A Festival of Fat Shaming in Political News This Week
“The Hegseth hypocrisy: Fat-shaming top generals in land of McDonald Trump.” That headline delivers the essence of fat shaming in the week’s political news. It started with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and quickly spread to detractors of the administration. Hegseth explained that he can’t stand the sight of fat people in the military:
“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon leading commands around the country and the world.
“It’s a bad look. It is bad, and it’s not who we are.”
Looks, Performance, and Respect
One can read Hegseth’s performance selectively and find merit in it. What’s not to like about high standards for performance and competence? But appearance-based standards for fitness and performance are not necessarily going to guarantee a high-performing military. Appearance is a lousy surrogate for actual measures of fitness, competence, and performance. At times, Hegseth reflects this in his words when he speaks about high and gender-neutral performance standards for “any job that requires physical power to perform in combat.”
But then he lapses into describing his preference for a “male standard.” For Captain Lori Manning, such bias about women in the military is nothing new. She served 25 years in the Navy and commanded units of more than 400 service members. Manning says:
“Women have had to prove they were capable before positions became officially open.
“He hasn’t changed anything basic with regards to women. He’s just got it in his head that women are somehow cheating.”
Disrespect
Detractors of the administration proved that they can be just as good at fat shaming and disrespect. Leading the pack is California Governor Gavin Newsom, who used the news to mock the physical appearance of the President and his affection for fast food.
These are cheap shots that demean people on all sides of the political spectrum. They do nothing to advance better better policies for military readiness. Instead, they diminish us all in the eyes of the world. This festival of fat shaming in the political news of the week is disgusting.
Click here for the transcript of Hegseth’s speech, here, here and here for further reporting on it.
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October 3, 2025
October 03, 2025 at 6:27 am, Alfred B Lewis said:
Have you seen what they serve on military bases? And there are even multiple fast food chains operating there.