Asian American lawmakers rip Hegseth’s ‘woke’ military crackdown

Asian American lawmakers, including combat veteran Tammy Duckworth, criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his controversial address to hundreds of military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Tuesday, where he outlined new directives aimed at eliminating “woke” policies and imposing stricter physical fitness standards.

Catch up: Hegseth summoned senior commanders from around the country for speeches he and President Donald Trump delivered that disregarded traditional boundaries separating the armed forces from partisan politics. Trump told the assembled officers they could leave if they disliked his remarks, though he warned, “there goes your rank, there goes your future.”

Meanwhile, Hegseth blamed “foolish and reckless politicians” for allowing the military to stray from its primary focus and vowed to fix what he called “decades of decay” in the force. He announced 11 new directives, including mandating “the highest male standard” for all combat roles, criticizing “fat troops” and overweight senior officers at the Pentagon, and declaring “politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement” are finished.

“Least-qualified”: Sen. Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who lost both legs in Iraq and now serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was quick to slam the gathering. In an interview with NPR, the outspoken Hegseth critic labeled him “the least-qualified secretary of defense in history” and argued the event wasted millions of taxpayer dollars by flying all the officers when they should have been preparing for battle. She further challenged Hegseth’s gender policies, calling it “ironic that the least-qualified person for his job is questioning the qualifications of women who actually have met the standards for their jobs” and stressing that his proposal ignores that male fitness standards vary by age.

Duckworth also criticized the defense secretary’s attacks on diversity initiatives, warning they would harm military readiness by eliminating troops who speak multiple languages and can work effectively with local populations worldwide. When asked about Hegseth’s weight-focused remarks, she shot back: “If Pete Hegseth is worried about the weight and fitness of our troops, maybe he should also apply them to the commander in chief.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who previously served as an Air Force attorney and currently serves as House Democratic Caucus vice chair, criticized Trump’s calls for deploying active-duty military in U.S. cities as unlawful. “Our military is not to be used for domestic law enforcement,” he said at a briefing Wednesday, noting that the president and Hegseth were expecting “rousing applause and standing ovations” from the attending generals but were ultimately met with silence.

Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) also weighed in on social media, writing, “Spending millions of dollars to fly generals/admirals from around the world to listen to Hegseth’s narcissistic rant the day before service members could get their paychecks withheld is the opposite of leadership.”

Why this matters: The lawmakers’ sharp criticism underscores growing unease over how the Trump administration handles civilian oversight of armed forces and the injection of politics into military affairs. The event itself steered away from longstanding military traditions of remaining above partisan politics, with senior officers indeed sitting in silence through both addresses. Beyond the spectacle, Hegseth’s policies targeting diversity programs have sparked concerns that qualified service members, including the many Asian Americans serving across all ranks, may find themselves sidelined or devalued. For a community with deep ties to military service, the question now is whether the Pentagon’s new direction leaves room for the contributions of those who do not fit Hegseth’s preferred mold.