US defence secretary uses anti-trans slur
Pete Hegseth's appearance alongside Republican congressman Zach Nunn descends into slur-laden rhetoric as he sets out his vision for a purged Pentagon
Pete Hegseth cannot help himself. Appearing at the Iowa State Fair on Monday alongside Republican congressman Zach Nunn, who is fighting for re-election in November, the US defence secretary used an anti-trans slur while setting out what he clearly regards as a proud new direction for the American military.
The pair were at JR's Southpork Ranch for Operation Top Nunn, an annual fundraiser and tribute to serving troops, when Hegseth turned his remarks to the Trump administration's reshaping of the Department of Defense and its abandonment of diversity, equity and inclusion policy. Referencing the administration's rebranding of the Pentagon as the "Department of War", he told the crowd that the department does training, not what he called, in a slur, trans people.
He went on to frame this as some sort of return to first principles, talking of training, lethality, accountability, discipline and readiness as the bedrock of what he called the American warrior, and insisting the department's approach would be colourblind, gender-neutral and merit-based.
It is worth remembering the context Hegseth chose to walk into. This appearance had originally been scheduled for March and was postponed after two Iowa soldiers, Major Jeffrey O'Brien and Sergeant Declan Coady, were among six service members killed in an Iranian strike on a facility in Kuwait. That a defence secretary can return to a fairground stage in a state still grieving those losses and use the moment to take a swipe at trans service members and civilians tells you everything about where his priorities actually sit. Discipline and readiness, it turns out, come with an asterisk.
There is nothing accidental about language like this from a man who holds one of the most powerful offices in the US government. It is a deliberate signal, aimed as much at the base watching on as at anyone actually serving. The slur is the point. It plays well at a state fair fundraiser and it plays worse, much worse, for the trans troops and veterans who have served under his department and who now get to hear their own defence secretary joke about their existence from a stage built to honour service.
