\n<\/p>\n
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivers a speech to commemorate the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France, June 6, 2026.<\/span>Jeremias Gonzalez\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a perplexing <\/span>speech Saturday commemorating the World War II D-Day landings <\/strong>in Normandy, France, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called for European leaders to combat what he implied was a second, modern D-Day\u2014in which European countries were <\/strong>being \u201cstormed by different dangerous ideologies\u201d accompanied by \u201cboats and men.\u201d<\/p>\n The original D-Day was <\/strong>the Allied invasion to liberate France from Nazi German domination: the defenders were Hitler\u2019s National Socialists and their army, and the \u201cdangerous ideology\u201d was anti-fascism.<\/p>\n At Normandy in 1944, <\/strong>genocidal far-right extremists \u201cdefended\u201d a conquered Europe against a multiracial force fighting for democratic ideas. In 2026, Hegseth\u2019s speech suggested, it was happening again: <\/strong>\u201cWhen will European capitals do something about that invasion?,\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Hegseth may have been confused\u2014or, then again, we might be at the stage where our government explicitly aligns us with Nazism.\u00a0After all, every single refugee<\/a> we admitted to the US this year was supposedly fleeing anti-white persecution.<\/p>\n Commentators online noted Hegseth\u2019s choice of words:\u00a0<\/p>\n While the self-proclaimed \u201cSecretary of War\u201d didn\u2019t explicitly mention what those \u201cdangerous ideologies\u201d were, his past remarks and actions make it fairly clear. Last June, Hegseth ordered <\/strong>American troops<\/a> to provide security during federal immigration raids in Los Angeles. In January, he thanked ICE for its invasion and occupation of Minnesota\u2014\u201cYou are SAVING the country\u201d\u2014and followed the post with a graphic on X<\/a>, listing three ways to avoid ICE: \u201cdon\u2019t be here illegally,\u201d \u201cdon\u2019t attack I.C.E. officers,\u201d and \u201cobey federal and state laws.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the beginning of Trump\u2019s second term, Hegseth has fired or forcibly retired at least 24 generals and senior commanders without providing any merit-based justification provided; roughly 60 percent<\/a> have been either Black officers or women of any race. <\/p>\n As my colleague Arianna Coghill wrote in September<\/a>, for Hegseth, \u201ca military with Black leadership, with women in senior roles, and without obstacles to a diverse officer corps is one in which white men have to take orders from the wrong kind.\u201d<\/p>\n Hegseth, Trump<\/a>, and JD Vance\u2019s<\/a> obsession with a more racist Europe is having an impact, with explicitly racist parties<\/a> in multiple European countries touting their ties to the Trump administration and a white nationalist conference in Portugal<\/a> recently inviting disgraced former Customs and Border Patrol \u201ccommander-at-large\u201d Gregory Bovino to deliver a prominent address; earlier this week, the European Union advanced a plan to increase deportations<\/a> and build detention centers abroad\u2014which it calls \u201creturn hubs\u201d\u2014in a move with unmistakable echoes of Trump administration policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n