{"id":26575,"date":"2026-05-26T07:46:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=26575"},"modified":"2026-05-26T07:46:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:46:24","slug":"what-began-as-a-traditional-graduation-ceremony-quickly-turned-political-after-pete-hegseth-delivered-a-fiery-speech-attacking-dei-policies-and-what-he-called-a-woke-military-during","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=26575","title":{"rendered":"What began as a traditional graduation ceremony quickly turned political after Pete Hegseth delivered a fiery speech attacking DEI policies and what he called a \u201cwoke military\u201d during his address to West Point cadets. But the moment now exploding across social media came when Hegseth declared that \u201cdiversity is not our strength, unity is\u201d \u2014 a line that instantly divided viewers online. Supporters praised the speech as a call for discipline and military focus, while critics accused him of turning a military milestone into a political battleground."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/ins>Secretary of\u00a0War Pete Hegseth\u00a0tore into leaders who\u2019ve tried to turn the military into \u201cwoke Princeton\u201d and stained the American spirit, ripping DEI in a fiery speech to graduating cadets at West Point Saturday.<\/p>\n

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

Opening his remarks on a rainy day at the storied military academy overlooking the Hudson River, the secretary slammed the woke agenda.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\"Secretary6<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>
\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 Pete Hegseth said during his speech at West Point.Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"Many6<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth slammed \u201cwoke military\u201d and DEI at West Point graduation.Department of War<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

\u201cWe saw woke and weak leaders trying to make West Point look like woke Princeton, which happens to be my long lost and lost alma mater,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tried to introduce diversity and inclusion studies. They hire professors who advocated for anti-American ideologies right here in these halls, but no more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hegseth, who was admitted to the military academy but picked the Ivy League\u00a0school where he joined\u00a0the Reserve Officers\u2019 Training Corps instead, said prior leaders \u201cembraced the DEI\u00a0craze\u201d and endangered soldiers.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\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\u00a0scrub military bases\u00a0and monuments of confederates generals who led the rebellion against the Union.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve seen standards lowered, you\u2019ve seen an obsession\u00a0with race and gender,\u00a0you\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
\"Secretary6<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>
Hegseth called the phrase \u201cour diversity is our strength,\u201d \u201cthe single dumbest phrase in military history.\u201dMatthew McDermott for NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"A6<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>
Hegseth passes diplomas to graduating cadets during the United States Military Academy commencement ceremony at the U.S. Military Academy on May 23, 2026.Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"A6<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>
Hegseth declared \u2018diversity is not our strength\u2019 and vowed to end the \u2018slow slide\u2019 of political correctness at West Point and across the Army.Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/span>Then he railed against \u201cstatues taken down, paintings placed in the basement. I\u2019m here to tell you the slow slide\u00a0here at West Point, and across the United States Army, is over,\u201d Hegseth promised.He spoke of the phrase \u201cour diversity is our strength,\u201d which the secretary called \u201cthe single dumbest phrase in military history.\u201d\u201cDiversity is not our strength. Unity is our strength,\u201d he said, before touting the Army meeting its recruiting goals. <\/p>\n

He invoked President Trump early in his speech while issuing a reprieve for all cadets who committed \u201cminor infractions or violations.\u201d He gave them \u201cas President Trump might say, \u2018A complete and total pardon,\u2019\u201d jokingly performing his best impression of the commander in chief.<\/p>\n

When his speech concluded, the cadet president presented Hegseth with a sword.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Secretary of\u00a0War Pete Hegseth\u00a0tore into leaders who\u2019ve tried to turn the military into \u201cwoke Princeton\u201d and stained the American spirit, ripping DEI in a fiery speech to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26577,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26575\/revisions\/26577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}