‘If you don’t like what I’m saying, leave the room’: Trump tells military officers to quit if they dislike his address, says 'there goes your rank'

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (30 September) addressed hundreds of generals and admirals at Quantico, Virginia, in a rare gathering ordered by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Speaking to the room of senior officers, Trump opened with a joke about the unusually muted atmosphere.

“I’ve never walked into a room so silent,” he said, drawing laughter. He added that he had been told in advance, “Sir, you won’t hear a murmur in the room. I said we had to loosen these guys up a little bit.” Trump told the officers they were free to react as they wished, but with a warning. “And if you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future,” he said, again to laughs.

Hegseth issues stern warning

Before Trump, Hegseth addressed the assembled officers. He said those unhappy with his leadership should step aside. “If the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honourable thing and resign,” he told the gathering.

Hegseth outlined ten new directives for the military, including tougher fitness standards, and pledged to continue removing what he called “wokeness” from the ranks. He dismissed past leadership as “foolish and reckless political leaders” who created a “Department of Woke.”

Hegseth admitted that some officers may disagree with the new course. “We may lose good people,” he said, adding that others would remain because “they want to be warriors.”