Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth summoned the top military command to Quantico, Virginia for a big meet yesterday. In front of hundreds of military brass he laid out plan for the new military, essentially one that goes back to the pre-49 Department of War. Getting rid of not only the name Department of Defense and changing it to Department of War but essentially upping the standards for people in the military. That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing but it’s specifically targeting women, African-American men and of course anyone identifying as something other than cis-gender.
The goal of making the military a whiter and bro-ier place is quite clear. The former Fox News host attacked the adage “diversity is our strength,” calling it an “insane fallacy.”
“[A] generation of generals and admirals were told that they must parrot the insane fallacy that, quote our diversity is our strength. Of course we know our unity is our strength. They had to put out dizzying DEI and Lgbtqi+ statements. They were told females and males are the same thing. Or that males who think they’re females is totally normal.”
He plans to also gut the protections that members of the Armed Forces have against hazing and sexual harassment, saying that there would no longer be need to be “walking on eggshells.” Saying in a memo that, “Department policy defining conduct by Service members that constitutes hazing, bullying, and harassment is overly broad, jeopardizing combat readiness, mission accomplishment, and trust in the organization…”
In the speech Tuesday he said that there would be “No more frivolous complaints, no more anonymous complaints, no more repeat complaints, no more smearing reputations.”
Hegseth has his own past with covering up allegations of sexual assault, paying the woman $50,000 according to the AP. He was also accused of being abusive to his ex-wife.
11488 Murderers and the War from Within
While Secretary Hegseth’s speech was a lame attempt to do a George C Scott “Patton” in front of the huge American flag, President Trump’s was a tired rambling mess that slid in and out of reality. The theme, if there was one, was “the war from within.”
To an uncomfortably silent room Trump tried to hit the MAGA crowd favorites, attacks on Biden, on Portland and immigrants. They did not play well to a room that was just told by Secretary Hegseth that there would be no more politics or partisan activity.
About 34 minutes into Trump’s 73 minute snore he began his discussion on the invasion.
“We’re under invasion from within, no different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms, at least when they’re wearing a uniform. You can take them out. These people don’t have uniforms, but we are under invasion from within and we’re stopping it very quickly. After spending trillions of dollars defending the borders of foreign countries.
With your help, we’re defending the borders of our country. From now we’re not going to let this happen. Biden let people come in from prisons, mental institutions, drug dealers, murderers. You know, we had 11,488 murderers allowed into our country by this guy who had no clue. He had no clue.
Much has been written already about this speech ignoring the Posse Comitatus Act, and a ruling from a judge saying that sending troops to Los Angeles earlier this year violated the law… and the general terrifying fascism of it all. But I’d like to focus on the number: 11488.
When ever Trump gives a speech I immediately start looking at his numbers, they’re usually wholly made up or if he’s reading from his teleprompter, like in this case - they come from some right wing think tank. Except this time I cannot find 11488 anywhere. The number he usually cites when he’s talking about the ‘illegal’ immigrant “murderers” that crossed into the United States under Biden is 13,099. That number comes from a letter that ICE released to a Republican Congressman in September 2024 detailing the number of immigrants on the non-detained docket. In a response to Factcheck.org the Department of Homeland Security said that it was misinterpreted. “The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before [the Biden] Administration.”
So the 13,099 number not connected to Biden but everyone from Reagan on - including the first Trump admin. But Trump didn’t say 13,099 this time - he said 11488. Where does that number come from?
Well it doesn’t come from the Department of Homeland Security or any right wing think tank. It’s a dog whistle. 1488 is a racist code, to quote the Southern Poverty Law Center:
“14/88: Common white supremacist code. 14 stands for the “14 words” slogan coined by David Lane, who is serving a 190-year sentence for his part in the assassination of a Jewish talk show host: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” 88 means “Heil Hitler,” as H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.
Normally I wouldn’t be so certain that it wasnt just a gaffe from Trump - but you can see in the video above he is on script in this moment, reading off the teleprompter. Reading from a speech likely written by white nationalist Stephen Miller who is currently serving as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and an advisor to Homeland Security.
This isn’t the first time the administration has blown that particular dog whistle either. The DHS social media is flooded with posts talking paraphrasing David Lane’s 14 words. The tweet below from July also “coincidentally” has 14 words in it.
In an excellent write up of this tweet by Prem Thakker for Zeteo, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin was quoted as saying, “This administration is unapologetically proud of American history and American heritage. Get used to it.”
Watch the trailer!
More reading:
Kennedy’s 1488 tweet https://globalextremism.org/post/robert-f-kennedy-tweet-mobilizes-neo-nazis/
