War Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed comments from an ex-General who implicitly compared a planned meeting of top military brass in Virginia next week to a Nazi loyalty test.
Ben Hodges, formerly Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe, suggested in a post on X that the upcoming military meeting Quantico, Virginia, is comparable to when generals in Weimar Germany were summoned in order to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler over their constitution.
“July 1935 German generals were called to a surprise assembly in Berlin and informed that their previous oath to the Weimar constitution was void and that they would be required to swear a personal oath to the Führer,” Hodges said in his post. “Most generals took the new oath to keep their positions.”
Hegseth simply quote-replied with a short dismissive comment mocking the overwrought message from Hodges: “Cool story, General.”
Cool story, General https://t.co/vizANjRgyZ
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) September 26, 2025
President Donald Trump this week gave a rather muted characterization of the meeting, saying in the Oval Office Thursday that he thinks “it’s great when generals and top people want to come to the United States to be with our now-Secretary of War.” Vice President JD Vance said that such a meeting shouldn’t be characterized as unusual, and blasted mainstream media for making the meeting “into such a big story.”
Although Hegseth and others have mocked hyperbolic reactions to the announcement of the meeting, there has so far not been a detailed explanation of the meeting’s purpose. As a result, in both media and among partisans online, the unusual order bringing generals and admirals from across the world for an undisclosed purpose continues to fuel wild speculation.
The Trump administration is no stranger to erroneous Nazi comparisons from left-wing politicians and media outlets. Such rhetoric has been blamed by critics for the rise in left-wing political violence, particularly the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the recent Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office shooting.
The Pentagon deferred to Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell’s initial statement on the meeting.
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