Trump says US cities should be ‘training grounds for our military’ in incendiary speech

President gave address after defense chief Pete Hegseth decried racial and gender diversity efforts in the military

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At an address of assembled generals and admirals, Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, outlined changes to military policy and philosophy in a set of 10 directives meant to change organizational culture around fitness, race and gender, describing the previous state of military affairs as the woke department."

Donald Trump followed Hegseth's call to embrace the virtues of lethality as a doctrine with a suggestion buried in an hour-long campaign-style speech that the gathering of officers and senior enlisted advisers should consider targeting US cities and civilian populations as a training exercise.