u201d in a fiery speech to graduating cadets at West Point Saturday.<\/p>\n

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With President Trump considering renewed strikes against Iran, Hegseth directed his toughest talk toward military leaders who backed diversity programs he said were sapping the armed forces of strength.<\/p>\n

Opening his remarks on a rainy day at the storied military academy overlooking the Hudson River, Hegseth ripped \u201cwoke and weak leaders trying to make West Point look like woke Princeton, which happens to be my long lost and lost alma mater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hegseth, who was admitted to the military academy but picked the Ivy League school where he joined the Reserve Officers\u2019 Training Corps instead, said prior leaders \u201cembraced the DEI craze\u201d and endangered soldiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me be perfectly clear, you are not an \u2018army of one\u2019, and you are certainly not an army of woke. You are an American army, an army of warriors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking at an institution that trained both Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, Hegseth also took a shot at woke efforts to scrub military bases and monuments of confederates generals who led the rebellion against the Union.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou\u2019ve seen standards lowered, you\u2019ve seen an obsession with race and gender, you\u2019ve seen the watering down of discipline, codes weakened, and traditions tossed aside in the name of political correctness,\u201d he fumed.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Then he railed against \u201cstatues taken down, paintings placed in the basement. I\u2019m here to tell you the slow slide here at West Point, and across the United States Army, is over,\u201d Hegseth promised.<\/p>\n

He spoke of the phrase \u201cour diversity is our strength,\u201d which the secretary called \u201cthe single dumbest phrase in military history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDiversity is not our strength. Unity is our strength,\u201d he said, before touting the Army meeting its recruiting goals.<\/p>\n

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth tore into DEI and a \u201cwoke military\u201d in a fiery speech to graduating cadets at West Point Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"yoast_head":"\nPete Hegseth tears into DEI, 'woke military' in fiery West Point graduation speech - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=263\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pete Hegseth tears into DEI, 'woke military' in fiery West Point graduation speech - 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