Hegseth Pronounces ‘Weakness’ and ‘Wokeness’ Dead in US Military

CAMDEN, Ark.—Secretary of War Pete Hegseth toured key weapons manufacturing facilities on Friday and delivered a message of U.S. military “dominance” as a military operation against Iran appears to grow increasingly likely.

“We’re sending a clear, sustained demand signal to American industry: We want the best and we need it yesterday,” Hegseth told about 1,500 employees of L3Harris, a major American technology and defense company that builds weapons.

“The era of weakness and the era of wokeness is over,” Hegseth said to applause.

Hegseth’s trip to southern Arkansas marks the eighth and final stop on the secretary’s Arsenal of Freedom Tour aimed at bolstering America’s military industrial base.

“The technology that you build for our missiles, interceptors, and hypersonic weapons is what allows the War Department to achieve peace through strength,” Hegseth said. “And that mission comes with a non-negotiable mandate from the War Department, straight from the Resolute Desk and President [Donald] Trump: Build more and build faster.”

Hegseth stressed the need to cut red tape that blocks American ingenuity, telling the crowd, “Our job is to conduct an ongoing and never-ending war of attrition against the Pentagon bureaucracy so that we can unleash you, and so that you can unleash our warfighters.”

Hegseth also toured a General Dynamics weapons manufacturing facility on Friday, where he swore in 40 new military recruits, telling them to give America’s enemies “hell.”

Since Trump returned to the White House just over a year ago, Hegseth said America’s enemies, including Iran, have learned the “hard lesson” that “if you challenge the United States of America, you will pay a high price.”

Despite the U.S. bombing of three of Iran’s key nuclear sites in June, Trump has claimed the Iranian regime is seeking to rebuild its nuclear program. Iran has denied it is seeking a nuclear weapon, saying its enrichment of uranium is for civilian use, Reuters reported.

Trump has repeatedly stated Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and has pledged to prevent it from building one. The U.S. and Iran have already held three rounds of nuclear negotiations, with the most recent taking place on Thursday, but no deal has been reached.

A large build-up of U.S. military power in the Middle East and news Friday that the U.S. Embassy in Israel is encouraging non-emergency personnel to leave the country indicate a U.S. attack on Iran may be imminent in the coming days.

“We’re negotiating right now, but they’re not getting to the right answer,” Trump told the press Friday when asked about nuclear negotiations with Iran, adding, “We’re not going to see what’s happened for 47 years keep going.”