Retired four-star Army General Barry McCaffrey didn’t mince words after watching Donald Trump’s speech at Quantico this week. What was supposed to be a rally to inspire military leadership turned into what McCaffrey called “one of the most bizarre, unsettling events” he’s ever seen.
“I’ve been doing this a long time,” McCaffrey said Wednesday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “That presentation at Quantico from the president and secretary of Defense was one of the most bizarre, unsettling events I’ve ever encountered.”
But that was just the beginning. McCaffrey, a decorated combat veteran and former head of U.S. Southern Command, absolutely torched Trump’s performance.
“The president sounded incoherent, exhausted, rabidly partisan, at times stupid, meandering, couldn’t hold a thought together,” he said flatly.
The comments came in response to Trump’s Tuesday speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico, where he and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a highly political address to senior military leaders. The president painted a picture of America under siege — not from foreign powers, but from within.
“We’re under invasion from within,” Trump said. “No different than a foreign enemy but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms.”
He floated the idea of using major U.S. cities — which he described as “dangerous” — as a “military training grounds,” invoking language that left many in the national security world stunned.
But the political edge of the speech didn’t stop there. Trump and Hegseth both used the moment to declare war on “wokeness” in the ranks.
“The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now at every level,” Hegseth said.
Trump followed suit: “The purpose of the American military is not to protect anyone’s feelings… It’s to protect our republic. We will not be politically correct when it comes to defending American freedom.”
It was culture-war rhetoric — and it didn’t sit well with many who’ve spent their careers in uniform.
Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a scathing statement calling the entire event “an expensive, dangerous dereliction of leadership.”
But what Reed found especially troubling was Hegseth’s not-so-subtle threat to military leaders who don’t align with his worldview.
“Even more troubling was Mr. Hegseth’s ultimatum to America’s senior officers: conform to his political worldview or step aside,” Reed said. “That demand is profoundly dangerous. It signals that partisan loyalty matters more than capability, judgment, or service to the Constitution.”
He warned that such messaging “undermines the principle of a professional, nonpartisan military,” and accused Hegseth of insulting service members who don’t fit into his narrow ideological mold.
“His words were divisive and corrosive to the force itself,” Reed added. “By dismissing and marginalizing servicemembers who do not fit his narrow vision, Hegseth… eroded the cohesion that makes our military strong.”
Still, not everyone was critical. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) praised the speech, especially Trump’s call to deploy National Guard troops in Democrat-run cities.
“It’s a win-win scenario,” Johnson said on CNN. “National Guardsmen are proud of that duty… I think we should do that in every major city run by Democrats.”
Watch the MSNBC segment below:
